McKnight Distinguished Professor, Industrial & Systems Engineering Department: University of Minnesota

Saif is an internationally renowned leader in the field of operations management and supply chains. He is currently Distinguished McKnight University Professor at the University of Minnesota (one of the highest recognitions for a faculty member at the University of Minnesota). He is Director of the Initiative on the Sharing Economy, a university-wide initiative with participation from faculty in management, engineering, public policy, industrial ecology, and law. He is also Director of the Center for Supply Chain Research, Professor of Industrial and Systems Engineering, Senior Faculty Scholar at the Center for Transportation Studies, and Fellow of the Institute on the Environment. He was the founding Head of Pillar (at the rank of Dean) for Engineering Systems and Design at Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD), a new university established in collaboration with MIT. He was also Founding Director of the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering at the University of Minnesota (formerly the Program in Industrial and Systems Engineering) which he led through a transformation from a small graduate program into a full-fledged department.