# Richard Atkinson Richard Atkinson works with Aston University’s Supply Chain Leadership Degree Apprenticeship, welcoming learners, supporting their development and connecting the programme with employers such as Aldi UK and CEVA Logistics. - Profile: https://b2binfluencer.marketing/creators/richard-atkinson/ - LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/richardharryatkinson - LinkedIn followers: 11,130 - Topics: leadership, supply-chain, supply-chain-resilience - Based on 11 dated posts, latest 2026-10-01 ## Summary Sharing updates on Aston University's supply chain degree apprenticeship, its learners, cohorts and employer partners. - Best for: A supply chain leadership programme or professional body recruiting apprentices and employer partners. - Not for: A supply chain software vendor seeking demo requests from senior directors through paid posts. - Check first: Ask for LinkedIn admin analytics or survey results by seniority, sector and location. ### Takeaways - The programme welcomes new cohorts and names incoming learners, with campus arrival times and expectations. - An Aldi UK visit links learners, alumni and food supply chain resilience. - A CEVA Logistics profile describes one apprentice's governance and compliance work for an aerospace client. ## Main ideas - **A degree apprenticeship should build leaders and networks for life, not just deliver a qualification**: Richard Atkinson argues that the apprenticeship is an interactive leadership commitment rather than a purely academic route. In the cohort welcome, the programme is described as a lifelong leadership journey and as 'so much more than a degree' because it develops supply chain leadership and advanced networking skills for life. New learners are asked to bring energy, enterprise and enthusiasm, setting an expectation of active participation from day one. - **Proof of the programme is a named person doing a specific job**: Richard Atkinson makes the case through close-ups of individual learners and alumni rather than rankings or cohort statistics alone. The posts name people, describe their responsibilities and connect those roles to the apprenticeship, turning programme claims into inspectable examples of work. - **Supply chains matter because they feed and connect society**: Richard Atkinson argues that supply chain work has public value beyond commercial efficiency. They connect employer operations to food security, household supply and essential services, presenting the apprenticeship as serving that larger purpose: resilient, effective supply chains matter to national and everyday life. - **Employer partnerships are active relationships, shown by visits and shared credit**: Richard Atkinson treats employer relationships as visible, two-way commitments rather than logos on a page. Site visits feature named hosts, learners and alumni, and partner companies receive credit for their role in the programme. The argument is that proximity to employers keeps the programme grounded in live operational problems. - **The programme sells career reach across sectors and seniority**: Richard Atkinson argues that the value of the network lies in where its people end up. The posts present alumni outcomes and sector breadth as evidence that the apprenticeship prepares people for senior supply chain roles across multiple industries. The pitch is network, knowledge and know-how carried across a career. - **The audience includes working supply chain professionals, not only new learners**: One post steps outside the apprenticeship frame to address practitioners directly. Richard Atkinson uses a short notice and a booking link to convene supply chain professionals in Birmingham and beyond, extending the public-facing role to events as well as programme updates. The network stays active beyond graduation and intake. ## Work to read - [A visit to Aldi UK's head office](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/richardharryatkinson_i-was-delighted-to-visit-aldi-uk-head-office-activity-7503054494994178048-pH3w) - [A close-up on one apprentice at CEVA Logistics](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/richardharryatkinson_superb-progress-an-excellent-day-with-activity-7505956752228610048-H5A-) - [Welcoming a new cohort to campus](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/richardharryatkinson_be-inspiredby-the-future-leaders-of-logistics-activity-7506360122730905600-ceKX) - [Celebrating the cohort and listing alumni outcomes](https://www.linkedin.com/posts/richardharryatkinson_future-leaders-of-logistics-join-aston-university-activity-7511360046946250752-xCnp) ## Brand relationships - **Aldi UK** (disclosed_partnership) - **CEVA Logistics** (disclosed_partnership) ## Partnerships Richard Atkinson's posts show them working through Aston University's Supply Chain Leadership Degree Apprenticeship, rather than selling standalone sponsorship or advertising packages. The partnership pattern is employer involvement in the programme itself: Aldi UK is described as an established higher education partner in Supply Chain Leadership, and CEVA Logistics as one of the programme's first partner companies. The programme is said to have grown ten-fold in five years, with new intakes of more than 50 colleagues who begin with three days on the Aston campus. Posts also show public-facing activity beyond the campus: an invitation to an afternoon event in Birmingham on 15 October for supply chain professionals, with an external booking link. Ask directly about terms, as the posts don't specify whether a packaged partnership offer is available. ## Alternatives - Nichola Saleh: Choose Saleh when the campaign needs a learner’s account of the apprenticeship rather than the programme’s own voice. In a June 2026 post, Saleh marks the final campus day of the BSc Supply Chain Management degree programme at Aston University, names the ground the group covered (operations, leadership, innovation, strategic supply chain management), explains the End Point Assessment and final workplace-based business report, and thanks Richard Atkinson by name for support. An earlier May 2026 post closes nine years at Kuehne+Nagel and describes the values Saleh tried to lead with: honesty, empathy, openness and helping people see their own potential. When the hard part of a brief is convincing someone that three years of study alongside a full-time job is worth it, that first-person answer is something the programme account can’t supply. - Matt Pumfrey: Choose Pumfrey when the buyer's decision changes from "should I join a degree apprenticeship" to "how do I get sustainability and supplier information into my procurement team's working day". Pumfrey writes for procurement practitioners from inside a product build. A September 2026 post argues that expecting "Dave in procurement" to become a prompt engineer just adds another job, and that prompts, architecture and governance should sit behind the scenes. A second September 2026 post uses the launch of Martin Chilcott's book "Get Sh*t Done" to describe the Scope 3 problem plainly (years and millions spent measuring supply chain emissions while the doing stalls) and to introduce Need2Know, a platform built over eight to nine months that puts supplier data, category knowledge and sustainability guidance into the procurement team's day-to-day work. Same audience, different job: a short course, tool or campaign aimed at working procurement teams fits Pumfrey's framing more closely than a degree recruitment campaign. --- AI-assisted summary of public posts. Audience demographics are not available. Engagement appears only where we checked recent posts. Method: https://b2binfluencer.marketing/methodology/