As a practice director, Simon Ellis is responsible for providing research, analysis and guidance on key business and IT issues for manufacturers. With 30 years of experience in the manufacturing industry, both as a market researcher and end-user practitioner working across all major areas of the supply chain, Simon was previously the Supply Chain Strategy Director/Futurist for Unilever North America, a $12 billion division of Unilever. Simon was responsible for leading the implementation of key new technologies that impacted the future of the Unilever Supply Chain. Specifically he led the North American RFID and e-Catalog teams, and was the project leader for the new Data Management Organization. Having been with Unilever from 1985 to 2007, Simon also worked within the sales and finance organizations, thus bringing a well rounded business background to the IDC practices he directs. Simon received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Cornell University and an MBA in Finance from Columbia University.

Simon Ellis blogs in the IDC Manufacturing Insights Community (http://idc-insights- community.com/manufacturing) and contributes to the IDC Retail Insights Community (http://idc- insights-community.com/retail). His Twitter handle is @simellis.