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Alex Mortimer

Commercial Director at The Supply Chain Academy

London, United Kingdom

Alex Mortimer is a seasoned business leader with nearly 25 years of experience in business development, operations, and senior management roles across the commercial, university, and not-for-profit sectors. He currently leads Business Development at the Supply Chain Academy, part of the Uniserve Group, the UK's leading logistics and global trade management provider. He is also CEO & Founder of Safe Chain, a leading Supply Chain & Cybersecurity consultancy.

Throughout his career, Alex has worked with some of the world’s most respected companies, including AstraZeneca, Airbus, BAE Systems, Duracell, Pepsico, and many more. He has a proven track record in developing successful strategies to grow business units offering supply chain consultancy services, cybersecurity solutions, technology, executive education, university qualifications, and professional certifications.

Alex is widely regarded as a thought leader within the supply chain industry. He has been recognised as one of the top 25 Supply Chain Influencers on Social Media by SAP Centric Conference USA, and one of the top 50 by thinkers360.com and Scurri. His expertise and insights have led him to receive the prestigious British Citizen Award in 2022 for his contributions in supporting the UK supply chain during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Outside of his role at the Supply Chain Academy, Alex serves as a non-executive board member at the University of West London and an external senior lecturer at the University of Bedfordshire. He is also a sought-after speaker, regularly invited to present at universities and global conferences, including the US Military, where he has spoken about career pathways in supply chain and cybersecurity as military personnel transition to civilian life.

To further support the UK business community, Alex served as a Councilor on the CBI Board and Institute of Directors (IoD) for the East of England from 2016 to 2019.

Available For: Authoring, Consulting, Influencing, Speaking
Travels From: London
Speaking Topics: Global Supply Chain, Business development, building relationships and partnerships, negotiation, organisational development, action learning and appre

Alex Mortimer Points
Academic 45
Author 4
Influencer 127
Speaker 0
Entrepreneur 0
Total 176

Points based upon Thinkers360 patent-pending algorithm.

Thought Leader Profile

Portfolio Mix

Company Information

Company Type: Service Provider
Business Unit: Supply Chain
Theatre: Global
Minimum Project Size: Undisclosed
Average Hourly Rate: Undisclosed
Number of Employees: Undisclosed
Company Founded Date: Undisclosed
Media Experience: 10 years
Last Media Training: 04/11/2012
Last Media Interview: 10/23/2019

Areas of Expertise

AI 30.06
Analytics 30.04
Big Data 30.08
Blockchain 30.25
Business Strategy 31.78
Change Management 31.40
Digital Disruption 30.24
Innovation
Leadership
Management
Marketing
Procurement
Retail
Sales
Startups
Supply Chain 31.55
Sustainability

Industry Experience

Publications

1 Academic Whitepaper
Five Supply Chain Uses For A.I.
Forbes
November 18, 2018
Below are five potential AI capabilities, outlined on a recent Forbes website article, that could impact positively in the supply chain:

1. Chatbots

Automatic chatbots can be used to respond to enquiries and deal with regarding invoices and payments. Chatbots are a computer program or an artificial intelligence which conducts a conversation with a customer, usually through a website. They respond in conversational form from a database of preprogrammed questions and answers.

2. Cargo Sensors

AI systems are used in shipping lanes to respond to weather conditions, and shock sensors report back the status of sensitive cargo. AI and algorithms are being used to predict the cost of oil, which can have a huge impact on shipping costs. Logistics businesses are using sensors to track the location of ships, containers and trucks adjusting their routes when necessary.

3. Smart Warehouses

AI systems can automate the labor-intensive task of finding items to fulfill orders, including using robots armed with laser-based sensors (similar to technology used in autonomous vehicles) to find the exact location of products inside a store. AI can also be used to determine how to lay out a new warehouse, improve the design of an existing warehouse, update picking methods or optimize staffing levels for busy seasons.

4. Drone Deliveries

Drone deliveries can be faster and cheaper than existing logistics methods, making it worthwhile for delivery companies to find regulatory battles to make drones an accepted means of delivery in the U.S. Amazon launched Prime Air in December 2016 with the goal of delivering goods to customers in 30 minutes or less and has been successfully making autonomous deliveries in the UK. Ele.me, the meal delivery service owned by Alibaba, received approval from the Chinese government to use drones for food delivery along 17 predetermined routes in Shanghai suburbs.

5. Automated Purchasing Agents

AI agents can find potential deals and negotiate the best terms based on preset parameters in the market. A recent analysis by McKinsey predicts that by 2021, AI-based purchasing systems will also be able to draft and distribute an RFQ. They will also be able to receive and rank their responses, and once a contract is signed, the system will monitor to ensure terms and conditions are met. Humans will only need to get involved if a supplier fails to respond.

See publication

Tags: AI, Business Strategy, Digital Disruption

4 Article/Blogs
Big Data in the Burger Supply Chain
Supply Chain Academy, Forbes
February 04, 2020
Big data, along with blockchain and robotics, is widely recognised to be one of three key innovations to impact supply chains over the next few years.

Major organisations are already using big data in their supply chain stock management, especially for consumer products, and perhaps most notably at the centre of the world’s most famous burger supplier – Mcdonald’s.

McDonald’s is a giant fast food retailer, serving over 60 million customers, from 34,000 restaurants around the globe, on a daily basis. Selling over 6.5 million burgers every day, they generate vast amounts of data, so what do they do with that data?

McDonald’s have become a data driven organisation, where analytics form a major part of their supply chain process, driven by their Big Data Roadmap. McDonald’s creates multi-disciplinary teams to discover, develop and implement new solutions across the organisation, especially in the big data and analytics area.

