The Sandy Springs Chamber of Commerce (www.sandyspringsperimeterchamber.com) kicked off the new year Thursday, Jan. 21 with an annual luncheon at the Westin Atlanta Perimeter North that drew over 150 Chamber members and guests.  During the program, outgoing Board Chairman Chris Burnett reviewed the previous year’s highlights and introduced the organization’s 2016 officers:  Board Chairman Lever Stewart, Secretary Mike Sullivan, Treasurer Jim Kelley and 2017 Chairman-elect Dan Diluzio.  He also thanked the 2015 leadership team and Chamber staff, especially Chamber President Tom Mahaffey.  Burnett recognized luncheon sponsor Kaiser Permanente, and introduced the keynote speaker, Teresa M. Finley, senior vice president of global marketing for UPS (www.ups.com).

Finley began her remarks by noting that UPS announced its plans to move its corporate and regional headquarters to Sandy Springs in 1991, and has maintained a leadership role in the community for the past 25 years.  Not long after its move to Sandy Springs, the company expanded its core focus of package delivery to include utilizing its logistics expertise to become an enabler of global commerce.  According to Finley, there is both a science and an art to logistics, and the term means much more to UPS than simply determining the flow of goods and services from manufacturers and producers to businesses and consumers.

“Logistics can change communities, especially what we call humanitarian logistics,” asserted Finley.  “Let’s look at the problem of hunger, for example.  The UPS Foundation has made reducing world hunger a priority.  There are currently 800 million hungry people around the world and 160 million who are malnourished.  The problem is both global and local.  For instance, the Atlanta Community Food Bank reports that one out of every 7.5 people in metro Atlanta and North Georgia uses food pantries and meal service programs to help put food on the family table.  Yet, in the U.S. alone, about 40 percent of food is wasted.  The problem is not a scarcity of food.  The issue is food access – getting the food from the communities of plenty to the communities of want.  It’s a logistics problem that stretches across the entire supply chain … a problem that UPS is uniquely qualified to take on.”

UPS’s expertise lies in connecting individuals, organizations and businesses in more than 220 countries and territories, and its humanitarian logistics capabilities are orchestrated through the UPS Foundation, the company’s philanthropic arm.  By partnering with many of the world’s premier humanitarian relief agencies, the foundation is facilitating help to those who need it.  Plus, with customers and employees living around the world, any natural disaster, any emergency or any issue of global magnitude quickly becomes a local issue for UPS, according to Finley.

“UPS has a culture of volunteerism, and throughout the world, our employees are dedicated to giving their time, sharing knowledge and donating funds to better their communities.  UPS supports community service and helps all of us harness our collective efforts in ways that make a real difference around the globe.  That’s why UPS recently pledged to complete 20 million hours of global volunteerism and community service by the end of 2020,” said Finley.

Finley also spoke about UPS’s response to global disasters including war, natural disasters such as earthquakes and the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. “Think about a disaster situation.  In order to effectively offer aid, goods must move, help must arrive and resources must be delivered.  We look at what is impeding this help.  Are the roads washed out?  Is there a functioning landing strip for aircraft?  In the world of disaster logistics, we often say the last mile is often the most difficult.”

Finally, Finley talked about UPS’s commitment to increasing trade between countries and noted this is an area of particular interest to UPS CEO David Abney.  Under his leadership, the company is working to break down trade barriers and ease regulations.  Finley said the role of UPS as a global logistics provider affords the company with unique insight into the shared value open markets create, including lifting people out of poverty by creating jobs and increasing international cooperation.

“When it comes to providing humanitarian logistics, often governments are cash-strapped and largely divided.  Civil society has the motivation and information, but not the operational muscle,” Finley concluded.  “In way and to degrees unique in commerce, the job of leadership change now falls more squarely on business.  Business has the reach.  It has the resources and the local knowledge.  Business is the center of gravity for innovation and for many new ideas.  We have the big project management skills that are critical in an emergency, as well as the commercial talent.  And, we clearly have our own incentives to create a world that is strong enough, fair enough and healthy enough to support our growth.  If not us, then who?

“For UPS, the response is clear.  In any situation, goods must move, infrastructure must be repaired or built, information points must connect, talent must be coordinated, barriers and choke points must be removed and efficiencies to support an objective must be created.  That’s what we do.  It’s who we are.”