Rob Handfield is the Bank of America University Distinguished Professor of Supply Chain Management and Executive Director of the Supply Chain Resource Cooperative (SCRC) at North Carolina State University's Poole College of Management. He holds a PhD in Operations Management from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (1990) and a BS in Mathematics from the University of British Columbia (1985). His research focuses on supply chain resilience, pandemic response systems, and global sourcing, with notable contributions to supply chain immunity frameworks and ethical apparel indices. Affiliations: Editor emeritus of the Journal of Operations Management , Consulting Editor of Logistics , and Faculty Advisor to World Vision. Grants: Over $10M in funding, including Templeton World Charity Foundation's Responsible Apparel Initiative ($1.2M), USDA grants for bio-based products, and NSF support for serious gaming in supply chain resilience. Publications: Authored influential books like FLOW: How the Best Supply Chains Thrive (2022) and pioneered research on generative agents for fault-tolerant decision-making (2025). Awards: Recognized for leadership in supply chain education and industry collaboration. His work bridges academia and practice, addressing real-world challenges such as opioid supply chain analytics, vaccine distribution optimization, and port operations digitization. He frequently advises governments and Fortune 500 companies on supply chain strategies amid geopolitical disruptions and technological shifts.











