Industry Briefing

Annual Industry Briefing

Event Details

Event Sponsors

KC DELIVERS: THE HUB FOR FOOD LOGISTICS

2021 KC SMARTPORT ANNUAL INDUSTRY BRIEFING
June 24, 2021
Kansas City Convention Center

SmartPort's 12th Annual Industry Briefing, KC Delivers: The Hub for Food Logistics, will focus on top trends in the $1.5 trillion food and beverage industry, including changes in consumer purchasing habits, the need for speed-to-market solutions, new production technology and delivery in an on-demand world.

2021 SPONSORS

2021 KEYNOTE SPEAKER

Lucy Durbin
First Vice President | Food Facilities Group
CBRE

As a member of the CBRE Food Facilities Group, Lucy Durbin focuses exclusively on real estate requirements for the food industry, including food processing, manufacturing, and distribution facilities. Representing food companies and owners of food facilities on a global and local basis, Lucy and her partners, David Sours and Kevin Kelly, provide strategic consulting to their clients through sales, leasing, and tenant representation.

Offering expertise specific to the food industry and corresponding real estate markets, the Food Facilities Group delivers a level of knowledge unmatched in the industry. The Food Facilities Group’s client base includes some of the largest companies in the food processing, food service, grocery, and cold storage industries, as well as numerous smaller food companies worldwide.

Prior to joining the Food Facilities Group, Lucy was an analyst in CBRE’s Investment Properties (IP) group, where she participated in institutional dispositions of industrial and office properties under the leadership of Jack Fraker. During her time with the IP group, Lucy worked on national portfolio transactions as well as local assignments. Lucy began her career with CBRE in the Global Corporate Services (GCS) group, with a focus on tenant representation in the office sector for corporate clients including AT&T, Regus, and IBM. Lucy is a Magna Cum Laude graduate of Vanderbilt University and is fluent in Spanish.

FLEX | KC SmartPort 2019 Industry Briefing from Hint on Vimeo.

2019 Annual Industry Briefing Recap

KC SmartPort held their 11^th Annual Industry Briefing FLEX on April 4, 2019. A expert panel of leaders from Amazon, Cushman & Wakefield, BNSF Railway and Heitman Architects addressed a crowd of more than 550 logistics, real estate and economic development professionals.

Mike Grella, Amazon’s director of economic development from 2012-19, was the keynote speaker for the event. Other speakers included Karl Heitman, president, Heitman Architects, who has 30 years of experience in corporate facility design, plus a unique understanding of “Manufacturing 4.0” technologies and digital connectivity, Colby Tanner, assistant vice president, BNSF Railway, who is responsible for directing, planning and implementing the location and expansion of industries within the BNSF System and Ann Petersen, managing director, Cushman & Wakefield, with 15 years of experience in economic development negotiations, including coordination and implementation of incentives.

Event speakers discussed the ways companies and organizations are adapting to changes and opportunities by implementing flexible practices and flexible supply chains. Companies are facing rapid transformation in workforce development, transportation flexibility and space usage/design.