KINGSTON, R.I. – March 31, 2023 – Get the inside story from a University of Rhode Island alumnus about Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine supply chain that produced more than 5 billion doses and distributed them to more than 1.7 billion patients by the end of 2022.

Jim Cafone, Pfizer’s senior vice president of global supply chain, will explain during the spring Anthony J. Risica Lecture Series presentation on Wednesday, April 5, how the company successfully designed a supply chain for brand-new technology requiring a specialized, temperature-controlled transportation and distribution network—all in less than one year.

The free, public event at 4:30 p.m. will be held in the Higgins Welcome Center, Hope Room, 45 Upper College Road, Kingston Campus. Register for the lecture and reception to follow.

For Cafone, unlocking a vaccine for COVID-19 and getting it to as many people as possible, as quickly as possible, felt like a moral imperative. Learn how his team rallied to meet that unprecedented challenge. Cafone earned his bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering and his master’s degree in manufacturing engineering from URI. He also holds an M.S. in Technology Management from the University of Pennsylvania College of Engineering and the Wharton Business School. 

Cafone was recently named the vice president of global supply chain at Pfizer, reporting to Mike McDermott, chief global supply officer and executive vice president. In his prior role as vice president of Supply Network Design & Performance, Pfizer Global Supply, Cafone was responsible for business development, supply chain network design, Pfizer’s production system, operational excellence and Lean/Six Sigma, performance reporting, analytics, and decision science for worldwide supply.

Cafone has worked at Ford Motor Co., PricewaterhouseCoopers, Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, and Pfizer. Throughout his career, he has held senior line management positions within the manufacturing, supply chain planning, customer order management, physical distribution, customs compliance, integrated business planning, information technology, corporate and supply chain strategy, and business development. Connect with Cafone on LinkedIn.

The annual Anthony J. Risica Lecture Series invites prominent leaders in engineering and business to share their knowledge with the campus community and public. The series was established in 2003 with a generous gift from Anthony Risica ’‘78, a University of Rhode Island engineering alumnus.