Christopher Gopal

Dr. Gopal has over 40 years of experience in global supply chain, operations and technology. He has held executive positions at several leading companies, including Partner & Director of Global Supply Chain & Operations Services at Ernst & Young Consulting, VP in World-Wide Operations at Dell Computer, as well as executive VP positions at Unisys and SAIC. His consulting clients have included prominent global and regional companies across a range of industries, including high technology and electronics companies, consumer goods, healthcare and pharmaceuticals and the Department of Defense. He has also assisted in several start-up companies.

Dr. Gopal has served as a Member of the Defense Business Board (DBB) for several years across two administrations. The DBB is an appointed Board where a body of senior executives and thought leaders provide the Secretary of Defense and Deputy Secretary of Defense, along with other senior leaders, with independent advice on business-related issues. In this capacity, Chris led critical projects and studies in Industry Partnerships for Crisis, Audit Performance Data Use in Private Industry, as well as being a core team member in studies on Space Acquisition, Business Health Metrics and Strengthening Civilian Talent Management in the DoD.

He is a Strategic Advisor to Equitar Technologies,. an emerging leader in intelligent digital health that connects patients and communities to new models of care delivery, system response, and population health. Equitar Healthius.ai is the first certified intelligent digital health platform—enabling the new era of accelerated Universal Health. Chris currently serves as Equitar’s Acting Chief Government Officer and President, Federal Programs.

Dr. Gopal is a member of the Private Sector Advisory Group for the Global Fund based in Geneva, a public-private partnership to eliminate HIV, Malaria and TB as pandemics on a global basis Dr. Gopal has spoken and served as an invited panelist and speaker at major global and industry forums, including HBR Forum, Miliken Institute, the OMI-OECD Forum, the SecureAmerica Institute and the EU Conference on Monopoly and Security held in Brussels. He has spoken on “The Next World System: Can US Trade Policy Make Americans More Secure, Democratic, and Prosperous?” at the National Press Club in Washington and has testified before the US Congressional US-China Commission on “Evolving U.S.-China Trade and Supply Chains.” Most recently, he was a member of the Invited Panel for the 2025 Scowcroft Institute’s Global Pandemic Policy Summit on “Bridging the Gaps: Resilient Supply Chains in the age of Pandemics.”

His industry and teaching interests lie in Global Supply Chain Management, Supply Chain Sustainability, Risk and International Trade, and the use and integration of advanced technologies and Artificial Intelligence into global operations. Chris is a faculty member at the University of California San Diego and also teaches at the University of Southern California. Dr. Gopal is the lead co-author of four books on Supply Chain Management. His latest book, Breakthrough Supply Chains: How Companies and Nations Can Thrive in an Uncertain World, published in 2023, was endorsed and recommended by Council for Supply Chain Management Professionals (CSCMP) and been accepted into the Pentagon Library, which serves the information needs of offices of the Secretary of Defense, Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Military Departments located at the Pentagon.

Education
Ph.D. Business Strategy & Operations, University of Southern California
MBA, Cranfield School of Management (United Kingdom)
B.Sc Bangalore University (India)

Instructional Area
Innovation, Technology, and Operations 

Courses Taught
MGT 119: Topics in Business - Sustainable Global Value Chains
MGT 175: Supply Chain Management
MGT 440 Supply Chain Cost Management Strategy