Three Aptean Nominees Honored in 2026 Women in Supply Chain Forum™ Awards

Odeko's Azin Cooksey named a Rising Star, and Aptean's Kay Fetter and Jenny Peng recognized as Trailblazer and Workforce Innovator respectively

ALPHARETTA, Ga., Aug. 31, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Aptean, an AI company and global provider of purpose-built, industry-specific enterprise software, today announced that three women connected to the company have been named winners of the 2026 Women in Supply Chain Forum™ Award, presented by Food Logistics and Supply & Demand Chain Executive. Azin Cooksey, transportation manager at Odeko and an Aptean customer, was named a Rising Star for the transportation operation she built using Aptean's transportation management system (TMS). Kay Fetter, a senior solutions consultant at Aptean, was recognized in the Trailblazers category, and Jenny Peng, Aptean's chief technology officer, was recognized in the Workforce Innovator category.

The Women in Supply Chain Award recognizes female supply chain leaders and executives whose accomplishments, mentorship and examples set a foundation for women in all levels of a company’s supply chain network.

"This award isn't just a way to honor females in supply chain. It's a representation of progress, it's a symbol of growth, and it's a way to celebrate achievements of all women in the supply chain who continue to pave the way for the next generation," says Marina Mayer, editor-in-chief of Food Logistics and Supply & Demand Chain Executive and co-founder of the Women in Supply Chain Forum™.

Azin Cooksey: Rising Star

Azin Cooksey, of Odeko, a fast-growing distributor that supplies local coffee shops and independent cafes across the country, built the company's transportation operation from the ground up. Rather than accepting a standard, out-of-the-box process, Cooksey designed and customized a system to manage parcel, less-than-truckload (LTL), truckload, and volume-partial shipments across 19 warehouses from a single platform, using Aptean’s transportation management solution.

The results speak for themselves: Cooksey's approach reduced Odeko's freight booking error rate from 11% to approximately 2% and tripled the company's shipment volume, from roughly 300 to 900 shipments per month, without adding headcount. She also led the development of Pack Verify, a box-level parcel tracking capability that has since been adopted by other companies facing similar shipment visibility challenges.

"I didn't want to fit Odeko into somebody else's process flow. I wanted to create one that was right for us," said Cooksey.

"Azin's story is exactly what we hope to see from our customers," said Jim Endres, regional account director, Aptean. "She didn't settle for an out-of-the-box solution. She pushed for something better, and that innovation is now benefiting others well beyond Odeko."

Kay Fetter: Trailblazer

Kay Fetter, of Aptean, draws on more than a decade of hands-on transportation operations experience to guide Aptean customers through the art of the possible. She works with prospects to design their future TMS system featuring advanced AI technologies including orchestration and agentic AI capabilities. Her dedication fosters digital transformation and successful implementation and adoption of solutions and agents. Over the past year, she designed a multi-layer return-on-investment (ROI) calculator that has helped prospects secure internal budget approval for their transportation projects. In addition, she supported a chemical manufacturing customer's TMS and data management implementation that gave 28 employees their weekends back and delivered an 18% efficiency gain in Transportation Operations.

Fetter is also an active mentor, having supported women's development programs throughout her career, working one on one with other Aptean team members worldwide, and is preparing to onboard a junior female solutions consultant in the coming months.

"I really get to do one of my favorite things every day: solving the puzzle of what tools are needed from my toolbox to help people create a better work-life balance," said Fetter. "Having been that person getting a 2 a.m. call because a carrier didn't show up on time in California, I can truly appreciate the technology enhancements that have taken place over the years."

Jenny Peng: Workforce Innovator

As chief technology officer, Jenny Peng leads Aptean’s global product engineering, cloud managed services, security operations, and AI platform strategy. She is helping drive Aptean’s transformation into an AI-first software company—reimagining how products are built and how people work alongside AI.

Over the past year, Peng led the expansion of Aptean Intelligence, the AI foundation embedded across Aptean’s AppCentral platform. She has also championed AI-native ways of working, enabling employees to orchestrate routine work with AI and focus more time on problem solving, creativity, customer impact, and decision-making.

Peng sees AI’s greatest opportunity as workforce transformation, giving people new capabilities, expanding what individuals and teams can accomplish, and creating new opportunities as roles evolve.

This philosophy also shapes her leadership. Peng actively mentors emerging leaders, particularly helping women across engineering, product, and AI gain visibility, take on broader responsibilities, and pursue leadership opportunities.

"Technology can change what people are capable of, but leadership helps people see what they are capable of," said Peng. "Sometimes opening a door isn't about creating a new opportunity—it's helping someone recognize a door that was already there and giving them the confidence to walk through it. As AI transforms the workplace, we need to build not only smarter technology, but an environment where more people can grow, lead, and make an impact."

Learn More

To view the full list winners and learn more about the Women in Supply Chain Forum™ go to https://foodl.me/2zm74ar1.

About Aptean

Aptean is an AI company built for industrial business. For medium and enterprise manufacturers, distributors, and wholesalers facing rising costs, shrinking margins, and operational complexity, Aptean embeds AI directly into the workflows, decisions, and data your business already runs on - so intelligence isn't a bolt-on, it's how the work gets done. The result: faster decisions, lower costs, and measurable margin improvement delivered through an ongoing partnership, not a one-off implementation. Headquartered in Alpharetta, Georgia, with offices across North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific. Learn more at aptean.com.

About Odeko

Odeko is an all-in-one operations and technology partner to more than 30,000 independent F&B businesses, including coffee shops, cafes and other food establishments. Through the Odeko portal, customers can purchase supplies from hundreds of national and local brands, track ordering trends, finance equipment, and access insurance. Customers that use Odeko can increase their revenue, reduce their environmental footprint, and save significantly on their cost of goods and time spent on vendor management. Odeko currently has warehouses in 18 major U.S. markets, providing local delivery to customers, and serves the rest of the country through e-commerce and other solutions. Odeko has raised more than $280 million in equity and is backed by leading venture capital firms, including B Capital, Balius Partners, Era Funds, FJ Labs, KSV, Tiger Global Management, Two Sigma Ventures, and Primary Ventures, among other strategic partners.

Media Contact: 

Aptean

Heather Coyle, Sr. Principal, Marketing Communications
heather.coyle@aptean.com

Odeko

Stephen Mar, Chief Legal & Administrative Officer
press@odeko.com

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