"Sustainability Must Be Sustainable: A look at how the challenges faced by growing numbers of returned products impacts profitability and our environment."

ROOM LOCATION CHANGE: 312 to 4426

Please join the Ray C. Anderson Center for Sustainable Business in welcoming David Hogan, President of America's Remanufacturing Company. 

The effective execution of a sustainable and profitable returns management program is a unique challenge. Last year the U.S. saw 350 billion dollars of products returned. The volume of returned products continues to rise significantly year over year, yet there are relatively few companies positioned to help firms tackle this growing problem. This challenge is compounded by the limited number of personnel within firms who are trained and educated on how to engage in a returns management / reverse logistics program. As a result, retailers and manufactures are dealing with a returns management industry that is seriously underserved. Ten years ago, nearly every firm had their products "destroyed-in-field" and wrote the financial and environmental expense off as a cost of doing business. Today volumes are so high that this challenge cannot be written off and must be addressed in order to maintain profitability and be responsible environmental stewards.

Alumnus David Hogan attended the Georgia Institute of Technology where he received a BSc in Management with a minor in Engineering. Upon graduating from Georgia Tech, he was commissioned as an officer in the United States Marine Corps. He served 6 years as a Marine until leaving the service as a Captain in April of 2016. Following the Corps, David received is Masters in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Cambridge, Judge Business School. During his time studying at Cambridge, David developed a deep appreciation for the financial and environmental benefits of the reverse logistics industry. He saw an industry with great potential and positioned for explosive growth. After discussing the industry with Mark Branum, the founder and CEO of America’s Remanufacturing Company (ARC), David and his wife decided to invest in the company and move back to his native Augusta where his has taken on the role of company president. 

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TheRay C. Anderson Center for Sustainable Business was founded in 2013 to act as a catalyst and connector, bringing together students, research faculty, companies, and entrepreneurs to create an environment where business-driven solutions to sustainability challenges can take shape and thrive. In all, Scheller provides students unparalleled breadth in environmental sustainability, ethics, corporate social responsibility, social entrepreneurship, and values-based leadership.