This year’s Summit hosted just over 120 delegates, who descended upon Boston with the individual goals of learning the latest trends and best practice ideas and expanding their network and the collective goal of driving the procurement profession (and the role of the CPO) forward.

The fourth annual CPO Honors Gala was an opportunity to celebrate the procurement profession and recognize excellence in the field. At the dinner reception that concluded Day One, Ardent Partners presented awards for outstanding performance and execution in the last year – “The CPO Honors” – to a variety of high achievers including Chief Procurement Officers and other procurement leaders, procurement teams, and new this year: procurement solution providers and/or other experts. A new class of CPOs were also inducted into the CPO Rising Hall of Fame based upon career achievements.

Over the next few days, we will share some of the scenes from the 2019 Summit while also reminding each of you to save the dates – October 27 & 28, 2020 for CPO Rising 2020!

Linda Theisen from Hilton Supply Management accepts the 2019 Innovation Award for Anu Saxena from the CPO Honors MC for the night, Roy Anderson.

Andrea Greco (middle) CPO of CBRE, holds his 2019 Technology Excellence Award, along with CPO Rising Hall of Famer ’18 Scott Singer (left), and Roy Anderson.

The 2019 CPO of the Year, Greg Tennyson (middle) Head of Global Corporate Services at VSP Global, accepts the award from 2018 winner, Chris Chadwick (left) of Caterpillar, and Roy Anderson.

Cheers to the winners, nominees, and all who attended!

This year’s Summit hosted just over 120 delegates, who descended upon Boston with the individual goals of learning the latest trends and best practice ideas and expanding their network and the collective goal of driving the procurement profession (and the role of the CPO) forward.

The fourth annual CPO Honors Gala was an opportunity to celebrate the procurement profession and recognize excellence in the field. At the dinner reception that concluded Day One, Ardent Partners presented awards for outstanding performance and execution in the last year – “The CPO Honors” – to a variety of high achievers including Chief Procurement Officers and other procurement leaders, procurement teams, and new this year: procurement solution providers and/or other experts. A new class of CPOs were also inducted into the CPO Rising Hall of Fame based upon career achievements.

Over the next few days, we will share some of the scenes from the 2019 Summit while also reminding each of you to save the dates – October 27 & 28, 2020 for CPO Rising 2020!

Great food, drink, and networking at The CPO Honors Gala Dinner

Paola Nava Aceves accepts the Technology Excellence Award from CPO Rising Hall of Famer Scott Singer. Aceves accepts on behalf of winner Jorge Martín Torres Pérez, Strategic Procurement Director of Coca-Cola FEMSA.

Gary Foster and Gabriella DiGiacobbe accept the Best Team Performance Award for the Global Procurement and ePayables Team from Highmark Health.

Kyle Muskoff (middle) accepts the 2019 Innovative Solution Award on behalf of BuyerQuest.

Jim Polak accepts induction into the CPO Rising Hall of Fame.

Class of 2019 CPO Rising Hall of Famer, Uldis Sipols, is all smiles with Ardent Founder Andrew Bartolini.

This year’s Summit hosted just over 120 delegates, who descended upon Boston with the individual goals of learning the latest trends and best practice ideas and expanding their network and the collective goal of driving the procurement profession (and the role of the CPO) forward.

The fantastic presentations, unique setting, executive audience, and intimate environment have become the trademarks of the CPO Rising Summit. Over the next few days, we will share some of the scenes from the 2019 Summit while also reminding each of you to save the dates – October 27 & 28, 2020 for CPO Rising 2020!

Andrew Bartolini moderates the “CPO Panel: Expanding Procurement’s Value” with (from left), Shelley Stewart Jr., Managing Partner, Bottom Line Advisory and CPO Rising Hall of Fame Class of 2017, Nisreen Bagasra CPO, Veolia North America, and Dan Warn CPO, AthenaHealth

Great discussions and networking during The CPO Rising Summit

And the food is always top class!

