Jon Curtis Named a 2026 Pros to Know Rising Star
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The future of supply chain leadership is being shaped by professionals who can bridge operations, technology, and strategy. This year, Jon Curtis, Rygen’s Lead Product Manager for Corsair TMS, was recognized as a Rising Star in Supply & Demand Chain Executive’s 2026 Pros to Know Awards!
The Rising Stars category honors professionals under 39 whose achievements, vision, and leadership are already influencing the future of supply chain management. The broader “Pros to Know” program celebrates leaders whose accomplishments provide a roadmap for others looking to leverage supply chain as a competitive advantage.
At Rygen, Jon leads the product strategy for Corsair TMS, helping shippers and logistics providers solve complex operational challenges with intuitive software and emerging technologies. We sat down with Jon to learn more about his work, his approach to innovation, and where he believes the future of logistics technology is heading.
Q&A with Jon C., Rygen’s Rising Star
Q: First, congratulations on being named a Rising Star. Tell us about your role at Rygen. What does a typical day look like for you?
My role as Lead Product Manager for Corsair centers around building and evolving Corsair Transportation Management Software (TMS), our cloud-native platform designed for shippers and third-party logistics providers.
What makes the job interesting is that it sits right at the intersection of three worlds: customer needs, market trends, and technical feasibility. My responsibility is to translate complex supply chain problems into software solutions that actually make people's lives easier.
Day-to-day, my work spans two main areas:
First is product strategy. I work closely with our CEO to shape the product vision and roadmap. This involves researching the market, analyzing customer needs, and identifying opportunities to create real differentiation.
Second is team leadership. I lead our Corsair product and design team, making sure product, engineering, and customer success stay aligned. We've built frameworks and processes that help us move quickly while maintaining high standards.
I also support all enterprise demos, helping prospects understand how Corsair can address their operational challenges. Having a background in supply chain operations makes those conversations feel natural — I've lived many of the problems they're trying to solve.
Q: What accomplishments or initiatives are you most proud of since joining Rygen?
There are a few initiatives that stand out, but the common thread is seeing customers get real, tangible value from what we've built together.
One I'm particularly proud of is our AI-powered freight OCR technology. Invoice processing is one of those unglamorous but costly problems that logistics teams deal with every day - manually reviewing documents, catching discrepancies, and chasing carriers. We built a solution that uses AI to extract, validate, and flag exceptions automatically. Watching customers reclaim meaningful time and reduce errors through that work has been really gratifying.
More broadly, I'm proud of how we engage with customers as partners. The best product decisions come from deeply understanding the operational challenges that shippers and logistics providers face every day. When we get that right, we're able to build solutions that address problems shared across the industry — not just one team's workflow, but the broader patterns that slow operations down at scale.
That approach has also helped us mature as a product organization. Building the frameworks and processes that let us turn those insights into shipped software, quickly and consistently, has been one of the more rewarding parts of the job. The features matter, but so does the discipline behind how we build them.
Q: You’re also pursuing an MBA while leading a product at a fast-growing startup. What motivated that decision?
At a certain point in my career I wanted to go deeper on leadership and strategy, and the MBA felt like the right vehicle for that. It's less about learning business fundamentals and more about sharpening how I think — how to lead more effectively, make better strategic decisions, and drive larger impact beyond just the product itself. Clemson's MBA program in Entrepreneurship and Innovation aligned well with where I am in my career and the type of leader I want to become.
Doing both simultaneously isn't easy. I'm often finishing coursework late at night after a full day of product work, but the timing has actually been an advantage. The concepts I'm studying don't stay in the classroom. Whether it's organizational leadership, strategy, or innovation frameworks, I'm applying those ideas directly in my role at Rygen. That feedback loop between learning and doing accelerates growth in ways that neither path alone could offer.
Ultimately it's about becoming a better leader and having a larger impact on the team, on our customers, and on the industry.
Q: What would you say is your competitive advantage as a technology leader in supply chain?
Honestly, it comes down to having lived the problems before trying to solve them. I studied supply chain and operations management in undergrad, so the foundation was always there, but it was the early years working in operations that really shaped how I think.
Early in my career I worked in operational roles, managing contract manufacturing networks, coordinating transportation lanes, and navigating the daily realities of logistics. I've dealt with supplier delays, carrier issues, and the kind of constant firefighting that doesn't show up in a process diagram but defines how supply chain teams actually spend their time.
That experience makes me a stronger advocate for the people using our software. When I'm in a product discussion, I'm thinking about the planner juggling ten loads on a Friday afternoon, or the operations manager trying to get ahead of a shipment exception before it becomes a customer issue. I know how that day feels.
It also changes how I show up in customer conversations. I'm not translating what they're saying, I already understand it and speak their language. That shared context builds trust quickly and helps us get to the real problem faster, which ultimately leads to better solutions.
Operational empathy isn't a soft skill in this industry. It's a competitive advantage.
Q: Looking ahead, what are your goals for the next 12 months?
My biggest goal is positioning Corsair as a platform that doesn't just keep pace with where the industry is heading, but helps define it. Transportation is just one part of the broader network. The future is about orchestrating the entire flow of goods, information, and decisions across supply chain partners.
That means continuing to embed intelligence throughout the platform in ways that make freight execution faster, smarter, and more autonomous. The TMS space is evolving quickly, and I want Corsair to be at the forefront of defining what that next generation of tooling looks like.
Another priority is building a world-class product organization. As we grow, I’ll focus more on hiring and mentoring product managers with deep domain expertise and creating frameworks that allow us to scale while still moving quickly.
Supply chains are foundational to the global economy. Improving the technology that powers them can have an enormous impact.
Q: Finally, what does this Rising Star recognition mean to you?
It's an incredible honor, but honestly my first thought was gratitude for the people around me. Recognition like this doesn't happen in isolation. I work alongside a talented team that challenges me, supports me, and makes the work better every single day. This is as much a reflection of them as it is of anything I've done individually.
Rygen has also built a culture where people are genuinely invested in each other's growth and in pushing the product forward. That kind of environment makes it easier to take on hard problems and keep raising the bar. I don't take that for granted.
I'm grateful to be part of a company that's doing meaningful work and I'm excited for what's ahead.
Follow Jon on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathan-h-curtis/
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