Laird Burns is a supply chain, big data, and complex systems researcher with more than 25 years of industry and government experience spanning more than 100 organizations in over thirty industries across five continents. He earned his Ph.D. from Michigan State University, focusing on supply chain disruptions and resilience, with an emphasis on complex systems.

He is a co-inventor of artificial intelligence (AI) enhanced forecasting algorithms that overcome many “unforecastable” challenges in complex supply chains (through his business, Burns Research LLC). He is an Associate Professor of Management Science and is an active researcher with interests in autonomous vehicles, supply chain disruptions and resilience, supply chain challenges in health care and food supply chains, supply chain strategy & design, supply chain innovation, supply chain risk for large scale engineered systems, advanced analytics, smart energy grids, dynamics of integrated supply networks, computer modeling, systems engineering, and complex systems.

He is actively engaged with the Randall R. Kendrick Global Supply Chain Institute, where he participates in the Global Health Care Consortium and the Global Food Traceability Consortium.