DAY THREE: Richard D. Rich, C.P.M., Awarded J. Shipman Gold Medal Award

Since 1931, ISM has awarded an individual annually with the profession’s highest honor, the J. Shipman Gold Medal Award. It was today during a ceremony at ISM’s 94th Annual International Supply Management Conference and Educational Exhibit that this year’s recipient accepted his award: Richard D. Rich, C.P.M., director of enterprise risk management for Seminole Electric Cooperative, Inc. in Tampa, Florida, and former president from 1998 to 1999 of what was then NAPM.

In his 35-year career, Rich has worked in a variety of purchasing and supply management positions. His early career involved managing contracts and purchases of food and pharmaceuticals for state institutions for the State of Wyoming. He later was appointed by then-New York City Mayor Edward Koch to assistant commissioner of procurement for the five boroughs of New York City. However, it was his move in 1982 to Seminole Electric Cooperative in Tampa, Florida where Rich spent the majority of his career.

Rich’s involvement at the association level is equally impressive. He was an instrumental figure in transitioning the National Association of Purchasing Management’s governance process to the current Institute for Supply Management™ governance and operating process. During his tenure as both president-elect and president of NAPM, Rich chaired the committee responsible for establishing the first-ever NAPM Five-Year Strategic Plan and spearheading the leadership that eventually adopted initiatives related to the strategic plan, including changing the name of NAPM to the Institute for Supply Management™.

The J. Shipman Gold Medal Award is the highest award within the power of ISM to confer. ISM joins the members of the 2008-2009 J. Shipman Gold Medal Award Selection Committee – Thomas H. Slaight; Aaron D. Dent; Timothy R. Fiore, C.P.M.; R. David Nelson, C.P.M., A.P.P.; and Norbert J. Ore, CPSM, C.P.M. – in congratulating Richard D. Rich, C.P.M., on this prestigious award. The J. Shipman Gold Medal Award was created by the Purchasing Management Association of New York in 1931 to honor Johnson Shipman, a pioneer in the profession.