The 2020 Rising Stars of the Profession: Katie Ward

Sometimes, just being from the right place at the right time can make all the difference. It certainly did for Katie Ward.

After graduating college, an executive at Maine Pointe, who also happened to be from her same small hometown, approached her about joining the Maine Pointe team. "I immediately recognized the value Maine Pointe had to offer both to its consultants and to its clients," Ward says. "And as they say, the rest is history." 

Ward, an Analysis Director at Maine Pointe, is an accomplished supply chain professional with over ten years of consulting experience throughout North America, Europe and Asia. She has worked with over 50 clients to assess areas of opportunity within their global supply chains across a variety of industries including healthcare, pharmaceutical, oil/gas, chemicals, food & beverage, mining, IT, consumer products and manufacturing. 

"I'm most proud of being part of the team that has taken Maine Pointe on its exciting transformational journey over the last decade. During that time, we saw Maine Pointe grow by delivering between a 4:1 and 8:1 ROI on client engagements, bringing consistent and sustainable results, and accelerated performance improvements in EBITDA, cash and growth," she says. "I especially enjoy being part of Maine Pointe's vision of being the world's most sought-after supply chain and operations consulting firm."  

In addition, Ward's success, and the success of everyone at Maine Pointe, is driven by the firm's unique methodology called 'Total Value Optimization.'

To that end, Ward has built a track record of creating strategic initiatives for senior executives, helping generate hundreds of millions of dollars in sustainable EBITDA to mid-size, Fortune 500 companies and private equity partners. In addition, she had identified more than $100 million of client EBITDA financial improvements across the end-to-end supply chain in 2019 alone.

"The talented teams at Maine Pointe, together with leadership's commitment to professional and personal development, has allowed me to stretch my skills and continually grow," Ward says. "Specifically, my direct executive has encouraged, inspired and empowered me beyond measure. I'm privileged to be working for and learning from the very best."

As far as winning one of the Rising Stars of the Profession award, Ward says it's an honor to represent Maine Pointe with this award. "It's a reflection of the high performing and talented people around me," she says.  

Q&A: What excites you most about your consulting career?

Ward: "My consulting career has complemented my passion for travel. It has fueled my desire to always be learning in a fast-paced changing environment while continually working with new teams and clients in new locations across the world with the ultimate goal of delivering compelling economic returns for our clients. Most exciting to me is being a part of a rapidly growing company.  Since our recent partnership with SGS, I am looking forward to seeing Maine Pointe's continued growth into new areas."