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.

David Kern

Andrew Bartolini: How did you get into procurement and how did you move up into your current position today?

David Kern: I fell into procurement when I worked at Staples. I was at a point in my career where I had to decide if I wanted to work in public service (police and or fire department), or if I wanted to stay in corporate America.  While working in Staples internal audit, I had an opportunity to take on an audit of our transportation division; and at the same time I was on a path to explore becoming a police officer. I quickly found in my audit that a transportation division at Staples really needed someone to manage the transportation portfolio for its final-mile delivery, which at the time was roughly thirty million dollars in annual spend. Staples leadership offered me this unique advancement position but I turned it down and chose to stay on the path of exploring becoming a police officer.

After successfully completing the Police Academy, I was once again approached and re-offered by Staples to take over the final-mile delivery supplier oversight function.  Feeling as though I had accomplished a personal goal and could remain semi-active in helping the local community; I accepted the Staples offer and continued to volunteer as a Police officer.  Over the next nine years, I led efforts to help grow the transportation portfolio to a half a billion dollars.  It was during that course of time that I was able to recognize my own personal talents in driving value – whether it be through collaboration with vendors, or through identifying synergies to yield better service, expense, and overall healthiness for the space that I was overseeing.

AB: That’s awesome. So, it sounds like even though you were within a fairly well-established business, you really got great experience in managing a high growth business?

DK: In the span of nine years, I was able to see something later commonly known as transformation; and not even really see it – I actually lived in the middle of it.   Staples has a well-defined North American final-mile delivery footprint; as that business started to grow within North America as one of the few next-day service providers, it was critical they continuously build out network capabilities.  This included adding fleets and couriers on top of increasing the reliance on UPS/FedEx/USPS; along with other non-traditional modes of transportation. During that course of time, it was important to focus not only on domestic transportation growth, but expand into Canada and other international locations.

When you take all that explosive growth and scale into consideration, and you then layer in the purchase of Corporate Express, a large next day office supply corporate retailer, my role within transportation and transformation became instrumental overnight.  I found my passion as a change agent focused on transforming different business operations and value add services.  My mission was clear, to focus on driving a common service offering that provided the highest level of service at the lowest sustainable price. So when I hear about transformation as the new buzz word in today’s boardrooms, I quickly smile as I had an opportunity to experience transformation very early in my career – and for that I am extremely grateful.

AB: You’ve hit upon two great things: dealing with a fast-growth environment and merging organizations.  What are some of the takeaways you have in bringing two organizations together and managing that change?

DK: When two companies merge, sometimes the assumption is that the acquired company doesn’t have the best processes; and so the acquirer may assume that what they’re doing is best in class.  Taking this mindset can be a real disadvantage. Rather, taking time to seek to understand and brainstorm as a collective group, open and honestly, will often find that you both have solid best practices and process.  It’s a matter of augmentation and tweaking to get to the best process for the combined entity going forward.

In addition to just seeking common ground and best way forward, it is critical that you approach opportunities by “looking underneath the hood with a trust-but-verify” mindset.  This applies daily to procurement as we are constantly being pitched from a variety of sales folks. Information provided needs to be validated for accuracy of what is being sold and to confirm what is being purchased solves the business requirements.   So when you start to look at bringing operations of like-minded intent and structure, you’ve got to make sure that you don’t overlook what you think or what you’re accustomed to thinking is the best process – everything we touch has opportunity for improvement.

AB: So talk about your current role and what’s happening at TripAdvisor.

DK: Awesome stuff; I started at TripAdvisor just under four years ago. It was a new role – they didn’t have a procurement team. It’s been an amazing journey, both professionally and personally, being part of such a great organization. What I probably learned the most is that companies like Trip have highly talented people who are willing to just roll up their sleeves and help do whatever they can whenever they can.  It’s just fascinating to see how quickly things evolve, and how every day there’s something new to learn. Any day you’re not learning doesn’t put you behind, but it sure makes you have to catch up the next couple of days because the world is moving fast. There’s so much to learn and plenty ways to grow professionally – I truly feel very lucky to be part of the TripAdvisor team!

