Saif Benjaafar

University of Minnesota

Saif Benjaafar is an internationally renowned leader in the field of operations management and supply chains. He has published ground breaking research that investigates how complex and global supply chains should be designed and managed. His work on sustainable supply chains introduced innovative ideas for reducing the environmental footprint of supply chains. His recent work on collaborative consumption is among the first to layout the foundation for the economic and environmental analysis of the sharing economy.

He is currently Distinguished McKnight University Professor at the University of Minnesota (one of the highest recognitions for a faculty member at the University of Minnesota). He is Director of the Initiative on the Sharing Economy, a university-wide initiative with participation from faculty in management, engineering, public policy, industrial ecology, and law. He is also Director of the Center for Supply Chain Research, Professor of Industrial and Systems Engineering, Senior Faculty Scholar at the Center for Transportation Studies, and Fellow of the Institute on the Environment.  He was the founding Head of Pillar (at the rank of Dean) for Engineering Systems and Design at Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD), a new university established in collaboration with MIT. He was also Founding Director of the  Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering at the University of Minnesota (formerly the Program In Industrial and Systems Engineering) which he led through a transformation from a small graduate program into a full-fledged department.

He was a Distinguished Senior Visiting Scientist at Honeywell Laboratories and a Visiting Professor at universities in France, Belgium, Hong Kong, China and Singapore.

His papers have been published in leading journals including Management Science, OR, and MSOM. His research has been funded by NSF, DOT, DHS, and DARPA in the US and by NRF and MOE in Singapore.  His research work and teaching have been recognized by numerous awards, including the Harold Kuhn Award, the MSOM Best Paper Award, the George Taylor Distinguished Teaching Award, and the IIE Fellow Award, among others.  He has consulted widely with leading companies and organizations such as Honeywell, General Mills, 3M, and the World Bank, among many others. He serves on the Technology Advisory Board of Keppel Corporation. His work was featured by major news outlets in the US, Asia, and Europe.

He Holds PhD and MS degrees from Purdue University and a BS degree from the University of Texas at Austin.