JDA Users Group Adds Special Interest Groups, Users Group Vice President

Merger with RedPrairie brings new SIG members, leadership to customer networking and product advocacy groups

JDA Software Group, Inc., The Supply Chain Company, today announced that 10 Special Interest Groups (SIGs) have been added to the JDA Users Group as a result of the company’s recent merger with RedPrairie. That brings the total to 51 SIGs representing a broad cross-section of products in the JDA portfolio.

The JDA Users Group’s mission is to foster an environment where active participation maximises its members’ investments in JDA solutions and enables individuals from member companies to grow both personally and professionally through collaboration with other supply chain professionals.

JDA SIGs provide an environment where members can share ideas on product direction and enhancements with JDA product management. SIGs are typically organised around JDA solutions and are managed by a customer-elected chairperson, as well as a JDA associate who serves as SIG manager. New SIGs and their JDA and customer leaders, include:

• Commerce: Justin Ellison of Buckle, SIG chair; Ken Garza, JDA, SIG manager
• Dispatcher: Ivan Sheldrake of Unipart, SIG chair; Heather Laws, JDA, SIG manager
• Enterprise Store Operations: Pam Sheen of Dunkin’ Brands, Inc. and Keli Anderson of Sheetz, SIG chairs; Fiona Harris, JDA, SIG manager
• RedPrairie Transportation: Robert Paoletti of Technicolor, SIG chair; Keith Whalen, JDA, SIG manager
• Warehouse Management: Pete Grett of GENCO and Tom Delaney of Mars, SIG chairs; Scott Zickert, JDA, SIG manager
• RedPrairie Workforce Management: Monica Enko of Big Y Foods, Inc., SIG chair; Chris Sundgren, JDA, SIG manager

Three additional groups have SIG managers from JDA, but have open positions for SIG chairs. Those groups are:

• Direct Commerce: Tracy Jobbitt, JDA, SIG manager
• Brand Protection and Inventory Visibility: Scott Zickert, JDA, SIG manager
• Performance Management for Retail: John Moulton, JDA, SIG manager
• Performance Management for Supply Chain: John Moulton, JDA, SIG manager

In addition, Pam Sheen, co-chair of the Enterprise Store Operations SIG, has been named a vice president of the JDA Users Group. Users Group officers are responsible for managing the Special Interest Groups (SIGs) and ensuring their voice is heard by JDA product management. Officers meet each month to review progress toward reaching the year’s goals, such as increasing SIG participation. Officers also meet quarterly with SIG chairs and SIG managers to review goals and discuss how they can enhance the SIG processes to enable increased participation and networking in order for members to gain the most value from their JDA investment.

George Frongillo of Staples, is the JDA Users Group president. Greg Gries of Perdue Farms and Suzanne Toepfer of Chico’s FAS, Inc., are JDA Users Group vice presidents, and Lesley Klinger of The Hershey Company, is the JDA Users Group administrative director.

“Users groups provide valuable feedback on products and their real-world applications that help us to innovate and improve,” said John Kopcke, chief technology officer, JDA Software. “They also offer their members the opportunity to share best practices, network and grow their careers through regular meetings and information sharing. The addition of the RedPrairie user community to JDA’s very active users group brings together some of world’s best practitioners in a single, powerful organisation.”