AB: As you look at the industry and the profession going forward, what are some of the things you see that are emerging and interesting, or some of the things that get you excited about working in the profession?

DK:  I’m excited about the profession because it seems like it’s more of a new / growth area than an established defined function.  What I mean by that is when you hear the word “procurement,” not everyone knows what it means; and for those that think they know I often get asked “what does TripAdvisor procure?” In my opinion, Procurement is simply explained as a core group of skills and experiences for which someone leverages and represent opportunities as an agent working on your behalf.  The core focus is to secure an outcome that provide sustainable value for shareholders and or customers.

Independent of the basic efforts outlined above, Procurement is becoming not only a trusted partner but gaining valuable insights into operational aspects that not everyone within an organization can see or synergizes.  Procurement professionals have a huge opportunity to acquire operational exposure and insights.  Providing such insights to other business units that may not know internal opportunities/solutions exist can be ten times more valuable than saving a few points on a contract.  I’m super excited about what procurement is becoming and will be in the future – value creation through process improvement, operational enhancements, and supplier value creation; combined driving meaningful shareholder and customer value.

AB: As an industry leader, what is some advice you can give to other professionals.

DK: One thing I love most about Trip Advisor is that we have a great culture, and a core focus on “acting like an owner.”   This allows my team to talk with people about how procurement can drive variety of benefits and solutions.  We see the operational enhancements that people don’t necessarily know exist because they either don’t know who to talk to, internally, or they don’t necessarily know where to start. Procurement can be that gateway into some really impactful things that will be meaningful to all folks – customers, shareholders, and employees.

AB: Thank you so much David!

DK: My pleasure, Andrew. I’m passionate for this space and I appreciate the opportunity to help others find Procurement and grow within their personal journey.

Post Script: Catch David’s keynote presentation, “GIG, Liquid, Agile Employee Procurement Opportunities,” on Day 1 at CPO Rising 2019 — next week!

Two weeks ago, 120 global procurement executives descended on Boston for our Annual CPO Rising Summit. I’ve been organizing Chief Procurement Officer (CPO)-focused events since 2006 and I still find the entire process to be equal parts exhilarating, stressful, educational, empowering and highly-rewarding. I’ll share some of my thoughts with you here in today’s article. I plan to write a few more articles about the event over the final weeks of 2018 as does each analyst on our team. (Later today, I will also be co-presenting the “Voice of the CPO” webinar with fellow Ardent analysts, Matt York & Chris Dwyer that shares the key highlights and takeaways from the event).

The Age of Intelligence

In the “Age of Intelligence,” the procurement function is positioned to leverage its position at the hub of business operations to become a more productive, agile, and intelligent operation and use data analytics to drive better business outcomes. Each year, our Summit has an overarching theme we try to weave through. This year, I couldn’t think of a better topic for the leading minds and global experts working in and around procurement to tackle than operating a procurement function in the age of intelligence. Developing a new type of intelligence that will redefine the procurement function is an idea that emerged in both our annual state of procurement/CPO studies and in keynote presentations delivered at the Summit over the past three years.

With the rise of business process automation tools, cloud-based applications, mobile solutions, and connected devices the world has become increasingly data-driven, and procurement teams around the globe have an extraordinary opportunity to capitalize on it. Over the next few years, Ardent Partners predicts that a new type of intelligence is going to enable CPOs to view their operations differently and, by doing so, it is going to force these same CPOs to manage them differently. Chief Procurement Officers must hire new talent while developing their existing roster; institute new processes while refining existing ones; and invest in new technologies while enhancing existing tools.