David Kern, Head of Global Procurement at TripAdvisor Media Group, gives his “Employee Gig, Liquid, & Agile Procurement Opportunities” keynote presentation

Ardent’s Bob Cohen leads an engaging panel discussion on “Technology Trends and Innovation” along with (from left), Kristian O’Meara SVP of Global Value and Solution Engineering at Jaggaer, David Bush Chief Revenue Officer at SpendHQ, and Dr. Christian Heinrich, Ph.D. Co-Founder at scoutbee.com and Professor of Digital Transformation

This year’s Summit hosted just over 120 delegates, who descended upon Boston with the individual goals of learning the latest trends and best practice ideas and expanding their network and the collective goal of driving the procurement profession (and the role of the CPO) forward.

The fantastic presentations, unique setting, executive audience, and intimate environment have become the trademarks of the CPO Rising Summit. Over the next few days, we will share some of the scenes from the 2019 Summit while also reminding each of you to save the dates – October 27 & 28, 2020 for CPO Rising 2020!

The CPO Rising 2019 Summit was held at the historic Harvard Club in Boston

Ardent Founder, Andrew Bartolini, kicked off the Summit on Day 1

A Day One keynote presentation from Heidi Landry, the CPO of Johnson & Johnson

Attendees of the CPO Rising Summit look on as Landry gives her presentation on “Procurement with a Purpose”

Greg Tennyson, CPO of VSP Global and the CPO Honors’ 2019 CPO of the Year, gives his keynote presentation on “Moolah’s Transformation”

On Day Two of the conference, we had the opportunity to sit down with Greg Tennyson of VSP Global – and CPO Honors Award winner – and dive deeper into the role of sourcing in modern business. As part of the largest not-for-profit vision benefits provider in the United States, VSP Global’s sourcing organization must work closely with the business to ensure optimum cost savings and risk management. To do this, VSP uses technology including  Scout RFP to demystify sourcing for the rest of the business and encourage enterprise-wide engagement.

With simplified processes, the VSP sourcing organization has become a strategic partner to the business, leading to increased engagement and savings across the enterprise.

How do they do this? Here are Greg’s top tips:

1. Sourcing requires 2020 vision.

Complete visibility into the sourcing process is imperative to smooth operations. With new technologies, procurement professionals can now manage all of their projects in one place and keep their stakeholders constantly in the loop and up to date.

2. Automation is your friend.

With increasingly complex projects, the sourcing organization must nurture its internal and external relationships more than ever before. Procurement professionals need solutions to help streamline and automate their workflows, and ultimately give them more time to focus on people, not paperwork.

3. If you’re not early, you’re late.

Being proactive is imperative to sourcing success. Greg urges procurement professionals to engage with the business early and often in order to establish strong relationships and achieve better outcomes.

We sincerely appreciated our roundtable discussions with Greg and loved hearing how VSP Global is leveraging technology to maximize sourcing’s impact on the business. CPO Rising 2019 reinforced that sourcing and procurement are more important than ever in managing risk and driving cost savings. As business challenges become increasingly complex, sourcing organizations must be equipped with the proper tools in order to keep up and get ahead. We can’t wait to attend next year’s summit and continue learning from procurement industry leaders.

We were thus very happy to have Bill present on his experience with building a new procurement team from the ground up. He took us on his journey through the process, and offered us his lessons learned through it all. Bill began with what should happen on “Day 1” of this process, starting with an honest self-assessment that, to be frank, should never really end. He then talked about “minding the gap” between perceptions of what procurement does (“they’re only focused on price,” “they operate in a silo,” “they slow us down,” “they don’t know our business or our market,” “they make us bid on everything!“), versus what procurement should actually do. Bill then gave attendees some advice on how to change those perceptions to re-position procurement as a strategic value driver.

“It is incumbent upon the CPO to engage and educate, then collaborate and execute,” he said.

Bill and his nascent team then had to face their reality. At Carbonite, they had:

• No procurement tools at all
• A decentralized, local approach to sourcing and procurement
• No visibility into spend and, therefore, savings

Thus, Bill and his team found themselves having to transform the procurement organization from glorified purchasers to strategic business partners, with or without the requisite tools.

