Faculty Focus: April Potter brings supply chain lessons to life

A lemonade stand. A table built from LEGO bricks. The refrigerator at home.

For April Potter, Polk State College Professor of Supply Chain Management, each offers a way to help students understand an industry that touches nearly everything they use.

In her classes, students make purchasing decisions, manage inventory, and work together to improve production processes. The activities connect classroom concepts with practical challenges Potter knows from a 38-year career that began on a shipping dock and culminated in her role as Vice President of Supply Chain.

“What surprises many people is that the supply chain exists in every industry,” Potter said.

Her goal is to help students recognize those connections and see the careers they could build within the field.

“Professor Potter brings decades of industry experience into the classroom and helps our students put that knowledge to work,” said Polk State President Anastasios Kamoutsas. “Her approach reflects our commitment to workforce education that gives students practical skills and the confidence to pursue new opportunities.”

Potter’s own introduction to supply chain management came through a part-time job as a billing clerk on a shipping dock while she was in college. She expected to stay for the summer. Instead, she discovered an interest that would shape her career.

“Watching products move through the supply chain and knowing that our work helped place products in front of customers was fascinating to me,” she said.

When the company offered her a full-time position at the end of the summer, she accepted. Over the decades that followed, she also discovered how much she enjoyed mentoring, training, and developing others. After earning her master’s degree, she began thinking about teaching in retirement.

An encounter at Polk State brought that opportunity sooner.

While attending a database training class at the College’s Airside Center, Potter learned the College was launching a Supply Chain Management Program. She served as an adjunct instructor for 14 years before joining the College full-time in January 2026.

Today, she teaches courses in the Associate in Science in Supply Chain Management Program, including Introduction to Supply Chain Management and Purchasing and Inventory Management, as well as bachelor-level courses such as Purchasing and Supply Management.

“What I enjoy most is helping students truly understand what supply chain management is and discover the wide variety of career opportunities available within the field,” Potter said.

Making that work visible is central to her teaching. Even a refrigerator becomes a useful example: a household’s cold-storage warehouse, holding inventory that family members use and replenish.

In her Purchasing and Inventory Management course, a Lemonade Stand simulation gives students practice balancing customer demand with available resources. They make purchasing decisions, manage inventory, plan production, and solve problems together.

“As students work through the exercise, they quickly discover how interconnected business functions are and how one decision can create ripple effects throughout an organization,” she said.

A recent Introduction to Supply Chain Management class explored similar connections by working in teams to build LEGO tables and benches. The activity reinforced manufacturing concepts, process design, quality expectations, teamwork, and continuous improvement.

Potter also uses case studies, collaborative worksheets, and problem-solving exercises to give students opportunities to apply concepts and learn from one another.

At the end of her eight-week introductory course, she asks students to reflect on how their understanding of supply chain management has changed. When a student can look at something as simple as a coffee pod and suddenly recognize the sourcing, manufacturing, warehousing, transportation, and people involved before it reaches a coffee maker, that is what success looks like to her.

Potter also sees the longer-term results through graduates. During a recent visit with program alumnus Scott Williams, now Vice President of Distribution for HealthTrust Performance Group, Potter watched Williams lead a facility tour and explain the operations, improvements, and responsibilities he oversees.

“Seeing a former student who listened, learned, and built upon the foundation established in our program was incredibly rewarding,” she said.

Another proud moment came last spring, when the first students in Polk State’s Bachelor of Applied Science program with a Supply Chain Management concentration graduated.

Those milestones reflect what Potter hopes to help students achieve, beginning with the confidence to see themselves as professionals.

“Beyond the course content, I hope students gain confidence in themselves and their abilities,” she said. “I want them to leave with a strong foundation they can continue building upon throughout their careers.”