Technology and Operations Management

Jeff Rand

Industry Leaders

April 2021

My name is Jeff Rand and I am currently Vice President, Operations for Performance Team, a Maersk Company. In my current role, I oversee Inland Empire warehousing and distribution operations across six buildings exceeding 3 million square feet. I received a BS in Business Administration in 1984 from Cal Poly, Pomona, and an MBA from Claremont Graduate School in 1990.

I have held Senior leadership positions in Operations and Logistics for over 30 years (but it all started with a summer internship posted in the Cal Poly Career Center!). I would say my most transformative position on my journey was being the Assistant to the CEO for Vans Footwear. This was in the early 1990s shortly after they were purchased from the Van Doren family. The position was really a Project Manager for the CEO’s initiatives. I had the opportunity to work with Executives in different disciplines doing all the “number crunching” and project management. The big plus for me was being able to attend the CEO’s staff meetings and being exposed to the financials of the business. Understanding the drivers and levers of how a business makes money brought the textbooks of Operations and Finance to life in a real way. I would have never had this opportunity in a Fortune 1000 company.

Lessons learned:
• Challenge yourself and take stretch assignments that expose you to different situations and disciplines.
• Take opportunities to interact with Senior Leaders to get their perspective on the “big picture.” Learn what is important to them.
• Get an understanding of how your business makes money and how your function contributes.
• Read Eli Goldratt’s book, The Goal.

For the past 25 years I used that experience to focus on Wholesale Distribution & Logistics of consumer products, primarily apparel and footwear. Moving product from vendors around the world to the US and on to retailers and distributors around the world. I took every opportunity to try and learn and understand the details of each function in the supply chain. This allowed me to put all the pieces together in working to improve the logistics of the TOTAL supply chain. Do not get locked into one little piece; understand the total picture and the total cost. My role now is to develop and lead teams that address specific supply chain needs of over 20 different customers. Performance Team is a premium provider of third-party logistics services in the areas of warehousing fulfillment services, e-commerce, inland transportation, and distribution services. To learn more visit www.PerformanceTeam.net.

In 2020, Performance team was acquired and integrated into Maersk. Maersk is an integrated container
logistics company and member of the A.P. Moller Group. Connecting and simplifying trade to help
customers grow and thrive. With a dedicated team of over 80,000 operating in 130 countries; we go all
the way to enable global trade for a growing world. For more information, visit www.Maersk.com.