TAPA appoints advisory board to help shape its future in EMEA

Published: Thursday, August 13, 2020

The Transported Asset Protection Association (TAPA) has established a new Advisory Board in its Europe, Middle East & Africa (EMEA) region to spearhead its transformation into an end-to-end supply chain resilience organization under the leadership of President & CEO, Thorsten Neumann.

The four Advisory Board members are:

  • Gilad Solnik, Director Security & Loss Prevention, EMEA, Amazon
  • Michael Schmidt, Chief Security Officer, Volkswagen
  • Frank Ewald, Head of Corporate Security & Crisis Management, Deutsche Post DHL Group
  • Paul Linders, Global Head of Security, CEVA Logistics

Under its new organizational structure, TAPA EMEA will also retain elected Officers in the roles of Chair, Vice-Chair and Treasurer, namely Marcel Saarloos of HP, Jason Breakwell of Wallenborn Transports, and Ap Boom of Amazon respectively.

Thorsten Neumann said, “COVID-19 has placed more emphasis on supply chain resilience than ever before, and that’s why we are achieving record growth – but we plan to deliver much more. Our new structure retains the outstanding stewardship we have enjoyed from our Officers in recent years and now also injects the knowledge and expertise of highly experienced and respected Chief Security Officers representing some of the world’s biggest brands to inspire, sense-check and spearhead our growth strategy and digital transformation. The willingness of Gilad, Michael, Frank and Paul to join our new Advisory Board in EMEA reflects their personal commitments to achieving the very highest levels of supply chain security and resilience and promises significant benefits for our members as we move forward. We are proud to have executives of their calibre helping to shape our future.”

TAPA was founded in 1997 to help manufacturers and Logistics Service Providers minimize losses from their supply chains. In June 2019, the appointment of Thorsten Neumann as TAPA EMEA’s first full-time President & CEO, after his previous 13 years as Chairman, heralded the Association’s plans to shift from being managed solely by volunteers to a new professionally-led structure. It also signaled its intention to focus on all aspects of supply chain resilience to maximize the value of membership.

In the EMEA region, TAPA is now reporting all-time highs for the number of member companies, incident data and intelligence reports, and certifications for its Security Standards for facilities, trucking and secure parking.