David VanHorn is a professor in the practice of operations management and has taught at Rice Business since 2007. He created and leads the second-year Capstone course, a comprehensive applied-strategic planning course for the MBA-Professionals and Executive MBA programs that works directly with Houston community non-profit organizations on strategic challenges. And he designed and teaches a two-course elective series on Operations and Supply Chain Management.
VanHorn has over 20 years of hands-on experience in strategy/business development, operations, manufacturing, supply chain management, services management, and engineering/product development through both management consulting and industry positions. He is currently the managing partner for Angel Rock Management Advisors and prior to that was a partner/principal or director with Booz & Company, Archstone Consulting, and Deloitte. Before consulting, he was a principal engineer with the Boeing Company, where he served in multiple program management and technical roles on NASA’s Space Station and Shuttle/Mir programs. Over his career, he has worked with a broad range of companies in the aerospace & defense, oil field equipment, high-tech, heavy industrial equipment, consumer products, chemicals, and pharmaceuticals industries. VanHorn has been working extensively with the non-profit community for over ten years through leadership positions and the Capstone course. The 90+ community organizations with which he has experience span a range of causes such as education and childhood development, healthcare, social services, environment & conservation, and the arts. He has also been very active serving his alma maters, including as chairman of the Iowa State University Alumni Association Board of Directors, two-term president of the Jones Graduate School Alumni Association (JGSAA), and various leadership positions with the Iowa State University College of Engineering, the Association of Rice Alumni (ARA), and the Rice Business Partners at Rice University.
He also brings deep expertise across operations & supply chain management and a wide range of global experience addressing strategy development and operations improvement challenges, including: Strategy (global supply chain design; operations strategy; network design, turnarounds) Supply (sourcing; procurement; supplier relationship management) Planning (demand planning/forecasting; S&OP; capacity management; order fulfillment) Production (Lean/Six-Sigma Black Belt; scheduling; plant layout design) Logistics/Reverse Supply Chain (global trade; transportation, distribution/warehousing, returns) Service (field service; spare parts; Maintenance, Repair, & Overhaul operations) Product Lifecycle (new product introduction; engineering; product retirement) VanHorn received his M.B.A. from the Jones School in 2000. He earned a B.S. and M.S. in Aerospace Engineering from Iowa State University in 1989 and 1990, respectively, where he was a Honeywell Engineering/Business Fellowship recipient.