Leading the Dialogue: 20 Global CPOs and Procurement Experts

At our 2018 Summit, we were excited and honored to have another world-class roster of 20 CPOs and procurement experts discuss how procurement can become more intelligent and transform operations and capitalize on the most significant opportunities in this new age. This year’s roster was more diverse and considerably younger than any previous Summit roster, and I have to say that the overall quality of the presentations, panels, and breakouts was as strong, if not stronger than what we’d seen previously (this is really saying something because we’ve had some amazing presentations). In particular, the main-stage keynotes on both Day 1 and Day 2 were outstanding from top to bottom.

These keynote presentations were delivered by a group of global CPOs including

• Steve Listzwan, the Head of Procurement (CPO) of Shire Pharmaceuticals and Ardent Partners’ 2017 “CPO of the Year.” His presentation, “Faster, Higher, Stronger: Building the Data-Driven Procurement Athlete,” was designed to help CPOs and Procurement Leadership Teams use internal data to get more from their staffs and ultimately build an elite team of high-performers. Steve’s innovative and thoroughly unique approach to staff development is to leverage different sources of data to both evaluate and improve staff performance and discuss the strategies that enable the best use of that data to build a better Procurement athlete and team.
• Chris Shanahan, VP of Global Procurement & Global Real Estate, Thermo Fisher Scientific, whose presentation, “0 to 60: Driving a High Velocity Procurement Transformation,” shared the key strategies and approaches that he has used to successfully drive procurement transformations at the “speed of business.”
• Meghan Truchan, Head of Procurement, Bain Capital, LP, whose presentation, “Procurement Transformation: One Size Does Not Fit All,” took a consultative approach to assessing and contrasting different procurement transformation scenarios and the approaches that make the most sense to take in each situation.
• Dan Warn, Director of Strategic Procurement (CPO), Wayfair, whose presentation, “Spend Therapy: Transforming Procurement In a High Growth Company,” looked at a new procurement delivery model that is many ways more representative of today’s business environment than the classic approaches.

I could go on and on — and my team and I will — but not today. We will continue to discuss and review this year’s CPO Rising Summit in a series of articles publishing over the next few weeks. So, stay tuned!

Summary

Procurement’s “Age of Intelligence” demands powerful analytics and deep insights. It demands agility. The ability to make better-informed decisions across an organization can and will be game-changing; I believe that this new intelligence coupled with agility are going to be the fundamental drivers that push procurement to the next level. But this all starts with the CPO and his or her mindset. If you are a CPO or report to one, please mark your calendars for October 29 and 30, 2019 for the CPO Rising 2019 Summit.

Heidi will deliver the first keynote presentation of CPO Rising 2019 on driving “Procurement with a Purpose” – on how the procurement function is uniquely positioned within many enterprises to drive positive social and environmental change across global supply chains. It’s a topic on which Heidi is well versed, having lived and worked abroad for so many years and having experienced globalization from both sides of the world. The following is a conversation between Heidi and Andrew Bartolini, in three parts, that has been edited for brevity and clarity.

Andrew Bartolini: Back when I started working in the technology sector (late 1999 – early 2000), global sourcing meant sourcing from China, right? But now it no longer means just China, right? There are pockets of capabilities in all these formerly-developing or currently-developing countries. That having been said, do you think that it is easier to do global sourcing now because the suppliers are more sophisticated? Or is it harder because you have so many more potential competitors or potential suppliers and regions to source from? More broadly, when you think of global sourcing back when you were right there with your feet on the ground until today, what are some of the things that have changed in that process and in those relationships?

Heidi Landry: Well, I would say, as with most things, Andrew, that it’s a bit of both. I think if I take what’s become easier, there’s a lot more data and information sources available to find new suppliers and to assess their financial viability then there ever has been. On the flip side, the demands on the suppliers have become increasingly complex. It’s certainly not a matter of just delivering their goods and services; it’s much more around the total value that they deliver, including their innovation capability, their level of sophistication, and social responsibility issues, their capabilities to offer added-value services, whether it’s managing inventory, just-in-time services, or local warehousing. So while it’s easier to find those suppliers and it’s easier to access them, at least at a preliminary level through the technology that we’ve got, the set of demands we’ve put on those suppliers has really increased.

