Zal Phiroz

Career Highlights

Zal Phiroz has extensive industry experience, having worked with companies like TELUS and Procter & Gamble, as well as serving as a subject matter expert for the District and Superior Courts of California and Louisiana. He has held faculty appointments at prestigious institutions such as Michigan State University's Broad School of Business, the University of Southern California's Marshall School of Business, and Harvard University's Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.

Academic Experience

Phiroz has served as an Assistant Professor (Term) in Supply Chain Management at Michigan State University's Eli Broad School of Business since August 2019. In this role, he has instructed and developed senior-level undergraduate and MBA courses in Business Analytics, Supply Chain Analytics, and Supply Chain Management. He has collaborated with industry partners like Netflix, Google, and IBM to ensure course content alignment with market trends and industry recruitment standards.

From October 2014 to August 2019, Phiroz worked as an Assistant Professor and Lecturer in Operations and Data Analytics at the University of Southern California's Marshall School of Business. He developed and instructed compulsory junior and senior-level undergraduate, MS, MBA, and OMBA courses in Operations Management, Management Consulting, and Data Analytics for Decision Making.

Between April 2013 and August 2018, Phiroz served as an Assistant Professor (Term) in Supply Chain Management and Data Analysis at Harvard University's Graduate School of Arts & Sciences. He developed and instructed graduate courses in Supply Chain Management and Operations, implementing case analysis and hosting Fortune 1000 C-suite guest speakers.

Industry Experience

Since April 2010, Phiroz has been the Founding Partner of Pier Consulting Group Inc., collaborating with medium and large corporations on various areas of data analysis, including sustainability, global logistics, supply chain management metrics, marketing segmentation, and forecasted demand simulation. He has provided predictive modeling, demand projection through regression analysis, and expert witness testimony on product liability.

From September 2007 to March 2010, Phiroz worked as the Senior Manager of Market Planning (North America) at Procter & Gamble Co. He managed national and international supply chain projects, demand forecasting, process customization, resource usage, and high-level market analysis across Procter & Gamble's product portfolio.

Between October 2005 and May 2007, Phiroz served as the Manager of Business Programs in Trade Marketing at TELUS Communications Inc. He developed business programs within the TELUS data portfolio, managed marketing objectives, and developed sales programs using classification and projection regression simulation.

Education and Professional Credentials

Phiroz holds a PhD in Philosophy (Dissertation: Hierarchical Decision Making Patterns for the Placement of Physical Supply Chain Entities) from the University of Cape Town's Graduate School of Business, an MBA in International Marketing from Wayne State University's Ilitch School of Business, a BS (Hons) in Computer Information Systems from the University of Windsor's School of Computer Science, and a BCS in Computer Science from the same institution.

He is also a Certified International Procurement Manager (CIPM), Certified International Supply Chain Manager (CISCM), and Certified International Supply Chain Planning Manager (CISCPM) from the International Purchasing and Supply Chain Management Institute.

Honors and Awards

Phiroz has received the Golden Apple Award for Clinical Faculty from the University of Southern California in 2016 and the Dean's Award for Community Development from the same institution in 2017.

Presentations and Publications

Phiroz has delivered presentations and keynote speeches at various events, including the School for Startups Radio, the University of Windsor's School of Computer Science, Intermodal 2018 in Sao Paulo, the Private Wealth Management Forum in Newport, the ByPi General Forum in Istanbul, and TEDxVanderbijIPark in Johannesburg. He has also published his PhD dissertation titled "Hierarchical decision making patterns for the placement of physical supply chain entities" through the University of Cape Town.