Michelle Robbins, CMRP
Vice President, Product Development Lifesciences and Healthcare, DHL
Joined AHRMM in 1999
1. Please share your history of involvement with AHRMM committees/task forces/activities:
I have been a member of AHRMM for over 15 years and have served on the Issues & Legislative Committee, the Education Committee, the AHRMM Thought Leader Task Force, and the CRMP Job Analysis Committee.
2. Tell us more about your specific job responsibilities in your company/hospital/organization:
I am the Vice President, Product Development Lifesciences and Healthcare with DHL. The role requires both customer facing and internal focus, acting as an subject matter expert and advising teams on innovation, design, commercialization and implementation of hospital-focused products globally with a US focus on consolidated service centers.
3. How many years have you been in your current role; how many years in supply chain?
I have been with DHL in this role since 2015, but I have been in healthcare supply chain for over 30 years! (I started when I was 5).
4. What aspect of your job do you like best?
It’s a compilation of my 30 years of healthcare supply chain coming together in one position. My time and experience in logistics in the Air Force, my time in the Provider Materials seat, my time as a consultant (with a distributor), my sales and my technology background all coming together to support this new position and goals.
5. What is the most challenging aspect of your job?
Sometimes managing the travel, but at the same time I can’t imagine a job where I go back to a desk. Like many road warriors out there, I have a story or two to tell!
6. Who is your mentor/key influencer, and why?
My father! He was an amazing man that taught me from a young age that anything was possible and that I could achieve anything. In addition, he taught me every problem could be solved! You just had to stay determined and look at it from a few different angles.
I would also add to that Tim Gill, who I worked for at Owens and Minor. A man with a brilliant mind who values people, a combination I hope I can emulate.
7. What AHRMM board/committee/task forces/activity/experience stands out/is most memorable for you?
I would say it would be the latest work on the Thought Leader Task Force, helping to compile the report of the applications of the Cost, Quality and Outcomes (CQO) Movement across the healthcare field. It was moving to see so many real world examples from organizations from varying sizes of the supply chain contributing beyond their traditional role. I can’t wait to see what the next five to 10 years bring!
8. Why did you join AHRMM/what keeps you coming back?
The education and networking opportunities are tailored for healthcare. While I think it’s important to always consider outside industry, our end product (patients) will always be unique.
9. Name one AHRMM tool you “cannot do without”:
The AHRMM Connect! I love seeing not just the questions that come through but also the way we come together and answer and support each other. Invaluable!!
10. What are key AHRMM resources you use to leverage your supply chain processes?
11. What is the best part of being involved in your professional association?
I enjoy the annual conference, the networking and educational aspect. Getting to see old friends and colleagues and meet new! I value the chance to see how the supply chain is pushing the envelope and changing.
12. What is something most of your peers don’t know about you?
I proudly spent 15 years in the US Air Force (Medical Logistics) and spent seven of those years living and traveling in Europe. I was stationed at both Wiesbaden Air Force Base, Germany and Lakenhealth, England, and was able to travel all around Europe. I spent 10 days in the Egyptian desert in a tent and transported a full mobile hospital by semi from Germany to Denmark.
One of the fondest memories is my daughter starting her primary school in England, and when we came back to the States she had the cutest English accent!
I’d like to add HATS OFF to our military medical logistics family, we appreciate your daily sacrifice!!!
13. In my free time I like to:
I am an avid reader, mostly airplane reading. I use this time to give my mind a break and read fictional mystery novels, Lee Child, James Patterson, and Iris Johansen to name a few.
When I am home I concentrate on spending time with my family and dogs.
14. Personal Motto or Favorite Quote:
“When you can’t change the direction of the wind- adjust your sails” ~ H. Jackson Brown Jr.