So, for our suppliers, there’s a lot of complexity in developing that to meet our company’s standard, especially with a company like Johnson & Johnson, which has a huge footprint in social responsibility. We really pride ourselves on our “Big for Good” efforts in the sourcing arena. We want to work with suppliers who meet certain criteria, or at minimum are willing to develop and expand in certain areas, particularly focused on our social responsibility goals. And that’s already table stakes, along with having very strong quality systems, robust management systems, strong supplier reliability, et cetera. So, those demands have become very complex; and of course we work in a highly-regulated industry, which has increased the complexity of identifying and qualifying the correct trading partner.

So again, looking back it used to be quite simple of a task: five or six years ago we did not have an awareness of the impact we could make on social issues through procurement, but today we do. And we strive to put our spend to use according to the principles of how we behave as our own company.

AB: Yeah, that’s right. There was such a big shift that happened about 20 years ago in global sourcing, and it continues; but the shift is back within the enterprise. And what procurement has now is an ability to amplify its linkages to key corporate initiatives, like CSR; or in some cases they become much more directly tied to revenue.

Now let me ask you this: when you think about procurement in the 2020s, what are some of the things that get you or keep you excited about working in this field?

HL: Well, I’ve never gotten tired of procurement. I know I’ve been doing it for almost all of my career, and I find that it evolves very rapidly. We’ve just been leap-frogging forward in terms of our capabilities to automate basic transactions that allow us to focus much more on where we add value in the strategic sourcing space. So as I think forward a decade from now, clearly that will continue to accelerate.

I think that we’ll enter much more deeply into partnerships with some of our key suppliers, especially in the space of co-innovation, exploring higher-enabled innovation and additional value opportunities. Our collaboration with some of those strategic suppliers will become much deeper.

And then I think we’ll become much more expert on balancing and managing our risks and our external environment. So I think we’ll see many companies pursuing a more asset-light strategy, and therefore becoming more reliant on the procurement team to provide effective management of external manufacturing networks, understanding suppliers’ unique competencies, getting the best value. And so as we develop more in that space, I think we’ll see procurement move to more of an alliance-management role versus a more standardized supplier management role, in addition to the more traditional procurement roles we play in Direct materials and Indirect/Commercial arenas.

AB: Yeah, that’s great.

Join us next week as we complete the conversation between Andrew and Heidi on the changing nature of global sourcing.

Hal is an accomplished professional with over 30 years of CPO level experience in procurement and contracting. He is a past national president of the Airport Purchasing Group and the National Procurement Institute, and was a founding member and past president of the California Chapter of the National Institute of Government Purchasing. He is a frequent presenter at industry events and is a well-regarded procurement expert.

We were fortunate to catch up with Hal earlier this year to learn more about his background, notably: how he got his start in procurement, why he left the cold and wintry weathers of the East Coast for the warm and breezy West Coast, and how he returned before retiring to the suburbs of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Today, Hal writes about procurement and continues to evangelize for the future of the profession.

Education and Early Career

Hal attended Elizabethtown College where he studied business administration and psychology. Like many other procurement professionals, he got his start in the field somewhat accidentally at New York University (NYU) Medical Center (now NYU Langone) where he began working in the respiratory care wing of the clinical department, a 24-7 operation that required constant staffing and servicing. Over time, Hal became more involved in the procurement of goods for the department and less involved in the clinical-care side. One day, one of his managers said, “Why don’t we call it like it is and transition you into procurement?” From there, Hal’s career would be entirely focused on materials management and procurement.

Hal worked for NYU Langone Medical Center for 12 years, serving as Assistant Director of Central Services before taking a sudden and drastically different turn in his career. While on a family vacation to Disney Land, Hal noticed an opening for a Procurement Director for the City of Palm Springs. He and his family loved the location, and with nothing to lose, Hal applied for and ultimately got the job. He and has family uprooted from the East Coast and would make Palm Springs home for the next 21 years.

