Savi Taps Rosemary Johnston to Lead Federal Sales and Strategy

Savi Technology announced the appointment of Rosemary Johnston as vice president, federal sales and strategy. Johnston will focus on delivering analytics-driven supply chain management solutions to the federal market including consignment management, asset management and other sensor-based intelligence, with an emphasis on the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), which has a 23-year history utilizing Savi solutions. Having joined Savi more than six years ago, Johnston was promoted to vice president, business operations, and became a member of the company’s management team earlier this year.

Supply chain and logistics forces throughout the Department of Defense are facing new challenges in the coming 12 months including cutbacks due to sequestration and planned force reductions, mandated use of asset tags that conform to the ISO standard, the introduction of RFID IV requirements and the impact of technological advances.

“What looks on the outside as a challenge, is in fact a great opportunity for military logisticians to make improvements in how they operate, their cost structures and the value of the information they can provide to their commanders and units in the field,” said Johnston. “Cutbacks put an even greater value on knowing not only where equipment and assets are located, but also on their condition. New requirements like the shift from ANSI to ISO tags force organizations to look at improving their processes. Advances such as cellular- and satellite-based tags and Savi System on a Chip give teams the ability to monitor assets anywhere in the world and to look for increasingly granular types of data.”

Johnston also sees the applicability of Savi’s solutions in agencies outside of the Department of Defense. “Agencies like the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the National Guard and even organizations like the International Red Cross need to deploy, monitor and coordinate massive amounts of equipment, resources and assets, typically under extremely difficult situations. Savi’s sensor-based analytics can help advance those large-scale response actions, as well as provide intelligence to identify improvements for future situations,” Johnston added.

Johnston’s understanding of the military supply chain and logistics market comes from a distinguished career in both commercial enterprises and her 23-year service in the U.S. Air Force. While in the Air Force, Johnston was responsible for the development of key wartime logistics planning concepts, establishment of supply policies that impacted the depth and breadth of retail and wholesale supply, and the conduct of a number of planning and forecasting analyses.

As the US Air Force supply career field manager (1995-1999), she developed training, staffing, and recruitment programs for 35,000 Air Force and civilian personnel within the supply logistics career field. Johnston chaired the US Air Force Supply Chiefs Advisory Board, US Air Force Supply Training Team, and US Air Force Supply Wartime Requirements workgroups. Johnston chaired the Supply Chain Council’s Aerospace and Defense working group, which focused on further development of the SCOR Model and use of RFID technology to support and enhance in-transit visibility.

“Savi is incredibly proud of the solutions we have provided to the U.S. DoD and allied military for more than 23 years,” said Bill Clark, president and CEO of Savi Technology. “As a newly independent company, we remain committed to this market, with continued investment, innovation, and a renewed focus. The appointment of Rosemary to this important new role underscores our position.”