Matt Ritchie

Q: What most notably stands out about your leadership style or what is an example of leadership success you can share with our readers?

I consistently emphasize the forward vision of our organization, DSV IMS (Inventory Management Solutions). It is important that our team is unified when short-term distractions present themselves in order to avoid impacting long-term goals of the organization. In our case, I want to ensure our team is focused on the vision of scaling and growing the business to five and ten times in the future.

I also frequently emphasize integrity as the foundation of our organization, and I want to lead by example. I want everyone to know that if I say I will do something, I will follow through. Upholding my word to employees, customers and stakeholders goes beyond merely fulfilling what I’ve pledged to do. I want it to demonstrate my support and reliability to foster trust, credibility and personal responsibility.

Trust is usually built over time in small victories, but consistency is key. Early in my career at DSV, I jumped on a plane overseas to Europe and dedicated several months resolving a client’s concerns. Through hands-on engagement and a commitment to accountability, I leveraged the appropriate resources, enhanced key performance indicators, and, with consistent follow through, I established a profound level of trust with the client. This strengthened my professional growth and significantly increased our company’s future business prospects with the customer.

Q: What impact has COVID-19 or the disruptions of the past 18 months had on you as a leader?

In many ways, it has felt like validation to our solution. Our core value is improving and resolving supply chain issues for high-tech and semiconductor manufacturing. My career has been laden with years of trying to convince customers of the potential risks of a fragmented supply chain and the importance of resilience. When I tried to explain to my friends and family what semiconductors or supply chain was prior to COVID, it felt like I was from a different planet. Now that this issue has impacted all consumers, the importance of this work is well-known and realized. Instead of customers resisting change and us having to try to convince them, customers are actively seeking our solutions to resolve their problems. I certainly wish the issue could have been realized without COVID-19, but because of it, the digital age was expedited, exposing the supply chain’s fragility.

Q: What do you feel we can be doing as a business community to empower economic growth here?

It is not easy to criticize the local business community initiatives. I can’t compliment the local public and private leadership enough, and organizations such as GPEC and the ACA are best-in-class. The challenge Arizona will run into is whether it can meet the growing workforce and infrastructure demand needed for the ever-increasing semiconductor ecosystem. This issue is not unique to Arizona, as it is a widespread global and U.S. focus as well. Local leadership and ASU are doing many of the right things to build the workforce and infrastructure, but continuing to focus on this and provide the resources to enable its success are the most important from a high-tech-world point of view.

Q: What is new and notable for your company’s near future that will impact our economy?

DSV is building a 1.7-million-square-foot warehouse facility to be completed by 2025 in the southeast Valley to support local economic growth, particularly serving high-tech and semiconductors. Additionally, the first regularly scheduled air cargo charter in the Phoenix-Mesa-Gateway Airport hangar has been operating for a few months.

DSV’s record on strategic mergers and acquisitions speaks for itself. I expect this to continue to benefit the local Arizona growth as we see it as an optimal strategic growth center for the U.S. and globally. At our specific division, DSV IMS, we hope to drive innovation to optimize supply chains with other unique solutions such as supply chain finance, system automation, machine learning and AI to these manufacturing customers in Arizona, allowing them to focus their capital and resources on R&D and building capacity.

At the same time, we help them achieve uninterrupted revenue operations. We provide unobstructed visibility and critical insights into supply chain operations by utilizing AI and real-time modeling. We deliver early warning of potential disruptions and the ability to adapt and eliminate operational impact. At DSV IMS, we are at the forefront of technology; creating supply chain resilience and agility for our clients and Arizona is a prioritized focus.