Hal’s long tenure as Director of Procurement and Contracting for Palm Springs was quite interesting because it encapsulated a lot of unique projects, including infrastructure, marketing, public safety, and tourism. For example, during his time the city built a convention center that accommodated the local economy – mainly, hospitality and tourism. He and his team helped to manage the expansion of Palm Springs Airport and allow it to serve international carriers. He was instrumental in the acquisition and installation of one of the earliest reliable and successful earthquake early warning systems in the US in Palm Springs, a city located on the San Andreas Fault.

After working there for more than 21 years, Hal and his wife, Jaye, moved back to the East Coast when he became Director of Procurement and Contracting for Frederick County, Maryland, a position that he would hold for about another eight years. Hal’s tenure in Frederick would cover the ground of the modern procurement professional – procuring direct and indirect materials, as well as construction and professional services.

In November 2012, Hal decided to semi-retire from procurement and move to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, where he consults and freelances on procurement and remains active on social media. He hosts a LinkedIn group, Procurement Pros, in which he combines public and private sector issues, as well as supply chain and service-oriented issues, in a forum that he seeks to make as interesting for his members as it is for him. Although Hal is semi-retired, he remains interested in developing a common procurement language that procurement professionals around the world can use, as well as connecting the sourcing, procurement, and payment processes into the source-to-settle process. For him, hosting Procurement Pros and speaking at conferences are “give-backs” to a procurement community that has treated him well over his career.

What 35 Years of Procurement Change Looks Like

Since Hal began his procurement career in 1971, he has seen quite a revolution across the industry. At first, there were no thought leaders evangelizing the procurement role. It is a different story today, with thought leaders educating the workforce and tying the two ends of procurement and AP together, and linking contracts and risk management with procurement.

What he sees more than anything else is the recognition that internal and external stakeholders need to collaborate and work together. They need to be familiar with what procurement is working on, and they need to work holistically across the organization to pull in other constituent departments and functions, like AP/Finance, contracts, legal, marketing, operations, and so on. Hal also believes that it is no longer just about cost savings; they are important, as are cost containment (not spending more than you have to). But the concept of best value and looking at the overall value to the organization has really come to the forefront. Fortunately, he believes that the digital environment in which we operate has enhanced our ability to do that, as well as to collaborate and make the world much smaller than it is.

The Future of Procurement: It’s Already Happening

As Hal looks ahead, he believes that the term “buyer” will be a thing of the past, as category managers and procurement professionals are much more than glorified order takers. Also, more staple commodities will be automatically purchased, allowing practitioners to reallocate their time and effort to more strategic planning and execution. Sure, they will still need to setup, maintain, and QA/QC systems and processes, but they will be more involved in examining issues that pertain to sourcing, procurement, and best value to ensure that they are integrated within the overall organization. Hal also believes that procurement as a specialty will continue to be a multi-purpose operation that gets integrated into other things – a belief that Ardent Partners’ research shows has been occurring for the past several years. Hal believes (as do we) that if it has to be competed, sourced, or purchased, procurement should get involved.

There is also a lot of green field opportunity for procurement expansion and collaboration across the enterprise. According to Hal, “some of the things that procurement’s not involved in but could add a lot of value to are things like construction, insurance, and legal services that are still siloed within many companies.” Here, all parties ought to take a holistic view of the value that procurement can deliver to the whole organization. Marketing, in particular, is an underserved procurement relationship, and CPOs and procurement leaders need to ensure smooth collaboration between the two departments. “Sometimes there’s a lot of misunderstanding between the two – one of the most important things that procurement professionals can ascribe to in the future. The two roles need to understand each other.”

There is also greater opportunity for procurement to collaborate and align with legal departments, particularly regarding contract management. “When contracts get handed off, sometimes there’s a glitch,” he says, adding that the relationship between legal and procurement needs to be smooth and integrated because they contribute so much to each other for them not to be. In fact, some legal departments are starting to have their own procurement section, which is recognition that procurement and legal need to work together because they are all working towards the same ends.

