“RLA is a melting pot where we have organizations that can help us achieve our goals and organizations, we can work with to push that change. And I think without RLA that would not have been possible.” - Mohsin Dar, Head of Product Development & Management, DB Schenker.
Indeed, the Tuesday before Wednesday’s full slate of sessions has traditionally been a ‘pre-conference’ day, but this year, Tuesday was a full day of events.
The conference kicked off Tuesday morning with a three-hour RL Masterclass led by Rich Bulger, Peter Evans, and Deborah Dull. This session focused on transforming reverse logistics into business innovation, helping attendees understand how to maximize product lifecycles profitably while minimizing environmental impact, and case studies on how industry leaders in apparel, retail, automotive, and electronics are successfully embracing circular logistics.
The Masterclass was followed by the RL Women’s luncheon with Claudia Freed, CEO of EALgreen, as keynote speaker. An important message that Claudia shared, "Your roadmap to happiness is uniquely yours. Start with one intentional step today, and you'll see how these building blocks create a fulfilling, balanced life," resonated with the attendees.
After the luncheon, RLA’s Industry Partner and Retailers and Manufacturers forums were held allowing participants to share insights and concerns. The Industry Partner Forum began with presentations from Sims Lifecycle, Gay Gordon-Byrne from The Repair Association, and a B-Stock presentation on survey results on B2B resale channels for returned and excess inventory before Q&A.
Rob Link of the Tech Care Association noted in a LinkedIn post that Gay Gordon-Byrne from Repair.org delivered encouraging news about the right-to-repair movement. “We’re hearing less and less in opposition from manufacturers,” she noted, highlighting that five states have now passed consumer electronics repair bills. While cell phone repair has become “low-hanging fruit” due to increasing OEM support, challenges remain in data center equipment repair – an area where The Repair Association is actively seeking industry collaboration.1
The first of four keynote speakers throughout the conference was Brian Comiskey of the Consumer Technology Association followed by the third annual RL startup pitch competition. Five great startups – In the Loop, Patturn, SendBack, Sotira, and Verea, competed for RLA membership, an interview with IDX, an RLA Magazine article, and free ad and other benefits. A special thanks to the judges – Marcus Shen, CEO of B-Stock, Tom Maher, Director, Supply Chain Executive Consortium at Arizona State University, and Tammy Lesch, Chief Strategy Officer at PlanITROI.
The ’pre-conference’ day ended with the 5th annual TopGolf Charity Event benefiting Cell Phones for Soldiers. The event raised $15,000 this year. Thank you to the more than 100 folks that attended.
Wednesday kicked off with the second keynote from Nordstrom’s Senior Vice President of Operations, Corinne Copello, and Senior Vice President of Supply Chain Operations discussing how Nordstrom’s returns solutions helped deliver on Nordstrom’s customer promise.
After a session on apparel returns, a number of breakout sessions were throughout the afternoon to provide more content and learning experiences for attendees.
Our third keynote speaker, Michelle James, Vice President of Strategic Industry Programs at CTIA presented on the importance of wireless devices aftercare and stressed the importance of standards among the wireless repair community.
Wednesday ended with the RLA awards and recognition.
Congratulations to the following:
Circular Economy Award: Logitech & Goodwill Keystone Area
Green RL Award: Sunnking
Innovation Solution Award: Certus Software
Operational: DHL & Triage Partners
Education: Rich Bulger of Bulger Consulting
Lifetime Achievement: Tom Maher, former Dell Technologies VP & RLA Board Advisor. Current Assistant Director of Supply Chain Executive Consortium (SCEC) at Arizona State University
The final day of the conference started by announcing the startup pitch contest winners. Congratulations to the Judge’s Award winner, Sotira, and Audience Award winner, SendBack.
Following the startup winners’ announcement, the final keynote speaker – RLA board member and head of reverse logistics planning and data analytics for Amazon, Dr. Pinar Martin presented on navigating reverse supply chains in consumer electronics.
The consumer electronics theme continued with a presentation on consumer electronics returns and solutions and finally, the interactive roundtables with each RLA board company leading discussions on various topics around a table of participants.
We’ve received incredible feedback on LinkedIn since the conference such as:
I want to thank the Reverse Logistics Association for the amazing setup and the great job they did for this conference, it was a successful event! It was a pleasure catching up with partners, customers, and vendors, and we also had the chance to connect with many new faces we’re excited to start partnering with! One key takeaway from this conference is our shared commitment to making the earth a better place. Let’s keep pushing for sustainability and protecting the environment.
- Mahmoud Yehia, Close the Loop1
A huge thank you to the Reverse Logistics Association for an incredible event filled with insightful discussions, industry expertise, and meaningful connections! Events like these remind us why circular economy and responsible recycling are more important than ever. To everyone who stopped by booth 217, connected with us, and engaged in great conversations, thank you! We look forward to continuing the discussions and driving
sustainability forward together.
– First America2– First America2