Karin Shanahan, EVP and Chief Supply Chain & Operations Officer at Bristol Myers Squibb, shares how she led a full-scale reboot of the company’s global operating model across 11,000 people in 80 markets. From Excel chaos and post-acquisition silos to a connected, data-led, and transparent supply chain, Karin walks through the bold decisions that made it happen. She breaks down how telling the hard truths, setting new cultural norms, and earning cross-functional trust turned dysfunction into strategy.
Listen to the full discussion here:
Connect with the Guest:
Karin Shanahan is the Executive Vice President and Chief Supply Chain and Operations Officer at Bristol Myers Squibb. She leads a global team of over 11,000 people spanning product development, quality, manufacturing, and supply chain operations across 80 markets. A member of the executive committee, Karin brings decades of experience in supply chain transformation, having held key leadership roles globally. Prior to BMS, she also worked in government rail operations in Berlin during the historic period when the Berlin Wall fell, shaping her negotiation and leadership style.
Highlights & Show Notes:
- [01:25] Learning the art of negotiation in post-Wall Berlin during her early career
- [03:10] Realizing the silos in tech ops at BMS and how it changed her leadership approach
- [06:51] Launching the “new GPS,” BMS’s new global operating model post-Celgene acquisition
- [09:40] The need for cross-functional cooperation and tension to drive real business decisions
- [13:22] Presenting the unvarnished truth to the CEO to get buy-in for transformation
- [18:03] Combining long-time team members with new hires to balance continuity and drive transformation
- [24:05] Why they chose to “rip the band-aid” with a top-down org redesign
- [28:44] Why Karin spent most of her first year with executive peers, not her own team
- [31:30] Shifting the narrative from past supply misses to strategic collaboration on new product design
- [34:27] Career advice: be curious, understand the business before mastering the tech
- [38:45] AI and the future org chart, embedded agents, not threats
Quotes from the Episode:
About the Host:
An insightful conversation with Karin Shanahan. I am your host, Radu Palamariu, Group CEO of Alcott Global, working on C-level and top management executive search assignments with Top Fortune 500 companies and local conglomerates in value chains across manufacturing, logistics, transportation, supply chain management, and e-commerce. I’m also the co-author of “From Source to Sold – Stories of Leadership in Supply Chain”.
Alcott Global provides executive search solutions for key positions at all pillars of end-to-end value chains from general management to overall supply chain operations, including executive and non-executive board roles, globally.
On September 10, 2025, we celebrated the Top 30 Leaders in Supply Chain for 2025 in the annual Leaders in Supply Chain Awards. These exceptional individuals are shaping the future of global logistics through innovation, resilience, and transformative leadership. Explore the insights, achievements, and strategies that earned them a place among the industry’s best.
At our in-person Makers & Movers event, we bring together C-level executives from multinational companies to connect, collaborate, and innovate on a forum focused on business value creation.
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214: The Growth of Microsoft’s Cloud Supply Chain with Cliff Henson
