Dr. Ernest Nichols is Associate Professor of Supply Chain and Operations Management in the Department of Marketing and Supply Chain Management in the Fogelman College of Business & Economics at the University of Memphis. Dr. Nichols is also the Director of the Center for Supply Chain Management in the FedEx Technology Institute at The University of Memphis. Dr. Nichols has conducted SCM consulting and educational programs for a number of Fortune 500 corporations and governmental agencies. Prior to his doctoral studies, Dr. Nichols was a management consultant with Dialog Systems, Inc. Dr. Nichols received his BA in Economics from the University of Maine, his MBA with a concentration in Materials and Logistics Management and Ph.D. in Business Administration from Michigan State University.