Executive in Residence
Pete Viehweg
Executive-in-Residence, 2006
Pete Viehweg holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Mathematics from the University of Maine. Following graduation, he served in the United States Army as a helicopter pilot and Company Commander. When he left the military, he joined Johnson and Johnson in Illinois as a Production Supervisor. As his career progressed, he moved through positions of increasing responsibility, including production planning, managing the raw materials warehouse, then three manufacturing departments, including the start-up of a new product line. He moved to New Jersey as National Transportation Manager, which included responsibility for the implementation of a new computer system. This was followed by assignments as National Planning Manager, Manager, Logistics and Planning for a worldwide manufacturing study, and then Plant Manager. Following the closing of the plant, he took an assignment as Director of Logistics Systems, responsible for the implementation of an MRP system.
In 1994, he joined National Office Supply, an office products distributor with ten distribution centers around the country, as Vice President of Operations. The company was acquired by Staples, and is now the basis for what they call Staples National Advantage.
In 1995, Pete moved to Atlanta to join S. P. Richards Company, a national office products wholesaler with 38 distribution centers, as Vice President of Logistics. He was promoted to Senior Vice President of Logistics, in which capacity he served until 2004. His experiences included centralizing the inventory management function which included designing and implementing the appropriate software and staffing and training the new department, process improvements within the distribution centers, generating transportation savings, negotiating national supplies contracts, managing the real estate portfolio, selecting an ERP system, and overseeing the Information Services department.
Wally Buran
Executive-in-Residence, 2007
Wally Buran is the Edinfield Executive in Residence at the Georgia Institute of Technology and is the Managing Director of the Supply Chain Frontiers Institute. With Georgia Tech, he serves on the Advisory Board of the School of Industrial and Systems Engineering. He collaborates with the Supply Chain and Logistics Institute and helped build the Tennenbaum Institute for Enterprise Transformation. Mr. Buran has over 30 years of management and consulting experience and has managed or directed assignments in strategic planning, supply chain transformation, manufacturing strategy, procurement & sourcing, technology strategy, business process reengineering, and mergers & acquisitions. He has worked with companies in a variety of industries including aerospace, automotive, beverages, building products, chemicals, consumer products, defense, electronics, food, health care, industrial products, machine tools, medical devices, paper, plastics, tire and rubber, transportation, and utilities. He has authored and directed multiyear research on Enterprise Transformation, Frontier Management Practices, and Growth Enablement Strategies. He has served on the National Science Foundation Defense Manufacturing Studies Board and teaches in university and company based Executive Development Programs. Mr. Buran also serves on the board of Gryphon Partners, a private equity investment company.
Prior to founding the Supply Chain Frontiers Institute, Mr. Buran was a Partner with The Monitor Group, the global leader of IBM's operations strategy consulting practice, a Senior Partner with Deloitte Consulting, and the Chief Executive Officer of WorldCrest Group, an independent procurement and supply chain services company started by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts. He has also held management positions with Avon Products and General Motors Corporation. He received his Bachelors in Industrial and Systems Engineering and his Masters in Industrial Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology.