www.dcvelocity.com AUGUST 2017 DC VELOCITY 23
BY MITCH MAC DONALD, GROUP EDITORIAL DIRECTOR
THE DC VELOCITY Q&A
thoughtleaders
FOR SOMEONE TRAINED IN ACCOUNTING, SCOTT
Nelson has touched a lot of different areas of the healthcare
supply chain business over the past three decades. Although
he did begin his career in finance, he quickly
developed an interest in operations and went
on to serve in a variety of tactical roles before
moving into his present position as senior
vice president of supply chain at Cardinal
Health.
In his current capacity, Nelson oversees
national supply chain operations for the
medical segment of Cardinal Health. This
includes the transportation and distribution
of a vast portfolio of Cardinal Health-brand
and national brand medical/surgical products to healthcare providers and suppliers across the U.S.
Nelson first joined Cardinal Health in 1995 as a region
controller and worked his way up the organizational lad-
der, serving as director of operations at the company’s
pharmaceutical DC in Hudson, Wis.; director of customer
development in pharmaceutical generic product purchas-
ing; and director of healthcare supply chain
services. In 2009, he left Cardinal Health for
a six-year stint at Resource Optimization
and Innovation (ROi), an integrated pro-
vider-owned supply chain organization in
healthcare, where he held a variety of oper-
ational positions, including chief operating
officer, before rejoining Cardinal Health in
2015.
Nelson spoke recently with DC VELOCITY
Group Editorial Director Mitch Mac Donald
about the unique pressures of managing a
hospital supply chain, the five basic principles of logistics
excellence, and the one big logistics challenge the healthcare giant has yet to overcome.
As logistics challenges go, running a supply chain in the high-stakes healthcare
sector has to be near the top of the list. Scott Nelson of Cardinal Health keeps his
operation on track by following five basic principles of logistics excellence.
INTERVIEW WITH SCOTT NELSON
Cardinal rules for
supply chain excellence
