SCMR remembers industry analyst John Fontanella
Jeff Berman -- Supply Chain Management Review, 12/1/2008
BOSTON—Supply Chain Management Review (SCMR) regrets to report that John Fontanella, vice president research at AMR Research, passed away on Sunday, November 30.
Fontanella was well known and respected in the supply chain and logistics sector as a leading analyst and thought leader, covering various components of supply chain, manufacturing, and marketing in the high-tech, consumer products, and third-party logistics industries.
Over the years, Fontanella was a friend to SCMR and sister publication Logistics Management, and he could always be counted on to provide an interesting and well-thought opinion on industry trends, developments, and data.
At the time of his death, Fontanella’s main research focus at AMR was on RFID technology and applications, the wholesale distribution industry, global trade, supply chain visibility, supply chain security, and supply chain event management.
Fontanella was with AMR Research for ten years beginning in the mid-1990s, where he worked in the company’s supply chain and consumer packaged goods services. And prior to rejoining AMR in 2006, he served as senior vice president of research services at Aberdeen Group and vice president of supply chain services at Yankee Group.
He also served as director of worldwide logistics for Microsoft Corporation and spent 15 years at Digital Equipment Corporation in various operations and marketing positions, including U.S. distribution manager and head of the supply chain practice.
Greg Aimi, AMR research director, told LM that Fontanella has consistently been one of the firm’s top supply chain analysts.
“John brought deep expertise as a supply chain practitioner through his experience at both Digital Equipment Corp and later at Microsoft,” said Aimi. “Using this experience, he became a trusted advisor to many in the supply chain software and logistics services businesses. Beyond his depth of knowledge, he brought passion to his work. He was highly regarded across the industry for his expertise and the guidance and advice he gave to clients. Professionally, he will be deeply missed by his colleagues and friends at AMR, and more broadly by the extensive supply chain community in which he so capably contributed.”
Aimi’s praise for Fontanella as an influential industry voice—and a person—was echoed by Francis J. Quinn, editorial director of Supply Chain Management Review.
“John Fontanella was a great champion of the business discipline we’ve come to know as supply chain management,” said Quinn. “He was a great supporter of the people working in our field as well. That commitment to the supply chain and its people was clear 20 years when I first met John during his tenure as Microsoft’s logistics chief. And it only intensified as John made a series of career progressions that ultimately led to AMR Research. The supply chain community has lost a terrific resource—and a terrific guy.”
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