Leader Of ‘Operation Warp Speed’ General Perna To Keynote HIDA Streamlining Healthcare Expo & Business Exchange

Top supply chain official in the nation’s COVID-19 vaccine rollout to discuss experiences at healthcare supply chain conference in Chicago, Sept. 20-22

Alexandria, VA, June 23, 2022 – General Gus Perna, the four-star Army commander who led government logistics to develop, produce, and distribute COVID-19 vaccines, will keynote HIDA’s Streamlining Healthcare Expo & Business Exchange.

In July 2020 General Perna began leading Operation Warp Speed, a partnership between the departments of Health and Human Services and Defense that accelerated the development of a COVID-19 vaccine. He directed the manufacturing and distribution logistics. Perna previously served as commanding general of the U.S. Army Materiel Command managing the army’s global supply chain.

He helped “lead our nation through a war he probably did not envision when he joined the army in 1981,” said President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 coordinator Jeff Zients in an interview with Bloomberg last July.

General Perna will share the leadership principles, pragmatic tactics, and personal habits that helped Operation Warp Speed achieve a remarkable goal – delivering more than 390 million COVID vaccines in less than 12 months.

Join the conversation with General Perna on September 21 at 8 a.m. CST.

The Streamlining Healthcare Expo & Business Exchange takes place in Chicago, September 20-22. Registration is open and details can be found here.

About HIDA

HIDA is the industry trade association representing 118 distribution companies operating 500+ healthcare distribution centers across the care continuum nationwide. HIDA members deliver healthcare products and supplies, manage logistics, and offer customer services to virtually every healthcare provider. In 2020, they reliably delivered 51 billion units of PPE “the last mile” to providers. Visit HIDA.org.