In the past, they managed data which was based on average metrics across stores, making it more difficult to fulfil specific local requirements. Using big data supplied from thousands of touch screen devices, including the self service kiosk’s introduced to many of their restaurants, they are provided with much more insight in to what is happening locally.

The company has visualised this information, using datasets, to better understand the cause and affect across multiple stores, which has enabled them them to make significant savings and to manage their global supply chains more effectively.




In addition to supply chain analytics, Mcdonald’s processes big data through predictive analytics to find the optimal solution for design, information and people practices. They analyse masses of variables to improve the company and the customer experience, tracking in-store traffic, customer interactions, drive-through flows, ordering patterns, point-of-sales data, video data and sensor data.

Information derived from this data is used in variations of their menus and even in the design of their restaurants – McDonald’s restaurants around the world do not look the same, each restaurant is slightly different as they are optimised using the data from the local market.

McDonald’s is a good example of using big data to create the best experience for their customers and to make their supply chain more effective and efficient, although they are not alone in doing so.

See publication

Tags: Analytics, Big Data, Blockchain

Effective Communication in the Supply Chain
linkedin
July 19, 2019
Effective Communication in the Supply Chain

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Tags: Supply Chain

Three ways organisations can improve their supply chain
linkedin
January 20, 2016
Organisations are constantly facing new business challenges, undergoing profound change and being asked to shift direction in order to meet new and tougher customer expectations more than ever before.

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Tags: Supply Chain

I don’t want to be a Market Leader….
linkedin
November 16, 2015
How about you? Are you wanting to become a Market Leader or a Market Driver?
Offering an excellent customer experience must be paramount for the success of your business. Staff need to be fully engaged to ensure they look after your customers at every level.

See publication

Tags: Supply Chain, Customer Experience

1 Executive Director
Climbing the Sales & Operational Planning (S&OP) Maturity Ladder
Online
April 14, 2021
Why a robust Sales & operational planning (S&OP) process is essential for your business. Here, we give some pointers on how to climb ‘the S&OP maturity ladder.

See publication

Tags: Business Strategy, Change Management, Supply Chain

2 Influencer Awards
Why Your Warehouse and Inventory Teams Deserve More Than Just Gratitude—They Deserve Training
Linkedin
June 04, 2025
Investing in the Frontline of Supply Chain

Many warehouse, inventory, and procurement professionals face daily challenges—like shifting demand, stock errors, and supply delays—without ever receiving proper training. Through the fully funded Supply Chain Practitioner Programme, we’re helping businesses upskill their teams using the Apprenticeship Levy they already pay. No jargon, no fluff—just real, practical learning led by industry experts.

See publication

Tags: Supply Chain

Business success: Why a robust Sales & Operational Planning process is essential for your business
Business success: Why a robust Sales & Operational Planning process is essential for your business https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/business-success
October 29, 2020
The objective of any business is to increase profit year on year, underpinned by a business model that answers the key questions; ‘What will we sell?’, ‘To whom will we sell?’, ‘How will we operate?’ and ‘How do we produce an adequate return for our investors?’

S&OP is at the heart of all of these questions, as it essentially provides a common communication process for senior management to coordinate the various planning activities and to produce an overall business plan.

Here are 4 ways that S&OP can help your business.

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Tags: Supply Chain

2 Media Interviews
Innovation and Productivity
Alex Mortimer : Supply Chain Academy
February 05, 2020
On the podcast we talked about:
Why is thinking about Innovation crucial to business leaders?
What’s happening in the economy since the last podcast in January
How to implement change and innovate in the company to not become like a Toys R Us, Blackberry or Kodak
Looked at the impactions of Block Chain, Big Data, AI – what do these mean, how can they be used?
Practical tips on ‘changing the culture to become adaptive/agile’

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Tags: Big Data, Blockchain, Business Strategy

New trends in supply chain and logistics
Alex Mortimer : Supply Chain Academy
February 05, 2020
Alex and Ed discuss the following during the podcast:
New Trends in Logistics and Supply Chain
Given the uncertainty in business, with Brexit and changing customer behaviours – Logistics and supply chain are areas that organisations are looking at to improve and help reduce operating costs. Ed gave his view on this strategy.
There seems to be 6 major trends influencing the logistics industry in the future. Ed gave pointers on what strategic leaders need to think about with regard to these:
Skills
Globalization
A workforce that is technologically savvy
How consumers behave / trends in spending
Government objectives
Sustainability
In our previous podcasts we’ve talked about productivity, innovation and strategy, Ed gave his thoughts on what Aston and partners like the SCA are doing to help leaders:
Gain clarity to deliver strategic objectives
Generate practical solutions to create a competitive advantage through logistics and supply chain
Deepen their knowledge

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Tags: Supply Chain, Change Management, Business Strategy

2 Miscellaneouss
Climbing the Sales & Operational Planning (S&OP) Maturity Ladder
Supply Chain Academy
April 01, 2021
Why a robust Sales & operational planning (S&OP) process is essential for your business. Here, we give some pointers on how to climb ‘the S&OP maturity ladder.’

See publication

Tags: Business Strategy, Change Management, Sales

Business – Why a robust Sales & Operational Planning process is essential for your business
Supply Chain Academy
March 01, 2021
The objective of any business is to increase profit year on year, underpinned by a business model that answers the key questions; ‘What will we sell?’, ‘To whom will we sell?’, ‘How will we operate?’ and ‘How do we produce an adequate return for our investors?’
S&OP is at the heart of all these questions, as it essentially provides a common communication process for senior management to coordinate the various planning activities and to produce an overall business plan.
Here are 4 ways that S&OP can help your business....

See publication

Tags: Supply Chain, Change Management, Business Strategy

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