Based on his and his team’s experience, Bill then gave some advice on how to start the actual transformation process (assess, address, and execute). Bill advised to break the plan down into several manageable steps — addressing stakeholders, real opportunities, the process, capabilities, and constraints — while keeping the bigger picture in mind.

He advised us to not “boil the ocean,” which can be tempting for any leader who’s starting out on this journey. Instead, procurement leaders should focus on collaborating with stakeholders — from the CEO to the line-of-business — getting access to any and all pertinent data, and employing data analytics and management tools to wrangle and make sense of that data.

“These,” he said, “led to impactful results and a pathway for future investment.”

Bill then talked about transformation disruptors, such as lacking resources, technology solutions, having multiple stakeholders, mergers and acquisitions, executive turnover, reorganization, and economic factors. But perhaps the biggest challenge all procurement teams have is managing data. Common data challenges for him and his team were having no formal spend reporting, no procurement support tools (again), multiple data sources with different owners, the data lacking sufficient detail. Bill then talked about making a business case for data management and analysis tools, and reiterated the need to derive valuable insights from data.

Bill then gave us some initial results from his team’s growth and transformation initiative, which included generating savings of $1.1 million to data (11%), establishing a network of stakeholders (breaking down more internal walls and establishing a regularly collaborative cadence), and continuously driving savings and process efficiencies — something that never ends and truly should never end.

Bill then closed out by providing a list of lessons learned for the audience, which are:

• Understand that there’s immense value in data — you cannot chart a course if you do not know your current position, and you can cannot adjust what you cannot measure
• Value internal stakeholder relationships — break down silos, reach across the aisle, seek first to understand and then be understood
• Continuously nurture your relationships — “a greenfield must be watered.” Once you’ve established relationships, work to communicate and collaborate and keep them aligned to your team’s mission
• Building brand is key to long-term success — in order to be known as strategic value drivers, you have to establish your team as strategic value drivers, and show up every day to prove it

We are so grateful for Bill for sharing his and his team’s experiences, and we wish them the best as they continue to grow the procurement function at Carbonite.

The ABCs of New Procurement Tech

AI: On AI, I gave some backstory on the term, and sought to clarify what AI is and what it isn’t, including some popular definitions and distinctions – like how there’s Narrow AI (like machine learning, natural language processing, and robotic process automation), and Artificial General Intelligence (like deep learning, neural networks, and fully-autonomous, self-learning systems). I then gave some examples of procurement use cases for AI – like guided buying and predictive purchasing.

Blockchain: On Blockchain, I again gave some historical context (it was invented only a decade ago), and really tried to explain what Blockchain is – a distributed, decentralized database that acts as a ledger for all transactions, changes, and movement. Everything you do on a blockchain is permanent, cannot be changed, and is open to others to see (especially on “open” blockchains). So it drives great transparency into transactions – especially those across extended supply chains. On that note I shared a couple of use cases for Blockchain, such as supply chain track and trace, and smart contracts that are written into the Blocchain’s code that automatically execute and fulfill.

Connected Devices: On Connected Devices, or what we also call the Internet of Things, I talked about how advances in sensors, processors, and transmitters enable them to be embedded within everyday items, machines, and products – like thermostats, utility poles, gas/electric meters, commercial equipment, and so on. This enables the automatic transmission of critical business intelligence point-to-point, or machine-to-machine. They’ve long-been used by manufacturing, and use cases for procurement have started to emerge, like helping procurement teams get ahead of managing maintenance, repair, and operational services (MRO) spend, and syncing with Blockchain digital ledgers to link the physical and digital supply chains to enhance track-and-trace.

Summary

Artificial intelligence for procurement has already started to become a reality, even if for now we’re still applying “narrow” AI to the discipline. Blockchain use cases for procurement, such as supply chain track and trace, smart contracts, and now supply chain financing and payment reconciliation, continue to be modeled, explored, and piloted, although the technology has some issues of scale to work out, like high energy consumption and effective aggregation of disaggregated commodities (like bulk coffee).

