Neha Desai Shah is at the forefront of AI-first procurement and logistics systems
Neha Desai Shah is president and co-founder of GEP, a leading AI-first procurement and supply chain company. Based in New Jersey, her visionary leadership has propelled GEP to global prominence in their niche, where she shapes growth strategies while championing sustainability and more.
Shah’s stellar career has earned her awards like the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year for New Jersey in 2023. Her commitment extends beyond corporate success, as she actively serves on the boards of impactful organizations. As vice chair of Pratham USA, she contributes to global education initiatives. Additionally, her advisory role at the Kailash Satyarthi Children’s Foundation underscores her dedication to eliminating child labor in global supply chains.
Shah is a mother of three and an arts and culture enthusiast, with a position on the board at New Jersey’s McCarter Theatre. Gain insights into her journey in this SEEMA interview.
Could you share a bit about where you were born and your upbringing, and how your early experiences shaped your approach to leadership and business?
I was born in Edison, NJ, a few years after my parents came to the U.S. in the seventies. My parents were working-class immigrants, and we struggled to assimilate into the culture. But one thing I figured out was that I was good at school and taking leadership roles in school activities.
How that helped me later in life was to capitalize on my strengths and work across a very diverse group of people—ethnicities, immigration status, religion, socioeconomics, etc. But what I had to unlearn was that assimilation is not worth it at the expense of losing your authentic self. I started finding my authenticity in college and continue on that journey today.
Do tell us a bit about what GEP does. Also, can you take us to the beginning? What inspired you to co-found GEP, and what gap in the market did you envision filling when you embarked on this journey?
GEP is an AI-first supply chain company. We provide a digital platform and consulting services to help transform the supply chains of some of the largest companies in the world. Today we have 600 customers worldwide, over 6,000 employees, 30 global offices, and a business. We’ve had growing revenues and topline year after year on a double-digit profitable basis for the last 25 years (2024 is the 25th anniversary of the founding of the company).
But that is not how it started. I was a young, recent graduate working as a strategy consultant in NYC. It was the first dot.com boom, and one of my managers at Accenture approached me with a business idea to bring buyers and suppliers to transact on the “Internet.” It was an idea that lots of money was being poured into, and I decided to take the plunge at the age of 22 with my mentor and some others. It was more of a me-too strategy, and back then, we did not understand things like product-market fit, and our business model was way before its time. But what did work in our favor was sticking together as a team and facing inordinate obstacles with grit and ultimate determination.
We also had a very steep learning curve on how difficult it was to sell and how important it was to be customer centric. [We learned] not to get caught up in your idea or product, but rather how to pivot to meet the customer’s needs. We were able to survive the first few near-death experiences and create a complementary consulting services business while building our software business and exceeding the expectations of our customers.
As a pioneer in digital supply chain and procurement transformation, how do you see the role of AI and digital technology evolving to shape the future of global enterprises and their supply chains?
Most large enterprises have surprisingly old systems and complex processes to manage procurement and supply chain, which are very vital functions, as the whole world found out very explicitly during the covid-19 pandemic. The complexities have allowed companies like GEP to provide much needed and demanded technology and related services to transform these companies and have significant improvements in how companies match demand with supply, identify and conduct sourcing of direct and indirect materials, manage contracting, and reduce supplier risk, among many other areas.
AI has always been part of the equation for what we provide to our customers in terms of digitizing routine activities in procurement and supply chain processes. But now, with the general AI revolution we are experiencing, we are seeing new opportunities for companies to once again re-imagine and re-think procurement and the supply chain. Data has now become more valuable than ever, and there are opportunities to utterly simplify and transform complex ways of doing business and transactions with responsible and appropriate use of data with AI and ML.
What does a typical workday in the life of Neha Shah look like?
This is what a typical workday looks like (25 years in the company is very different than the startup days!)
5 a.m.: Review for the day and calendar ahead
Early morning workout and meditation
Drop off three kids at school
Calls, including one-on-ones with my direct reports, leadership management, business, and sales pipeline reviews
Lunch and downtime with strategic thinking
Afternoon: power nap, if required, and thinking about strategic issues for the company (by myself or with other founders).
Pick up kids from school, family time, and “Uber” time—driving the kids around for their activities
7 to 9 p.m.: Prepare for the next day and finish any critical items, including making sure I am up to date on emails for the day.
You’ve received several awards, including Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year. How do such recognitions influence your approach to leadership, and what advice do you have for aspiring entrepreneurs in the fields of procurement and supply chain management?
Awards are wonderful, but in my experience, it is hard work, struggle, and yes, the failures that ultimately provide the spark to keep going and gain future successes. I have learned it is important not to chase awards or rewards but rather to follow your intuition in life and entrepreneurship to make more good than bad decisions. And usually, things do work out pretty well.
You’re on the advisory board for Kailash Satyarthi Children’s Foundation, where you also act as a liaison for private laws addressing child labor in worldwide supply chains. How did this come about?
Through serendipity, I had the chance to befriend Kailash Satyarthi, who is India’s only Nobel Peace Prize winner. He has devoted his entire life to freeing children across the world from slavery, trafficking, and labor. He has become a mentor to me, and I am most proud of playing a liaison role between the important work on Kailashji (and similar organizations) and the corporate world.
There are trillions of dollars of transactions among corporations, and our ability to make corporate leaders aware of abuses in the supply chain and strategies to combat them is vital to eliminating this scourge from the planet. We have a lot more work to do, but I am happy to do my own small part.
Can you reflect on a key moment or challenge in your entrepreneurial journey that has significantly shaped your leadership philosophy?
It is difficult to pinpoint one moment, but here are two:
At a relatively young age, I was able to drive the biggest contract in the company’s history, which tripled the size of the company overnight. This taught me that if I have belief in myself and my team and I don’t let my age, gender, impostor syndrome, and other fears prevent me from trying, we can often achieve the unimaginable.
For so many years, we were focused on survival and then growth that I didn’t realize how unconscious bias was all around and was affecting diversity, equity, and inclusion in my company. When one of my direct reports was materially affected, I realized I needed to be the catalyst to make a change. Doing more good than harm and leading with moral clarity and consciousness is something that I try to practice in my leadership every day.
How do you balance your personal commitments, like those of your family, to causes like education and child labor with your leadership responsibilities at GEP?
I am in a privileged position to have lots of personal and professional support structures. That allows me to use my hours effectively during the day. I also have the flexibility to be at home with school-age children while my husband sees patients in the office, so that gives me a balance. I also attempt to never sacrifice sleep, exercise, or time with my kids. Everything else is fungible during the day or week.
When we were a startup, it was nearly impossible to balance anything except work 24 hours a day. I realize I have tremendous privilege now and that, at a minimum, every parent should have paid leave and childcare as a right in the United States, as exists in other countries.
