David Simchi-Levi (

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

: דוד שמחי-לוי) is an American academic working as a Professor of Engineering Systems at

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...

. He is also the founder or co-founder of several companies. Simchi-Levi's research focuses on supply chain management, revenue management, and business analytics.

Education

David Simchi-Levi obtained his B.Sc. in Aeronautical Engineering at Technion Israel Institute of Technology in 1978 and earned M.Sc. and Ph.D. in Operations Research from Faculty of Management at

Tel Aviv University Tel Aviv University (TAU) is a Public university, public research university in Tel Aviv, Israel. With over 30,000 students, it is the largest university in the country. Located in northwest Tel Aviv, the university is the center of teaching and ...

in 1984 and 1987 respectively.

Career

He has been a lecturer in

(1984–1985) and

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

(1986–1987). He became an assistant professor in the Department of Industrial Engineering and Operations Research in

(1987–1991). He then joined

Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...

in 1993 as an associate professor in the Department of Industrial Engineering and Management Sciences, and was promoted to full professor in 1997. Now he is a professor in

. He was a co-director of Leaders for Global Operations (2003–2016), a dual degree program at MIT, and a co-director of ''Systems Design and Management'' (2003–2010).

Academic Work

David Simchi-Levi's publications have been cited 22516 times in total, with 65

h-index The ''h''-index is an author-level metric that measures both the productivity and citation impact of the publications, initially used for an individual scientist or scholar. The ''h''-index correlates with success indicators such as winning t ...

and 156 i10-index. He co-authored the book ''Designing & Managing the Supply Chain''. Simchi-Levi is the current Editor-in-Chief of

Management Science Management science (or managerial science) is a wide and interdisciplinary study of solving complex problems and making strategic decisions as it pertains to institutions, corporations, governments and other types of organizational entities. It is ...

and was the Editor-in-Chief for

Operations Research Operations research () (U.S. Air Force Specialty Code: Operations Analysis), often shortened to the initialism OR, is a branch of applied mathematics that deals with the development and application of analytical methods to improve management and ...

from 2006 to 2012.

Risk Exposure Model

David Simchi-Levi's Risk Exposure Model has pioneered a new approach to assessment of supply chain resilience and risk-tolerance. The work allows to quantitatively model and estimate the supply chain exposure to disruption and develop mitigation strategies. In February 2020, at the beginning of the COVID pandemic, Professor Simchi-Levi used the Risk Exposure Model to predict that supply chains in North America and Europe will stop by mid-march of that year
see HBR article
which is exactly what happened
see Fortune March 17, 2020
an

Subsequently, in April of 2020, he coined the term Supply Chain Stress-Test
see HBR article
which relies on the Risk Exposure Model. Today companies around the globe are using his approach to quantify the resiliency of their supply chain and develop mitigation strategies.

Entrepreneurship

Simchi-Levi was the founder of LogicTools which provided software and professional services for supply chain optimization. The company became part of IBM in 2009. In 2012 he co-founded OPS Rules, an operations analytics consulting company. The company became part of Accenture in 2016. In 2014, he co-founded Opalytics, a cloud analytics platform company focusing on operations and supply chain intelligence.

Recognition

He was elected to the 2006 class of

Fellow A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned society, learned or professional society, p ...

s of the

Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences The Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS) is an international society for practitioners in the fields of operations research Operations research () (U.S. Air Force Specialty Code: Operations Analysis), often s ...

. In 2020, he was awarded the prestigious INFORMS Impact Prize for playing a leading role in developing and disseminating a new highly impactful paradigm for the identification and mitigation of risks in global supply chains. In 2023, he has been elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering for contributions using optimization and stochastic modeling to enhance supply chain management and operations. In 2024, he was appointed to the William Barton Rogers Professorship at MIT. This chaired professorship is named after the founder and first president of MIT.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Simchi-Levi, David MIT School of Engineering faculty Living people Year of birth missing (living people) American academic journal editors American operations researchers Technion – Israel Institute of Technology alumni Tel Aviv University alumni Academic staff of Tel Aviv University Northwestern University faculty Columbia University faculty Fellows of the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences