Nicholas Little

Nick Little is Managing Director of the Railway Management Program at the Eli Broad College of Business at Michigan State University. Nick has extensive industry and international experience in Railways, Supply Management and Supply Chain Management.

After completion of British Rail's prestigious Supplies Management Training Scheme, he worked within the UK Railway industry and its subsidiaries in Derby and London. He then moved to the UK Post Office where he established a regional and business unit supply management organization and led a complete review of both internal and external Post Office supply chains reducing annual operating costs by 25% in two years and achieving a recurrent annual saving over £10 million ($16 million). Nick also was involved in internal education and development.

Nick has a Bachelor of Arts in Business Studies from Ealing CHE in England and, professionally, is qualified MCIPS (UK Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply) and CPSM from ISM (US)

Since joining MSU in 1995, Nick has led work on a number of benchmarking/research projects, including Supply Chain Performance, Procurement Strategy Development/Implementation, and Indirect Purchases. In addition Nick compiled a Strategy Focus Report on Services Purchasing.

Nick chaired the Supply-Chain Council's North America Leadership Team, Supply Chain World - North America Conference & Exposition (Baltimore, MD, May 2011) and tracks at several of their annual conferences. Nick was an elected member of the APICS Education & Research Board, serving as Treasurer and Company Secretary.

Nick is passionate about people development and their role in delivering competitive advantage for their employers. A founding member of the global Supply Chain Talent Academic Initiative, he has working globally with industry, academia and professional bodies to close the gap in supply chain talent supply and demand in terms of quantity and quality.

Throughout his career, Nick has designed, developed and delivered training at managerial and executive levels for purchasing and other operational and administrative staff groups. Nick brought that valuable industry-based expertise to complement the academic strengths of Michigan State University faculty as a key member of its Executive Development Programs group, specializing in customized programs and client relationships covering supply chain management globally.

Nick has assumed leadership of the Railway Management Certificate Program and new programs, workshops and seminars as part of the Railway Research and Education team. In this role, he brings his extensive knowledge of railways and their management into play.