Thorsten Neumann
President & CEO at TAPA EMEA
Speaking at TFEST26: Wednesday, December 2 2026 at 14:05–14:35 on the Main Stage: “From Loading Bay to Boardroom: Why Cargo Crime Must Be a C-Suite Topic”.
About Thorsten
Thorsten Neumann is President & CEO of TAPA EMEA, with more than 20 years in leadership roles across the industrial loss prevention and security industries. He joined the Transported Asset Protection Association's EMEA Board of Directors in 2003 and served as Chairman from 2006 to 2019, before being appointed the Association's first-ever full-time President & CEO in 2020. Under his leadership TAPA EMEA has established itself as the region's leading cargo security and supply chain resilience association, representing over 1,100 global, regional and national organisations (manufacturers, logistics service providers, insurers, security service providers, secure parking operators and resilience consultancies) alongside law enforcement partners across EMEA.
The Association marked its 25th anniversary in 2025 with its highest-ever regional membership and record growth in companies certifying to TAPA's Facility, Trucking, Secure Parking and Cyber Security standards. His 2022 launch of the TAPA EMEA Intelligence System gives members a daily-updated, searchable database of more than 270,000 cargo crime incidents across over 110 countries, so they can plan transport and parking around known hotspots.
A NATO Civil Expert for Transportation, Communication & Cyber Threats, he represents TAPA EMEA with Europol, INTERPOL and the European Commission, serves on the board of ASW Germany and chairs ASW NORD. Earlier in his career he spent 10 years at Motorola and seven at Nokia, rising from Head of Supply Chain Security to Chief Security Operation Officer, and held Director roles at Microsoft in Europe and the United States. In 2025 he received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the German OSPAs and was inducted into the Security Hall of Fame.
Session Overview
Cargo crime has evolved from localised pilferage into a highly sophisticated, technology-driven enterprise risk orchestrated by organised crime groups. Despite growing severity, supply chain security remains a boardroom blind spot, masked by systemic underreporting, insurance coverage gaps, and human vulnerabilities exacerbated by industry talent shortages. Concurrently, AI fuels advanced fraud while offering predictive defense, and nearshoring introduces unvetted trade corridors. This panel demonstrates why cargo theft must move from the loading bay to the C-suite risk register. Enterprise leaders will explore how leveraging international security standards, auditing cross-policy insurance gaps, and strengthening operational vetting transform security from a cost center into a strategic value driver.
About TFEST26
TFEST26 is Europe's most senior supply chain conference, taking place December 1–2 2026 at Colosseum Berlin. It brings together 400+ Director-level and above leaders (Chief Supply Chain Officers, VPs, and senior directors from Cisco, Henkel, Estée Lauder, Diageo, Schneider Electric, Novartis, Mars, and others) for two days of peer benchmarking, candid practitioner firesides, themed roundtables, and pre-scheduled 1:1 meetings.