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Healthcare Supply Chain Leadership Hall of Fame to honor 2 in its Future Famers Class of 2026 during November event

SCHAUMBURG, IL (April 06, 2026) — Bellwether League Foundation's Healthcare Supply Chain Leadership Hall of Fame™ will recognize and welcome two professionals into the Future Famers Class of 2026 this fall. They join 45 earlier recipients of this notable honor.

The Hall of Fame's Future Famers recognition honors supply chain professionals making significant contributions to their organizations and industry during the first decade or so (up to 12 years) of their careers.

The Future Famers Class of 2026 includes the following professionals: Megan Jarrell, MHA, Director, Supply Chain Finance and Analytics, Advocate Health, Charlotte, NC; and Javier Rodriguez, Director, Materials Management, University of Texas Southwest Medical Center, Dallas.

This duo represents the latest examples of the next-generation supply chain leader with deep ties in the clinical and information technology realms that motivate colleagues to unite around a common mission and vision during daily operations that can be riddled with crises and disruptions.

The Future Famers Class of 2026 will be recognized at the 19th Annual Bellwether League Foundation Induction & Recognition Event (BLFIRE), scheduled for Monday, November 16, at Georgia Southern University's Armstrong Center, Savannah, GA.

"On behalf of Bellwether League Foundation, we congratulate the 2026 Future Famers for continuing to lay a strong healthcare supply chain leadership foundation," said Barbara Strain, Bellwether Class of 2021, and BLF Board Chairman. "Each year they continue to raise the bar as they help all of us deal with what is on the horizon. Congratulations Megan and Javier!"

Gary Rakes, Bellwether Class of 2021, BLF Advisory Council Chairman and Nominating Committee Co-chair, agreed. "We recognize two outstanding leaders whose dedication, innovation and commitment to our profession helps shape the future of our healthcare supply chain," he said. "As the newest members of the Future Famer classes, may these two honorees continue to cultivate excellence, strengthen resilience, and inspire progress — always ensuring the right products reach the right people at the right time to promote healing and positive clinical outcomes. The future of healthcare is brighter because of their vision and leadership. Congratulations to Megan and Javier as 2026 Future Famers."

Future Famers Class of 2026

Megan Jarrell uses data as a constructional foundation to flip adversity to opportunity and success. During a weather-related product shortage, Jarrell led her team to create an enterprise-wide analytics infrastructure that used historical supply and forecasted demand to fuel conservation and replenishment efforts. This incident alone motivated her to concentrate efforts on supply chain resiliency that enabled her organization to face any crisis or disruption with minimal interruption of operations and patient care. Jarrell created supply chain's financial reporting dashboards that are used in the hightest administrative and clinical levels of the organization to monitor outcomes in such areas as performance to budget, key performance indicators (KPIs) that include supply expense per net operating revenue and a variety of clinical utilization metrics. Jarrell's dashboards have represented not only supply chain's operational performance but also provided the C-suite with an intuitive roadmap updated daily on adminstrative, financial and operational decisions and outcomes and facilitated modeling for her organization's next-generation integrated service center.

Javier Rodriguez knows how to take care of his supply chain team, realigning staff to better-defined roles and positions that matched their strengths and career aspirations and led to improved focus and efficiency in daily operations, due in part to increased job satisfaction, retention and engagement. Rodriguez also launched a focused overtime reduction initiative that reduced expenses through continued monitoring, strategic planning and team engagement. Further, he used comprehensive data analytics to improve and optimize inventory management within limited storage space to reduce emergency orders significantly. Rodriguez also initiated a digital labeling pilot program to provide better visibility on inventory and to improve order accuracy. This effort also fueled an expired product initiative to reduce waste and increase recovery value.

About Bellwether League Foundation

Bellwether League FoundationTM (BLF) is an independent 501(c)3 nonprofit charitable organization that offers programs to educate, endow and evaluate professionals in healthcare supply chain performance excellence. BLF accomplishes this through its primary operation, the Healthcare Supply Chain Leadership Hall of FameTM, its growing philanthropic efforts, which include Collegiate Capstone Projects and scholarships and its various multimedia properties.

The Healthcare Supply Chain Leadership Hall of Fame evaluates and validates professionals submitted for consideration in its three award programs: Bellwether Honorees, Ammer Honorees and Future Famers. The Hall of Fame also offers educational and professional development content via the annual Bellwether Leadership Symposium and its "Leaders & Luminaries" multimedia properties of online and printed content.

The Hall of Fame selects deceased, retired and currently active professionals with a minimum of 25 years of exemplary service and leadership performance in supply chain operations that meet its criteria to be recognized publicly as Bellwether Class Honorees.

Future Famers represent supply chain professionals early in their healthcare careers (first 10- 12 years) who do not yet qualify for Bellwether consideration but have contributed meaningfully to the profession and industry.

Honorees who receive the "Dean S. Ammer Award for Healthcare Supply Chain Performance Excellence" represent noteworthy executives and professionals in the middle of their careers who, through their innovative leadership and influential project management experience, best exemplify the practice and spirit of healthcare supply chain performance excellence.

To date, the Healthcare Supply Chain Leadership Hall of Fame has inducted 148 innovators, leaders and pioneers in healthcare supply chain management in seven distinct categories: Provider- Based Supply Chain Management, Manufacturing, Distribution, Group Purchasing, Consulting Services, Academia and Media. The Hall of Fame also has recognized 42 Future Famers and six Ammer Honorees.

BLF's philanthropy efforts support capstone educational and developmental projects, grants and scholarships to college-bound high school students who plan to study supply chain curricula, current college students who major in supply chain-related careers and professionals who pursue continuing education through associations and universities.

BLF salutes its six sustaining sponsors at the Founding/Platinum level — GHX, HealthTrust, Owens & Minor, Premier, Vizient and Wingfoot Media — and more than 21 additional sustaining sponsors at the Gold, Silver and Bronze levels. This is a dedicated group that represents manufacturers, distributors, group purchasing organizations (GPOs), integrated delivery networks (IDNs), consulting firms, associations and media outlets. BLF also appreciates and thanks its devoted corporate and professional donors for their generosity, participation and partnership.

Launched in late July 2007 by a group of influential veterans in the healthcare supply chain industry, Bellwether League Foundation began as a 501(c)(6) not-for-profit corporation that upgraded to a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization in January 2021.