About Fritz Institute

Vision

Fritz Institute envisions a world where every community has the capacity to respond and recover from a major disaster, saving lives and reducing suffering.

Mission

Fritz Institute is a nonprofit organization that works in partnership with governments, corporations, and other nonprofit organizations around the world to innovate solutions and facilitate the adoption of best practices for rapid and effective disaster response and recovery.

Fritz Institute was founded in 2001 by Mr. Lynn Fritz and Dr. Anisya Thomas Fritz, social entrepreneurs and philanthropists who recognized that effective front-line humanitarian operations must be supported by strong operations capabilities: effective processes, appropriate use of enabling technologies, well-trained logistics personnel, objective performance metrics, and institutionalized learning across the humanitarian sector.

Board of Directors

Lynn Fritz, Chairman
Robert Alspaugh
David Coulter
Goery Delacote

Anisya Thomas Fritz
Philip A. Marineau
Barney Osher
Richard Sambrook

Fritz Institute’s special expertise is
in the delivery of humanitarian assistance and it provides the leading edge in logistics for that chain of need. And this is indeed a vital role, because when disaster strikes, help that arrives too late is actually no help at all, and even a few hours can spell the difference between starvation and nourishment, destruction, and survival.

– Madeleine K. Albright,
former US Secretary of State

Lynn Fritz

Chairman & CEO

A visionary in the global logistics industry, Lynn Fritz was the Chairman and CEO of Fritz Companies until May 2001 when it was acquired by UPS. During his 30 years of leading Fritz Companies, Inc, he developed his company from a small Customs Brokerage organization to a publicly traded international logistics services company of over 11,000 employees in 120 countries around the world achieving Fortune 1000 status in 1997. With an enduring contribution of redefining a fragmented and limited services industry through the use of technology, Mr. Fritz formed LynnCo Supply Chain Solutions and the Fritz Institute in 2001. The Fritz Institute has become recognized as the leader in developing programs to support operational effectiveness and logistics capabilities for the Humanitarian and Disaster Relief Sector. LynnCo is a dynamic organization pioneering the path for third-party logistics services and recently recognized as a Top 100 3PL by Inbound Logistics.

A native of San Francisco, Fritz serves on the Boards of San Francisco’s Exploratorium and the University of California, Davis Department of Viticulture and Enology. Fritz received his B.A. from Georgetown University and J.D. from Lincoln University School of Law. In recognition of his outstanding leadership and community service, he was honored with a Doctor of Laws degree by Pepperdine University in 1995 and a Doctor of Laws degree from Drexel University in 2004. He is the recipient of numerous awards for community service including the Citizen Diplomat Award from the International Diplomacy Council (2005) and the California Prize for Service of the Common Good from the University of San Francisco (2008). He was inducted into the Logistics Hall of Fame (2021) in recognition of his long and significant contributions to humanitarian logistics.

Anisya Thomas Fritz

Co-Founder

Dr. Anisya Thomas Fritz is a co-founder of Fritz Institute and served as its Managing Director from its inception in 2001 until July 2007. During her tenure, Fritz Institute developed the award-winning Humanitarian Logistics Software (HLS) and its successor HELIOS; launched the sector-wide Certification in Humanitarian Logistics (CHL); and spearheaded the creation of the New Partnership for African Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (NEPARC). As part of her duties, Dr. Thomas led Fritz Institute’s beneficiary-focused research and initiated collaborations with leading universities worldwide.

A respected scholar, Dr. Thomas is the author of numerous articles on the global system of humanitarian relief, competitive strategy, and international entrepreneurship. Her work has been published in leading journals such as Harvard Business Review, Strategic Management Journal, Georgetown Journal of International Affairs, and the Journal of International Business Studies.
Previously, Dr. Thomas was an associate professor of strategic management and international business at the Ryder College of Business Administration at Florida International University and a visiting professor at the Stockholm School of Economics. She has a B.A. from Loyola College in Maryland and an M.S. and Ph.D. in Management from Virginia Tech.

Mitsuko "Mich" Mizushima

Chief Logistics Officer & Program Director

Mitsuko “Mich” Mizushima has led global teams and a multitude of projects in logistics and supply chain management for over 20 years. This expertise expands Fritz Institute’s capability to provide best practices from private sector logistics to support the operations of its partners in the humanitarian relief community. She has led the creation of both traditional and online supply chain organizations, processes, and services.

Mizushima’s primary role has been to create and work with the Fritz Institute team to enhance the supply chain capability of humanitarian organizations by first determining the needs then conceptualizing the outcomes and finally developing and implementing solutions. All projects were developed in close coordination with partners and intended to provide systemic solutions in supply chain management.

Best known for her leadership roles at global logistics company APL, Mizushima headed APL Business Logistics Services (BLS), a process-driven organization that uses proven, state-of-the art technology to deliver supply chain solutions to global clients. She also served as CEO of an internet start-up company that provides supply chain management services over the web. Her B.A. is from University of Hawaii and MBA from Pepperdine University.

More about the Fritz team is included in the History of the Fritz Institute.