Industry Leader's Journey

During this episode, Faith VanLesser, Senior Vice President, Indirect Sourcing & Procurement at the company McKesson shares her distinctive trajectory in finance and procurement, coupled with her expectional professionala cumen, role as a spouse, and dedication as a mother. She is an inspirational narrative for us all.

Through this podcast episode, Tricia shares how her career journey and professional path have been highly influenced by a life full of optimism.

In this episode of Industry Leader's Journey, Soo sits down with Bob Murphy, Chief Procurement Officer at IBM. Born in Scotland, Bob has enjoyed a 45-year career at IBM, beginning his professional journey in engineering and management before discovering his passion for procurement. In this episode, Bob shares his personal journey from humble beginnings, the value of data in modern business, his philosophies on leadership and "self-mastery", and much more.

In this episode, Soo sits down with Marcos Eloi, Chief Procurement Officer at the Kraft Heinz Company, the third-largest food and beverage company in North America and the fifth-largest food and beverage company in the world. Eloi discusses his philosophies surrounding procurement strategy and supplier relationships, his passion for technology, the “design to value” methodology, and finding the collaboration in competition.

"We are talking about creating new value, new wealth, and new business opportunities where everyone benefits." Elizabeth Vazquez is the CEO and Co-Founder of WEConnect International, a global network that connects women-owned businesses to qualified buyers around the world. She is a world leader in women’s economic empowerment and global supplier diversity and inclusion. In this episode, Elizabeth discusses how we can work towards gender equity in business, from buyers to suppliers, as well as her key strategy and findings from years of experience.

“Understanding what suppliers need, and making sure we're expanding and looking at everyone that can make a contribution, regardless of scale, is really critical.” With an illustrious career that began in tax management and evolved into procurement, Sandra Brummitt has shown an uncanny knack for adapting and thriving in any sector she works. In this episode, Sandra discusses the importance of supplier diversity, the recent Inflation Reduction Act, her personal and professional journey, Nisource's efforts in sustainability, as well as her philanthropic passions.

"People, process, technology - to me these are the three core pillars in our pursuit of supply chain and procurement excellence.” Over the span of his 23 year career, Arul Mathew, Vice President of Global Supply Chain and Procurement at Lubrizol, has used his unique blend of global experiences and strong external perspective to bring customer-focused supply chain strategies to Lubrizol. In this episode, Arul provides invaluable insight to issues facing the global supply chain, as well as a fascinating glimpse into his personal story and philosophies.

Sébastien Bals Head of Procurement at UCB provides a fascinating perspective from traveling the world sprinkled with an entrepreneurial spirit. He is driven to positively reach as many lives as possible in everything he pursues.

With roughly 20 years of business experience, Marcelo Scarcelli, Head of Procurement for Unilever, successfully manages the company’s F&B portfolio. In this episode, he shares outstanding business cases of innovation and product design—and ties them back to his role in procurement. Stay tuned and dive deeper into understanding how to think of sustainability through an entire value chain perspective.

“We are an industry that is transforming itself quite rapidly... Which I find quite exciting.” As one of the few female leaders in the procurement area, Aurélia Tremblaye is always at the top of her game - especially when it comes to pursuing a more sustainable practice. At ENGIE, she is tackling different targets at once, from working towards Net Zero by 2045 to discontinuing the company’s coal activity in all of Europe. Stay tuned to her more about her successful decades-long journey in procurement.

"When we started this journey in the digital era, with our Ariba project, we said we wanted a lot very fast. It was our Fast Track project; and this was reasonably done. With an agile approach, this project can be technically implemented in three months only.” From the challenges faced by the Oil & Gas Industry since 2020 to OMV showing immense growth in 2021, Klaus Blachnik talks about how he led a complete transformation of procurement, towards creating value out of it. Stay tuned to hear more about his purposeful path towards sustainable procurement—a story which began with Klaus being asked a simple question: “Is your passport valid?”

