The institutions that compound our reach

Industry · Distribution

Bart Tessel

Chief Innovation Officer, National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors

“AI adoption in distribution does not happen one company at a time. It happens through the institutions that move whole sectors, and the consortium gives our members an operating playbook rather than a slide deck.”

A strategic partnership advancing AI adoption across wholesale distribution, translating consortium frameworks into the operating reality of distributors at every scale. It has produced a joint advisory council, a recurring symposium at Texas A&M and the AI Governance Architecture published in July 2026.

Academic · Operations

Nezih Altay

Professor of Operations Management, Driehaus College of Business, DePaul University

“Operations management has always been about how decisions become outcomes. Agentic AI changes the unit of decision, so the curriculum and the operating model have to change with it.”

The consortium’s Chicago academic affiliate. DePaul hosts the AI symposium at its Spark Center and contributes faculty depth in supply-chain operations, disruption management and after-sale service systems.

Academic · Autonomy

Hasan Poonawala

Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Pigman College of Engineering, University of Kentucky

“Closing the gap between machine learning predictions and provably safe control of real systems is the work. The consortium turns that work into industrial outcomes you can actually deploy.”

Research collaboration on autonomous control of robotic and mechanical systems, closing the gap between model predictions and provably safe behaviour in real industrial environments. Kentucky co-hosted the AI in Manufacturing Symposium in May 2025.

Innovation network · Mid-market

Tom Kelly

Innovation DuPage · Leadership, Greater Chicago Innovation Network

“The companies in our ecosystem do not have AI luxury problems. They have operating problems. The consortium speaks their language and meets them at the floor.”

A regional accelerator and incubator partner extending consortium frameworks into mid-market and emerging-growth companies across the Greater Chicago corridor, where the constraint is usually capacity rather than ambition.

Convening · Energy & industrial

Symon Rubens

Chief Executive, Energy Conference Network and Mining Innovation Network

“The energy operators we convene are past the AI demonstration phase. The consortium brings the architecture-to-operating-model conversation they actually need next.”

Convening and content partnership across the AI in Oil & Gas, digitalisation, digital twin and connected worker series. Consortium leadership has been on those programmes since 2021, in Houston, Calgary and Appalachia.

Advisory · Energy & chemicals

Ron Dowdell

Managing Director and AI Advisor, Pilko & Associates

“After thirty years in operations, the right question for AI is not whether it works. It is whether the safety and reliability discipline that holds the asset together can absorb it without breaking.”

Trusted advisors to senior leaders in energy, chemicals and related industries on operations safety, reliability and sustainability. Pilko AI Advisors actively shape consortium symposia and practitioner programmes, and spoke at the DePaul symposium in October 2025.