In
Eugene Zvolensky
Profile
Gene Zvolensky was a successful high school athlete who had a partial scholarship to play football at Purdue. He eventually decided to come to WVU. Originally he thought about studying mathematics until he learned that he would need to take a foreign language class. He transferred to engineering and selected Industrial Engineering because of its business emphasis.
Gene started off well in college, but things went downhill after he joined a fraternity. In fact he was suspended for a semester. Gene stayed on campus in Morgantown and worked at Summit Hall during his suspension semester. Getting married, finding friends to study with, and developing a serious academic attitude turned things around for Gene.
When Gene was ready to graduate, one of the faculty told him to show up at a local hotel at a given time. “You are going to meet your future employer”, he was told. The employer was Hershey.
Gene began his career working for the assistant to the President of Hershey. Early in Gene’s career, he was given assignments that were very advanced for someone his age.
Gene eventually moved to production planning. He grew the function to a material control function for all of Hershey. During this time, Gene developed a “home grown” version of MRP, one of the first such applications in American industry.
Gene eventually moved on from Hershey to become a senior executive at Tropicana where he had P/L responsibility for all logistics operations. This involved a budget of $250 million and a staff of 600 people.
Gene eventually helped Tropicana divest his functional responsibilities to others and retired in 2009. After 3 years of supply chain consulting, Gene was lured out of retirement to work for Glanbia Nutritionals, a company which provides supplements to branded products to make them healthier. Gene created their distribution function over a three year engagement. He still works for Glanbia part time.
Throughout his career, Gene has been an innovator in all aspects of the vital supply chain functions of the industries he has supported.
Bio
Gene Zvolensky is results-oriented and cost-conscious top operations executive with profit and loss responsibility as well as broad-based expertise in enhancing processes company-wide to capture dramatic savings. He evaluates operations, identifies avenues for improvement, and implements solutions to positively impact the bottom line. He builds and maintains strong working relationships internally and externally to achieve the core objectives of an organization. He cultivates an atmosphere of trust and collaboration, ushering in a future of teamwork and sustainable growth.
His positions of leadership include:
Glanbia Nutritionals – VP Supply Chain 2012-Present
Created the distribution functions for this fast growing health focused supplements company.
Tropicana Products Inc. / PepsiCo – 1996 – December 2008 (12 years)
Held financial P&L responsibility for all logistics operations, including transportation, warehousing, production scheduling, material requirements planning, customer logistics, order fulfillment, and all related systems’ data requirements. Managed an operating budget of $250,000,000. Directed 600 employees in three plants, five distribution centers, ten external warehouses, and co-packing operations.
American Italian Pasta Company – 1994 – 1996 (2 years)
Held responsibility for development of third-party logistics partnership, including oversight, management of construction, and start-up of two new distribution centers.
Hershey Foods/Pasta Group – 1987 – 1990 (3 years)
Held responsibility for financial performance of manufacturing division, six plants, including engineering, capital and facilities planning, and operational control. Directed total reorganization of plant management staff. Created technical function headed by divisional engineer to share most effective manufacturing procedures, capturing 2.5% reduction in costs.
Education:
West Virginia University, B.S., Industrial Engineering, 1970 Morgantown, West Virginia