"We're expected to double our size over the next 3 to 5 years, from $3b to $6b. To be able to sustain that growth in that short period of time, we have to have a stable foundation.” Coming from a Chemical Engineering background, Tom Thomas now leads a unified and standardized supply chain at Albemarle. In this episode, he shares the intricacies of his role, his journey with SAP, and some personal anecdotes, such as when he explained what supply chain is to his six-year-old daughter.

“To some extent, the Oil & Gas Industry has always belonged to the Energy Industry; so, today, in most of the cases, the key players in Oil & Gas industry are also key players in electricity, and biofuels...” José Antonio Valgañón is the CPO for one of the leading Oil & Gas companies in the world–CEPSA. From a personal perspective, he shares about his close connection to the Basque Culture, and to the small village his grandparents are from, called Valgañón. Professionally speaking, he delves into the specificities of the Oil & Gas–or, better said, Energy–Business, and into CEPSA’s initiatives to revolutionize the industry. Stay tuned to hear all about it!

"...What's really interesting in financial services is the degree to which banks have gone from worrying about somebody walking into a branch with a balaclava and a gun to [worrying about] cyber intrusion and accessing.” With 28 years of business experience, George Booth, CPO for Lloyds Banking Group Plc., successfully manages procurement and annual supplier budget of £5.1bn. In this episode, George not only shares his expertise on risk management and digitalization, but also his “ever-regenerative” journey in the Banking Industry.

“I feel that SAP is locked in with us, so we've already started the implementation work. We've got a steering committee put together–with SAP involved–, and I have no doubt that we will crush our business case.” After serving 9 years on active duty with the Air Force, Russ Major, CPO for USAA, pivoted to the Banking Industry. Although Russ “retired” from military, he remained committed to providing the best financial services to the U.S military members, and started his career in USAA in 2018. In this episode, Russ not only shares his expertise on Third-Party Risk Management and Digital Transformation, but also a few amusing anecdotes about his personal life–such as when he got a 1987 Cutlass Ciera in exchange for getting into the Air Force Academy! Stay tuned to hear all about his incredible journey.

​“Supply chain and procurement at a National Lab is so complicated–we do manufacture; we do R&D; we do maintain 42 square miles of facilities; we do have 12,000 employees using state-of-the-art technology... We kind of have it all, which is the problem.” Christine Hipp, Leader of ASM Center of Excellence at LANL, walks us through her life journey, and describes how she has climbed all the way up to “the Hill” to find herself a successful career at Los Alamos (LANL). In this episode, she also shares her personal experience with sustainability, digital transformation, and the challenges of sourcing and procuring for a national lab.

​“...you need to make sure that you're listening to the voice of the customer and understanding the uniqueness of the business,–and drive the value that way.” Carole Wendt, Senior Vice President Global Procurement and CPO at Ascend Performance Materials, shares her career and life journey. As a pioneer in her field, Carole talks about her transition from R&D to Procurement, her lifelong passion for the Petrochemical Industry, and the “pet projects” she still plans to implement.

​Susanna Zhu, Vice President of US Manufacturing and Supply Chain Operations at Hershey, shares lifelong purpose statement and personal interests in this episode. Furthermore, as a woman leader in the supply chain, Susanna has demonstrated her passion for leading and mentoring young professionals in the fields and the commitments to sustainable projects like Cocoa for Good for the chocolate industry.

“…we're not just about sourcing, we're not just about savings, it's really about having bigger picture strategic impact on the business…” Martha Buffington, Chief Procurement Officer of Royal DSM, a €9 billion global company producing health, nutrition, and sustainable living products to enhance the lives of people and the sustainability of the planet, shares her career purpose and personal goal along her journey from the U.S. to Netherland. As a mentor and supporter of women in business, Martha talks through her overseas experience, the passion for digitalization, and making the world better for people.

"My purpose is very strongly embedded in sustainability leadership… a key message for today, to enhance, to grow, to learn along the purpose that we've shared today." As a global leader in sustainability, Bertrand has long held a vision that procurement and supply chain fundamentally contribute to the longevity of the planet. As president of Together for Sustainability (TfS) and co-founder and ambassador of the Sustainable Procurement Pledge, he talks through this vision and how he approaches all decisions with a passion for procurement and responsible leadership.