Final Thoughts

It is a real treat to sit down with someone who has the breadth and depth of experience in an industry that has evolved as much as it has over the last 35 years and continues to evolve. Hal Good is a procurement pro who not only has ridden the wave from coast to coast and back, but also has managed to be an evangelist and thought leader even in retirement. For these reasons, we are so grateful to have him speak at CPO Rising 2019 and are counting down the days. If you haven’t already, you can take advantage of early bird registration and pricing and register here!

“The technology sponsors are all very interesting, the speakers are fantastic, great food, and great people to be around. In my opinion this is the very best conference to attend.” ~ Gregg Brandyberry, the former VP of Procurement at pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline, and 2016 CPO Rising Hall of Fame inductee.

“As one of the speakers at this year’s event, talking about Big Data analytics, it’s certainly ‘on theme’ with one of the key buzz words of future of our business. I shared some case studies of how we use Big Data analytics on bid data to unlock almost a 2x savings rate, which is awesome!” ~ Walt Charles, CPO of Allergan.

“Just the intellectual power in the room is really great to learn from. There are some real thought leaders out there talking about their experiences. And it seems like they are still learning, they talk about the fact that they haven’t sat back, that they continue to be students and learn. And that is inspiring,” said one procurement leader.

“One thing that makes this conference special is the size. Truly you aren’t just a number. When the speakers are done, you can go up and ask questions. The intimate setting that is created at this event is something special,” said another CPO attendee. 

Check Out The Video Below to Hear More

Attendees to the CPO Rising 2019 Summit are certain to depart from this executive conference energized and armed with new ideas to improve their operations. Please consider joining us this October 29 & 30 at the Harvard Club in Boston! To view the speaker panel and the Summit agenda, visit the event site https://events.cporising.com.

Identifying these new catalysts and sources and framing the different ways that CPOs can leverage them are central themes of CPO Rising 2019, Ardent’s fourth-annual procurement executive symposium. It is with this in mind that we are excited to announce the official agenda for CPO Rising 2019, which we’re holding once again at Boston’s historic Harvard Club (Back Bay Clubhouse) on October 29 & 30, 2019. The Ardent Partners team has been working in concert with some of the biggest names in the procurement and supply management industry to craft an engaging agenda that speaks to the heart of the issues, challenges, and aspirations of today’s procurement leadership. Here are some sample topics and titles straight from the agenda itself:

• “Procurement with a Purpose,” a keynote presentation to be delivered by Heidi Landry, the CPO and VP of Enterprise Supply Chains at Johnson & Johnson
• A panel discussion on Innovation in Procurement, led by Bob Cohen, Ardent’s Research Director and VP of Marketing
• “Talent is Everything: Developing the Right Team,” a keynote presentation to be delivered by Beatriz Loizillon, the VP of PNA Procurement and Real Estate/Corporate Services at Panasonic Corp.
• A CPO panel discussion on Expanding Procurement’s Value, moderated by me, and featuring Shelley Stewart Jr., CPO Rising Hall of Famer and former CPO of DuPont
• “Leading Procurement through the Gig Economy,” a keynote presentation by David Kern, head of global procurement, TripAdvisor Media Group
• “Spend Therapy: A Modern Approach to Classic Challenges,” another keynote presentation delivered by Dan Warn, CPO of AthenaHealth
• And many more panel discussions, keynotes, and breakout sessions.

We’re constantly updating the CPO Rising 2019 Agenda, so check back frequently, and be sure to register for the event, as tickets are starting to go. We hope to see you in Boston in October!

