About – Operation Stimulus

The Denver Transportation Club is proud to welcome universities from across North America to compete in a 2 day intensive Supply Chain and Logistics Case Study in beautiful DENVER, CO.

Since 1982, we've worked tirelessly to give young people more opportunities in the Supply Chain through challenging case study competitions. The Denver Transportation Club brings together the brightest young minds in the Supply Chain from around the country to test their supply chain acumen while simultaneously bringing in industry leaders and supply chain & logistics companies. This confluence of brainpower, industry champions, and the future of the supply chain is a UNIQUE opportunity for all involved and truly furthers the industry.

Our Mission

Deliver meaningful information to the industry with a slight slant to the eyes of the true practitioner and secondarily to develop an income source to fund a scholarship program for developing the next generation of Logisticians.

“Terry was a cheerleader for the industry he loved: transportation. He promoted the people in transportation and the industry through his efforts to further education in transportation. From his efforts to introduce high school students to the industry, to his efforts to raise money for college scholarships, Terry was always thinking, talking and promoting transportation. He belonged to and became an officer in almost every transportation organization at both the local and national levels. His most important contribution was his ability to engage the imagination of others about the possibilities of transportation and to involve them in the industry.

— Industry leaders discussing Terry L. Priest

The History behind Operation Stimulus

In 1982, C.D. Brown with ICX Corporation and John Betz who was the Director of Transportation for Coors Brewery, where the founders of this educational program. C.D. Brown had been trying over the years to expand the transportation education programs to include more students and to make the public more aware of the transportation industry, a goal shared with John. He and John had often held seminars for Jerry Foster a professor of Transportation Education at CU Boulder. C.D. had also been teaching at Emily Griffith School of opportunity where John was the Chairman of the Transportation Education Committee. In the fall of 1982 John, C.D., Jerry and his assistant Dr. Gwen Baker formed Operation Stimulus. Marla Marcott from Emily Griffith and Yvonne Parietti from Norfolk Western Railroad also helped launch the program.

For the first 5 years the sessions were held at CU Boulder in October because the Denver Transportation Club did not have any program events in the fall. In 1987 and 1988 Steve Katz and Greg Counts, who were also with Coors, took over and became the chairmen of the event. In 1989 Terry Priest, also with Coors, took over the leadership of the program. Terry’s support for Operation Stimulus continue for more than a decade and helped shape the event as it is today.

In the late 1990’s, a formal Student Case Competition Information was added and the date was changed to late January to accommodate the undergraduate schedules. In 2011, 16 universities across the U.S. and Canada will be attending and learning about transportation, logistics and the supply chain.

Although the content and schedule of Operation Stimulus changes year to year, the focus has always been to deliver meaningful information to the industry with a slight slant to the eyes of the true practitioner and secondarily to develop an income source to fund a scholarship program for developing the next generation of Logisticians. We look forward to another successful 30 years!

"Precision Logistics Inc. helped to compile information for the history of Operation Stimulus"