AFS Logistics’ chief analytics officer, Mingshu Bates, won one of the Supply & Demand Chain Executive’s 2022 Women in Supply Chain awards. At AFS, her work delivers real-world business value for clients and internal teams, and her leadership has helped spark the careers of promising logistics professionals at every stop in her journey. The work of Bates and her team contributes to the industry at large, such as the quarterly release of the Cowen/AFS Freight Index.

“The influence and reach of Mingshu and her team can be felt throughout AFS, our customers and beyond, thanks to her ability to translate massive data sets into actionable insights that support customers, the broader industry and our own internal initiatives,” Tom Nightingale, CEO at AFS, said. “On many occasions, more complex situations call for custom models to enable proper analysis – that’s when Mingshu and her team are called in to help AFS customers answer the toughest analytical challenges.”

Bates built the analytics team at AFS from scratch and guides them to apply analytical principles to all business functions. A major emphasis for Bates is creating opportunities for each teammate to grow, empowering them to lead projects and get direct exposure to senior leadership and customers.

“Rather than wallpapering everything with endless reports, Mingshu’s team provides insights for customers that prompt positive change. They combine a passion for numbers with an understanding of what makes the business and our customers tick,” Andy Dyer, president, transportation management at AFS, said. “As a leader, Mingshu stands out because she loves her work, enjoys mentoring and building her team, and upholds the AFS values of ethics, engagement and excellence in all that she does.”

Bates has participated in speaking opportunities from the IQPC Pricing Strategy Conference in Chicago in 2014 to more recent engagements as part of a panel at the 2018 D3 conference in New York City and the Armstrong & Associates 3PL Value Creation Asia Summit in 2021.