For their part, connected devices / IoT continue to collect and transmit vital operational intelligence to procurement, manufacturing, and services, allowing these departments to get ahead of MRO and budget accordingly. If industry can iron out some integration and deployment issues, IoT-integrated Blockchain can be the missing link for linking the physical and digital supply chains and enhancing track-and-trace.

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Anyway, the Ardent team is once again reflecting on the event in a series of articles here on CPO Rising. Today’s article is the first installment — three primary takeaways from CPO Rising 2019. So if you missed the event and want to catch up, this is for you. But if you were there and want to quickly refresh, we’ve got your back, too.

Three Takeaways

One — The Face of Procurement is Changing. The crowd at CPO Rising 2019 was more diverse than in recent years, and that’s something for the procurement industry (and us) to both acknowledge and celebrate. Ardent welcomed a beautiful array of men and women from all walks of life — Baby Boomers, Gen-Xers, and Millennials; people from all over the country and all over the world; and professionals from other industries and verticals, whose roles are touched by procurement and supply chain. Speakers, panelists, and roundtable hosts brought their authentic selves to the event, and looked out at an audience that not only looked like them, but also represented them and their challenges and opportunities to make an impact in supply management today.

Two — The Paths to Procurement are Winding Still. Speaking of diverse backgrounds, I was thrilled to see two friends in the audience who typify the ways in which professionals find their way to procurement (names and employers are being withheld to protect the innocent).

• One, a college friend who has spent nearly two decades climbing the ranks in procurement. A social sciences major, she decided instead to pursue a career in business, earning her MBA and progressing from vendor management, to category management, to sourcing, to ultimately procurement. As a senior manager, she is one procurement pro who is continuing to rise.
• Another, a dear friend who I’ve known for nearly a quarter century, returned to Boston after working abroad for more than a decade. As a former country Chief Information Officer for a major insurance company, the breadth and depth of experience he brought to this conference — as a collaborator of procurement, as someone who has vetted and implemented procurement technologies — was so unique. Although he was not a procurement pro, per se, his exposure to and experience with enterprise procurement teams offered delegates an opportunity to share perspectives with one of procurement’s most important stakeholders.

Three — Procurement Runs in the Family. 2019 saw the second consecutive parent-sibling duo at the conference. Last year, we had Meghan Truchan, VP and head of procurement at Bain Capital, in attendance. She is a third-generation procurement leader and a rising star in her own right. This year, we had Mary Kachinsky, CPSM, CPM, and VP of Strategic Sourcing at Kaleido Biosciences, and daughter, Amanda Kachinsky, senior manager of global sourcing at blue bird bio, not only in attendance, but also delivering a keynote presentation and sitting on a panel discussion, respectively.

While we are our own persons — few of us are still “directed” or “told” to pursue this or that career — we are also the products of our environments. Many of us grew up watching our parents climb the proverbial corporate ladder and hearing them tell us what was so special about each rung. We look up to our parents, even as we see them occasionally struggle to reach that next rung. We admire them even more for the struggle. So then it is no surprise that some of us follow in our parents’ literal and figurative footsteps, up that procurement ladder, rising towards the coveted CPO title.

Final Thoughts

I’ve written in past reflective articles about how the event amounts to months of prep work, late nights, and early mornings, only to come and go in a whirlwind of keynotes, breakouts, panels, and roundtables. That was as true this year as in year’s past. But every event is unique. This year’s event was more diverse, more representative of procurement pros and stakeholders, and in a literal sense, more familiar than in past events. Indeed, it does keep getting better.

P.S. I want to personally invite you to a new webinar, the Voice of the CPO Rising 2019 Summit, on November 14th at 2 PM ET, where the Ardent team will highlight the key speaker presentations and discussions that took place during the event.

This year, as in every other year that my team and I have produced this event, I was able to recruit a fantastic lineup of seasoned procurement veterans with nearly a century’s worth of combined experience leading supply chain, sourcing, and category management teams….and they did not disappoint. The 2019 Summit featured stimulating presentations and thought-provoking discussions on the role of the CPO as well as key strategies that will help bring the procurement function to the next level of performance.

