Dan Bell

SVP, Drug Supply, Storage, Distribution & Advanced Therapies Marken, UPS Healthcare Precision Logistics

Dan Bell, Senior Vice President, Drug Supply, Distribution and Advanced Therapies, joined Marken in 2003 and is a licensed U.S. Customs Broker and Certified Customs Specialist with more than 26 years of experience in life sciences logistics and temperature-controlled supply chains. He has served as a liaison among clients, customs authorities, and regulatory agencies, helping ensure the highest levels of compliance. His extensive knowledge has supported the development of import strategies that reduce turnaround times, optimize costs, and meet mission-critical objectives. As regulatory scrutiny continues to intensify across the supply chain, Dan's experience remains essential in helping meet the requirements of the recently updated Good Distribution Practice guidelines for pharmaceutical transport and related standards.

Operationalizing Innovation: Delivering Future-Ready, Responsible, and High-Performing Supply Chains

8:40 AM Chairperson's Opening Remarks

9:50 AM Keynote Panel: Securing the Pharma Freight Network: Tools, Threats & Tactics for 2026

As theft, tampering, counterfeiting, and cargo diversion surge across global trade lanes, freight security has become a critical pillar of pharma supply chain resilience. With high-value products, temperature-controlled shipments, and increasingly complex distribution networks, pharmaceutical companies face escalating threats and growing pressure to modernize their security strategies. In this candid, solutions-oriented discussion, senior supply chain leaders will explore how to protect high-value freight across every mile of transit. From mitigating organized cargo theft to improving visibility and chain-of-custody integrity, this panel will share practical approaches and emerging tools needed to safeguard product, brand, and patient trust.

Implement real-time visibility and chain-of-custody tools to proactively detect and prevent shipment risks.
Strengthen security protocols across carriers, 3PLs, and high-risk lanes through standardized SLAs and partner accountability.
Mitigate emerging threats with risk-based freight security strategies aligned to product value, temperature requirements, and regulatory expectations.

4:00 PM Panel: Rewriting the Pharma–Courier Partnership: Cost, Capacity & Collaboration for Next-Gen Therapies

As personalized, low-volume, high-value therapies like CAR-T and cell & gene treatments scale, both manufacturers and specialty couriers are facing unprecedented cost and capacity pressures. While these therapies are medically transformative, their logistics requirements, ultra-cold conditions, patient-specific handling, and ad hoc routing, can make transportation prohibitively expensive and operationally inefficient. This panel brings together pharma leaders and key specialty providers to unpack how both sides can rethink partnership models, cost structures, service design, and shared incentives to ensure these therapies remain viable, accessible, and sustainable.

Align pricing models and service expectations by building transparent, long-term partnerships that reflect true volume, risk, and operational complexity
Optimize cost drivers by exploring shared capacity, hub strategies, and alternative service designs that reduce reliance on one-off, high-cost lanes
Collaborate earlier in therapy and network design to ensure courier capabilities, manufacturing realities, and patient needs are integrated into a scalable, affordable logistics model