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Analyzing history through a modern business lens

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Renowned business consultant and author Mark Kozak-Holland will visit Peterborough on Friday, April 11 to speak to Fleming College students in the post-graduate Global Supply Chain Management program.This guest lecture has been rescheduled from an earlier date of February 7, which had to be cancelled due to inclement weather.Mr. Kozak-Holland will present “Churchill’s Demand Driven Supply Chain: Beaverbrook’s story.”  Entertaining and full of intriguing historical details, the presentation focuses on how British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Canadian Lord Beaverbrook jump-started production of RAF aircraft in the wake of an invasion threat from Germany during World War II.The presentation looks at how Churchill and Beaverbrook initiated a project that moved the peacetime economy into one that could support a war. This included acting with agility, understanding the supply chain and focusing strained resources on the threat as well as how:• Churchill and Beaverbrook overcame institutionalized resistance to change• Beaverbrook selected his project team• Best practices were brought in from various industries• Preconceived notions were continuously challenged• Metrics were used to track and guide the projectThis historical analysis is done through a modern business lens, describing Beaverbrook’s actions and strategy using modern business tools and techniques.Mr. Kozak-Holland has helped numerous Fortune 500 companies leverage emerging technologies, straddling the two worlds of business and information technology. He is also a historian, seeking out the wisdom of the past to help others avoid repeating mistakes and to capture time-proven techniques. This presentation is just one in a series authored by Mr. Kozak-Holland at www.lessons-from-history.com.The presentation is free and open to the public. It will take place at the Sutherland Campus, 599 Brealey Dr. in Peterborough from 10:30 a.m. to noon on April 11.- 30 -For more information: Laura Copeland, Communications Officer, 749-5530 ext. 1370 or copeland@flemingc.on.ca