DSSI Leadership Team

B.P. Thacker, or "Thack" is president, CEO, founder and primary stockholder of DSSI. In this role, Thack sets the strategic direction for the company. Prior to founding DSSI, he founded and directed the activities of several computer-related businesses, ranging from computer leasing and financing to distribution services. He also held the position of Vice President of Administration at CONNA, a convenience food store franchise. Thack got his start as a Marketing Representative for IBM, achieving IBM's 100 percent club status annually and was awarded the highly prestigious Eagle Award, recognizing him as one of IBM's top ten salespersons in the nation. Thack leads DSSI by example in its philanthropic efforts by investing in educational, health-related and technology organizations through his charitable organization, called The Empowerment Foundation.

Gary Miller is one of the original employees of DSSI and is responsible for the management of accounting, finance, and information systems at DSSI. Gary also directs the planning, developing, and maintenance of the company's systems, processes and procedures. Before joining DSSI, Gary served as Vice President of CSG, Inc., a computer financing company, where he was responsible for the company's financial systems and integration with client systems. He also held the role of VP and General Manager for Financial Opportunities, Inc. where he managed a $10 million loan portfolio for an SBA licensed small business investment company and successfully obtained an additional $4 million of SBA funding. Gary also played a role in GE's corporate audit staff.

Dennis is responsible for DSSI's service operations which includes category management, purchasing, order fulfillment, professional consulting services and marketing. Dennis helps lead the long-term strategic direction of the company and serves on both the Executive and Operating Committees. Dennis has held several key roles during his DSSI tenure and was the driving force behind many company initiatives including the evolution of the e-commerce-based buying model and the creation and launch of the multi-customer operating structure. Prior to joining DSSI, Dennis held several positions within Ford Motor Company, including as a member of the Purchasing Global Reorganization Transition Team. Prior to Ford, Dennis held a variety of positions drawing on his accounting and financial expertise including an accounting role with Dow Corning-Wright.

Heidi joined DSSI in 2016 and is responsible for helping to define and lead the growth strategy for both new and existing customers across all industries globally. In this role, Heidi leads a sales team that works to understand the needs of large manufacturers and supply chain trends in order to develop and communicate the value proposition of DSSI's Source-to-Pay and Tail Spend services. Heidi has held previous similar roles within DSSI including Global Sales Executive and Director of Global Sales and Marketing. Prior to joining DSSI, Heidi worked for xpedx (now Veritiv) in several roles including Outside Sales and Group Price Manager. In this last role, Heidi helped to develop and implement a new distributor pricing model in the U.S.

Kavita joined DSSI in 2000 and plays a key role in DSSI's Executive Team, focusing on the long-term strategic goals for the company. She leads DSSI's Personnel Committee which works to navigate the ever-changing workforce environment, including developing initiatives to support, retain and grow our valued team members. Kavita places a high priority on ensuring the well-being of its employees as well as the company's charitable endeavors. She is proud to lead the "DSSI Cares" initiative which encourages employees to share in the company’s approach to Social Responsibility through donations of time and money to causes they hold dear including the Make-A-Wish Foundation, Michigan Humane Society, Alzheimer's Association and Nase Mesto to name a few. Kavita has held many roles within DSSI including Program Manager, Purchasing Controller and Office of the President.

As executive director, Amit leads the global development and execution of DSSI's IT strategy that supports company's objectives through the integration of process efficiencies and technological advancements. He oversees the company's enterprise-wide application portfolio, which includes the different modules that support the source to pay, order management, accounting and data analytics applications. He is focused on defining and meeting the growing transformation needs of our clients and internal stakeholders and improving collaboration in the supply chain and commercial business process areas. He has been recognized for optimizing existing programs and developing new strategies to maximize customer satisfaction and generating value for customers, evolving the tools, capabilities, and partnering with cross functional teams to drive technical product improvements. He has a history of helping large manufacturing companies establish long term vision for improving business processes & implementing procurement strategies that generated tangible cost savings by leveraging data and analytics to derive actionable insights. Prior to joining DSSI, Amit worked as a consultant for Ranal, where his software consulting engagements included high-visibility projects at Worldspan and Galileo (now owned by Travelport, a global provider of travel technology and information for travel agents). He also worked for Crompton Greaves India Ltd as a software engineer, where he was instrumental in transforming their GenRad equipment testing methodology.