• Kicking us off will be Stephen Listzwan, Head of Procurement (CPO) of Shire Pharmaceuticals and Ardent Partners’ 2017 “CPO of the Year,” who will deliver a powerful keynote presentation entitled “faster, Higher, Stronger: Building the Data-Driven Procurement Athlete.” Steve’s talk is designed to help CPOs and Procurement Leadership Teams use internal data to get more from their staffs and ultimately build an elite team of high-performers.
• Next up will be Chris Shanahan, Vice-President Global Procurement (“CPO”) & Global Real Estate for Thermo Fisher Scientific, who will give a presentation entitled, “0 to 60: Driving a High-Velocity Procurement Transformation.” Chris will share the key strategies and approaches that he has used to successfully drive a procurement transformation at the speed of business.
• Finally, David Gallaer, Vice President of Category Management at MUFG Union Bank, will deliver the day’s final keynote presentation, “Strategic Category Management: A Vital Part of Corporate Strategy and Supply Chain Optimization.” This presentation looks at how a strategic approach to category management can help sourcing and procurement teams deliver greater value to the enterprise.

Click below to learn more about the CPO Rising 2018 Summit and to register! If you have any questions about the event, please feel free to reach out to us directly and we’d be happy to help!

Like so many other Chief Procurement Officers (CPOs), Steve Listzwan, the senior vice president and head of procurement at Shire Pharmaceuticals (and the recipient of CPO Rising’s 2017 Leadership/CPO of the Year award), began his career outside of the profession. He earned a BS in Civil Engineering from Union College and for the first five years of his career, Steve designed environmental engineering projects for O’Brien & Gere Engineers in Syracuse, NY. Not long after beginning his career, Steve enrolled in a part-time MBA program at nearby Syracuse University. In June 1995, with his new degree in hand, Steve took a temporary assignment within the procurement office at Merck & Co., Inc., one of his firm’s clients, covering for a maternity leave. After six months, he was offered a permanent position within the Merck procurement organization, the first of many over a six and a half year period that would have him relocate to Italy and Ireland. He capped his tenure there as a Manager in Global Procurement responsible for implementing Merck’s first electronic P2P platform.

“Merck was great for my development as a young procurement professional,” he said. “I was given great opportunities, had the luxury of a great mentor, and learned the fundamentals of the procurement profession.”

In September 2001, Steve joined Cambridge, MA-based Biogen when it was a much smaller company than it is today (at the time, it was spending only about $400 million a year and has since grown significantly). He reported into the controller of the company and established Biogen’s first strategic sourcing team. In moving from Merck to Biogen, Steve went from pharma to biotech at a time when the two industries were still largely separate (now they are often intertwined). After more than seven years, Steve left Biogen and became the Director of Global Strategic Sourcing at MedImmune (the biologics division of Astra Zeneca), headquartered in Gaithersburg, MD. In 2012, he was recruited out of MedImmune to become the Global Head of Procurement (CPO) for Novartis Vaccines, a position he’d hold until the company was purchased by GSK in 2015.

Coming Home to Shire

Steve joined Shire in April of 2015 as vice president and head of procurement (CPO). “Being at Shire has been especially interesting given that it is such an acquisitive company,” he said, adding that the company has purchased four companies since 2015. When Shire acquired Baxalta in the summer of 2016, Shire’s annual spend doubled from $3 billion to $6 billion. Steve and his team “used that opportunity to accelerate the transformation of Shire Procurement” by finding synergies between the two companies (for example, 30-40% of the total integration synergies were delivered by procurement). Steve and his team merged and reorganized the two procurement teams and “used that opportunity to create a truly world-class procurement function and deliver substantial value back to the business.”

Earlier this year, Steve and his team learned that Takeda was interested in purchasing Shire, and as a result, they are in the process of preparing for that acquisition, which they expect to close in the first half of 2019. A majority of the team is focused on continuing to drive the procurement function and delivering results for the company.  Steve has a small team that works with a team from Takeda to map out the future of the Shire-Takeda procurement operation – how they will merge, what kind of spend opportunities they intend to pursue, and standing up “clean teams” resourced by independent third parties to look for those opportunities.

