Shawntell Kroese Named Recipient of 2025 Women in Supply Chain Award
This award honors female supply chain leaders and executives whose accomplishments, mentorship and examples set a foundation for women in all levels of a company’s supply chain network.
OMAHA, NE—Sept. 8, 2025 — Food Logistics, the only publication exclusively dedicated to covering the movement of product through the global cold food supply chain, and Supply & Demand Chain Executive, the only publication covering the entire global supply chain, named Shawntell Kroese of Russell-Kroese Partners (RKP), a consulting firm focused on delivering value-oriented solutions to the rail, logistics and real estate development sectors, as one of the winners of this year’s Women in Supply Chain Award. This award honors female supply chain leaders and executives whose accomplishments, mentorship and examples set a foundation for women in all levels of a company’s supply chain network.
“Every year, the award winners amaze me. Regardless of the disruptions, economic uncertainty, and other industry challenges, these women in supply chain winners are doing remarkable things for their communities, organizations and teams,” says Marina Mayer, Editor-in-Chief of Food Logistics and Supply & Demand Chain Executive and Co-Founder of the Women in Supply Chain Forum. “In correlation with the theme of this year’s Women in Supply Chain Forum, these female logistics leaders are rising up; they’re strengthening leadership pipelines, enforcing a people-first leadership approach, spearheading new product introductions, and transforming the way the industry views women in supply chain. I couldn’t be more proud of this year’s winners.”
Kroese is a results-driven commercial leader and general manager with over two decades of experience leading transformation, growth, and innovation across the transportation, logistics, and energy sectors. Known for her unique blend of analytical acumen and emotional intelligence, she has led cross-functional teams, managed a $1.3 billion P&L, and played pivotal roles in company integrations, business development, and strategic operations. Kroese currently serves as managing partner at RKP, where she leads strategic initiatives for clients across the transportation, logistics, and energy sectors. In this role, she partners with organizations to drive growth, operational transformation, and commercial innovation. In addition, she is a Sustainability Executive for Werner Enterprises and helps lead the strategy for reducing their carbon footprint. She previously was AVP of sustainability and sales operations at Werner Enterprises, where she played a key role in advancing ESG initiatives, leading corporate reporting, and managing sales operations. Kroese also spent nearly 24 years at Union Pacific Railroad, where she was instrumental in transforming the company’s commercial strategy. She was involved in a company-wide effort to improve the customer experience at UP, led the successful merger
of all commercial subsidiaries and helped launch Loup Logistics, where she served as VP, spearheading the merger of four Union Pacific subsidiaries into a unified brand and strategy, managing multibillion-dollar portfolios and championing customer experience enhancements. After her distinguished railroading career, Kroese transitioned into academia, becoming a professor at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, where she brings her real-world experience into the classroom, teaching both undergraduate and graduate supply chain courses in the College of Business.
“I am so honored to receive this recognition on behalf of the Russell-Kroese team. We started our firm with the idea that a well-rounded leadership group helps all stakeholders and this award will motivate us to grow even more in that direction,” said Kroese
A full list of winners is available at 2025 WISC Award Winners. Recipients will be honored at this year’s Women in Supply Chain Forum, set to take place Nov. 18-20, 2025, in Clearwater Beach, Fla. Go to www.WomenInSupplyChainForum.com to register and learn more.
About Food Logistics and Supply & Demand Chain Executive
Food Logistics reaches more than 26,000 supply chain executives in the global food and beverage industries, including executives in the food sector (growers, producers, manufacturers, wholesalers and grocers) and the logistics section (transportation, warehousing, distribution, software and technology) who share a mutual interest in the operations and business aspects of the global cold food supply chain. Supply & Demand Chain Executive is the only supply chain publication covering the entire global supply chain, focusing on trucking, warehousing, packaging, procurement, risk management, professional development and more. Food Logistics and Supply & Demand Chain Executive also operate SCN Summit and Women in Supply Chain Forum. Go to www.FoodLogistics.com and www.SDCExec.
About IRONMARKETS
IRONMARKETS, formerly known as AC Business Media, is a leading business-to-business media and buyer engagement platform with a portfolio of renowned brands in heavy construction, asphalt, concrete, paving, rental, sustainability, landscape, manufacturing, logistics, and supply chain markets. IRONMARKETS delivers relevant, cutting-edge content to its audiences through its industry-leading digital properties, trade shows, conferences, videos, magazines, webinars, and newsletters. It also provides advertisers the analytics, data, and ability to reach their target audience. Learn more at https://www.iron.markets.
About Russell-Kroese Partners
Russell-Kroese Partners (RKP) is focused on delivering value-focused solutions to the rail, logistics and real estate development sectors. The consulting group provides contract support and direct carrier negotiations, transload facility development, market studies, intermodal strategies, network optimizations, specific commodity support, financial analyses and sustainability support programs to companies in the extended commercial supply chain. Please visit www.russellkroese.com for additional information.
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