But now that the 2019 Summit is in the rear view, my team and I want to quickly galvanize the enthusiasm from earlier this week and highlight the major takeaways from the event. With that said, I wanted to personally invite you to a new webinar, the Voice of the CPO Rising 2019 Summit, on November 14th at 2 PM ET, where my team and I will highlight the key speaker presentations and discussions that took place during the event.

If you have some time next month, I hope you will join us. Click here and below to register.

Webinar Details:

Voice of the CPO Webinar: Highlights from the CPO Rising 2019 Summit

Date: Thursday, November 14th 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM ET

Presenters:

Andrew Bartolini, Chief Research Officer, Ardent Partners

Christopher J. Dwyer, VP of Research, Ardent Partners

Webinar Sponsored by: Tradeshift, Scout RRP, & Jaggaer

The CPO Honors were established to celebrate the procurement function and recognize the accomplishments of the profession’s best leaders and teams. These awards have quickly become the procurement industry’s most prestigious series of awards. CPO celebrities and prior winners played an active role in the ceremony which was hosted by Tradeshift’s CPO, Roy Anderson.

The CPO Rising Hall of Fame Class of 2019

Established in 2016, The CPO Rising Hall of Fame inducts up to three procurement leaders each year who have differentiated themselves and their organizations by a blend in leadership in innovation, executive stewardship, process excellence, and dedication to their craft. This year’s inductees are:

James L. Polak, former Director, General Purchasing, PPG Industries, Inc.

Uldis Sipols, Former CPO Gillette, Danaher, AMP, Sonoco; Executive at P&G and Ford

CPO Honors 2019: And the Winners are…

The CPO Honors were presented in 6 categories. The finalists and winners (in bold) are noted below.

The Innovation Award Finalists: This award is presented to the CPO and team that have used new and innovative strategies and approaches to overcome significant hurdles.

• WINNER: Anu Saxena, Senior Vice President and Global Head for Hilton Supply Management (HSM) and the HSM Team
• Sprint’s Procurement Team

The Technology Excellence Award Finalists: This award is presented to the CPO and team that have leveraged technology solutions to impact procurement operations and performance.

• TIE – WINNER: Andrea Greco, Chief Procurement Officer, CBRE
• TIE – WINNER: Jorge Martín Torres Pérez, Strategic Procurement Director, Coca-Cola FEMSA

Best Team Performance Award Finalists: This award is presented to the procurement department that has excelled across the full scope of procurement operations to make a significant impact on overall enterprise results.

• WINNER: Highmark Health Global Procurement & Payables Team
• Endurance’s Procurement Operations and Business Intelligence Team

The Leadership Award (CPO of the Year) Finalists: This award is presented to the CPO who has driven new performance heights as a result of their direct involvement and leadership and overall exceptional executive management.

• Kai Nowosel, Chief Procurement Officer, Accenture
• WINNER: Greg Tennyson, Head of Global Corporate Services,  VSP Global
• Mike Morsch, Vice President Global Procurement & Supply Chain, CDK Global

Innovative Solution of the Year Finalists: Presented to the solution provider who most significantly impacted the market with innovative solutions.

• WINNER: BuyerQuest
• Fairmarkit

Best Technology Partnership Finalists: Presented to the best partnership between a solution provider and their procurement team customer on to a technology deployment.

• WINNER: Scout RFP and Biogen
• Ivalua and Whirlpool

Ardent Partners extends its congratulations to the CPO Honors finalists, winners, and new CPO Rising Hall of Famers! Watch for more details about those recognized last night.

About Ardent Partners

Ardent Partners is a leading research and advisory firm focused on defining and advancing the supply management strategies, processes, and technologies that drive business value and accelerate organizational transformation within the enterprise. Ardent’s analysts have decades of experience publishing primary research that help business leaders in procurement, supply management, and financial operations make smarter technology decisions and improve their performance. Ardent hosts its annual CPO Rising Summit in Boston each fall. To learn more about the company, visit www.ardentpartners.com and www.cporising.com