Leslie Lenhart is responsible for managing DSSI's client purchasing services for several major accounts. This role includes managing DSSI performance, meeting our clients' planned goals and objectives with customer specific strategies and acting as the liaison with customers' executive management. With 25 years of experience at DSSI Leslie has been instrumental in launching several of DSSI's most important clients. In addition, Leslie has lead DSSI's ISO certification for the past 15 years continuing to raise DSSI’s quality standards to meet the newest ISO 9001:2015 requirements. She’s played significant roles in Business Development and Sales, Business Process Development, Global Strategic Sourcing, and lead our Purchasing team. Prior to joining DSSI, her experience included time at USCC as Director of Purchasing and she has held a variety of other positions drawing on her purchasing experience. Leslie has remained active in her community including being awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award from Kentucky's PTSA board.

Dua'Juor Autrey-Nill is responsible for managing DSSI's client purchasing services for several major clients where she focuses on assisting clients by improving their bottom-line results and driving operational efficiencies. This role includes managing DSSI performance, meeting our clients’ planned goals and objectives with customer-specific strategies, and acting as the liaison with the customers' executive management. Dua'Juor began her career at DSSI in 2000 and has held many roles, including that of Senior Buyer for the Industrial and Electrical Commodity, Client Manager and Client Executive. Dua'Juor played an instrumental role in helping launch DSSI’s EU operations in 2014. Prior to DSSI, Dua'Juor worked for Daimler Chrysler, where she was a Purchasing Specialist, managing Tier 1 service spend in the Brake and Exhaust Systems category.

Brian is responsible for managing DSSI’s client purchasing services for several major clients where he focuses on assisting clients by improving their bottom-line results and driving operational efficiencies. This role includes managing DSSI performance, meeting our clients' planned goals and objectives with customer-specific strategies, and acting as the liaison with the customers' executive management. Brian joined DSSI in 2003 and has held various positions in Purchasing and Client Management. Brian was named one of Supply & Demand Chain Executive's "Pros to Know" in 2015 for his work in supporting DSSI's EU operations.

As DSSI's Executive Director of Purchasing, Michael leads two critical teams. The first is focused on developing and implementing our strategic category management activities across DSSI's entire customer base, which includes ensuring our customers get market competitive pricing and overall supply chain reliability. The second is focused on the execution of DSSI's daily tactical purchasing operations in North America on behalf of its customers. Michael joined DSSI’s predecessor company in 1998 and has held many key positions such as Global Director of Category Management, Purchasing Director, and Director of Strategic Sourcing. Prior to that, Michael served in many roles at General Motors including Purchasing Supervisor, Lead buyer for Cutting Tools and Abrasives globally, Senior MRO Buyer and Material Scheduler at a plant level. All these prior roles allow Michael to bring the "plant floor" perspective to what DSSI does every day to ensure we're meeting both strategic and transactional imperatives.

John Buchanan is responsible for development and support of DSSI's "back office" applications. John has over 45 years of experience with IBM's mid-range computer systems and over 22 years of experience managing DSSI's mid-range system and staff. Prior to joining DSSI in 2000, John was the I.T. Manager for Southern Graphic Systems (SGS), a subsidiary of Reynolds Metal Co. at that time. Before working for SGS John was a systems analyst for Conna, a convenience food and gasoline store franchise. John also worked as a software systems analyst and developer for two consulting firms in Louisville, KY.

As the Director of Category Management at DSSI, Mike manages a team that is responsible for defining DSSI's overall sourcing strategy across North America. This includes understanding the capabilities of a multitude of suppliers across many commodities, taking on regular cyclical bidding to ensure market competitive pricing and thoughtfully consolidating the preferred supply base to deliver a comprehensive indirect materials strategy to DSSIs customers. Mike joined the company in 1998 and has held several roles including Client Management, Director of Sourcing Strategy and Business Unit Director. Prior to DSSI, Mike worked for Environmental Research, where he held several professional buying roles including Subcontract Manager and Buyer for their largest division.

In her role as Global Controller, Debra oversees the daily operations of the financial, accounting, and human resource departments. Debra coordinates with the management team to ensure DSSI can meet its goals for business development, service delivery and continuous improvement by focusing Human Resource policies, company benefits, and the financial systems required for financial reporting and planning. Debra joined the company in 2022. Prior to DSSI, Debra held the role of Chief Financial Officer for 13 years at LPW & Companies, a privately owned company. In this role, she oversaw all areas of accounting, corporate finance, analytics, treasury, and budgeting.