The Procurement Game has Changed (and that’s a good thing!)

When Steve began his career in procurement, “it was thought of in a certain way as a transactional support function.” It’s gone from managing individual deals to managing categories and delivering total company value. For Steve, “the biggest transition has been procurement being looked at as a strategic partner by the business. That’s something that needs to be earned by procurement.” Procurement had to work hard to elevate itself to that level. Steve’s team at Shire has been very deliberate about creating a standard operating model for how the whole procurement team functions around the globe. There are four fundamental pieces:

1. Stakeholder Engagement – Formal mapping and regular scheduled interactions with key stakeholders around the company to understand spend, needs and progress initiatives that deliver value. “Stakeholder engagement is not always a top skill of the average procurement professional” Steve said, “but it’s very important to build that skill to be successful in our model.”
2. Category Management – “Procurement is the only group that has the ability to see spend across the whole company,” to see market trends, and find ways to optimize spend.  Developing multi-year global category strategies in partnership with stakeholders transforms the relationship between the procurement function and stakeholders from tactical to truly value added and strategic.
3. Sourcing Projects – Using standard processes, tools, and procurement team skills to implement strategic initiatives that are generated by the Category Management process. “The main process has stayed relatively the same over the years but the tools and techniques have advanced significantly,” Steve said.
4. Supplier Management – Partnering with stakeholders and preferred suppliers to get the most out of each relationship.

A Sneak Preview of Steve’s Main-Stage Presentation

At CPO Rising 2018, Steve will deliver a presentation entitled, “Faster, Higher, Stronger: Building the Data-Driven Procurement Athlete.” As an avid cyclist, Steve will draw parallels between athletic competition and the procurement function – how technological innovations in both spheres are used to help individual performers, teams, and their managers improve their performances and realize their potential. As Steve will illustrate, given the use of modern procurement technology platforms, there is a significant amount of performance data available to procurement professionals and their leaders. The challenge for CPOs and procurement teams, as it is for coaches and cycling teams, is to collect and leverage that data in real time in order to measure performance, create custom improvement programs, and ultimately improve performance.  Steve will demonstrate that, just as there has been significant technological innovation in sports and cycling, in particular, the procurement space abounds with innovation and robust business tools able to collect and analyze data in real-time and provide almost instantaneous visibility and control. He will then illustrate how Shire’s procurement teams use these innovations to measure and ultimately enhance their performance as individuals and as a total function.

Want to hear Steve speak at CPO Rising 2018? Register by clicking here and take advantage of standard pricing while it still lasts (expires after 11:59 PM on October 16). 

Last year’s inaugural CPO Honors Gala, which recognized Chief Procurement Officers and their teams for outstanding performance and execution over the last year, was such a smashing success that Ardent will reveal winners of this year’s industry achievement awards at the CPO Rising 2018 Summit Gala Dinner. We will present four companies with global procurement achievement awards (CPO Honors) for excellence demonstrated in these categories:

The Innovation Award: Presented to the CPO and team that have used new and innovative strategies and approaches to overcome significant hurdles.

The Technology Excellence Award: Presented to the CPO and team that have leveraged technology solutions to impact procurement operations and performance.

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

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

“We distinguish top performers in all Ardent Partners’ research efforts as ‘Best-in-Class’ enterprises: from this group, our research team has identified a smaller list of procurement leaders and organizations who are notable for their transformative strategies and results.”

– Andrew Bartolini, Chief Research Officer, Ardent Partners

The CPO Honors winners will be selected based upon external nominations. If there is a CPO or other procurement leader who you think is deserving, make sure to submit your nomination here.

If you haven’t already, register for The CPO Rising 2018 Summit at https://events.cporising.comtoday!

Event Details:

CPO Rising 2018

November 7^th and 8^th

The Harvard Club (Back Bay)

Boston, MA

Register today or by August 31 to take advantage of the early bird pricing and make sure you don’t miss what is sure to be the procurement event of 2018.