Procurement Rising

Today on Procurement Rising, part of the Ardent Partners podcast network, I interviewed Michael Hillman, renowned CPO, and someone with a lifetime of experience. We're going to dive into his legendary career and focus on the highlights and key learnings that have brought him to where he is today.

On today's episode, we highlight an engaging CPO panel discussion that I lead from our "CPO Spectacular" event from last November. The panel includes three Best-in-Class CPOs who discussed their experiences and insights from a hectic 2021, and then shared their plans for 2022. We hope you enjoy!

We begin Season 3 of the Procurement Rising podcast with Jean-Michel Dos Remedios, the Sourcing & Supplier Development Senior Director at Bel Brands USA. Jean-Michel was also the winner of "The Innovation Award" at Ardent's CPO Honors 2021 awards. We talk about that, plus some of the new and innovative strategies and approaches he and his team are using to overcome significant hurdles.

Today, on Procurement Rising, part of the Ardent Partners Podcast Network, we interview Brian Roche, the Chief Procurement Officer at Westfield Insurance. Brian is a leading CPO and has a great and long track record in the financial services industry.

Today, on Procurement Rising, part of the Ardent Partners Podcast Network, I interviewed Sean Park, CPO at Splunk, a popular B2B company that everybody seems to be using. Sean was also recently a panelist at Ardent’s November CPO Rising Virtual Event, and he's graciously returned to cover some new ground with me today.

Today, on Procurement Rising, part of the Ardent Partners Podcast Network, I interviewed Tom Cassidy. He's the CPO at Bayada, a company that is front and center in the battle against COVID. Tom is also a regular at our annual CPR Rising Summit held each Fall, which of course will not be held in person this year.

Today on Procurement Rising Podcast Series we welcome Thomas Udesen, the Chief Procurement Officer at Bayer. Thomas is also the co-founder of the Sustainable Procurement Pledge (SPP), a community of CPOs and other procurement executives who are committed to bringing sustainability into their procurement practices. In our discussion, we talk about Thomas’ career, how he ended up working at Bayer, what lead him to co-founding the SPP, and why it is so important for procurement leaders to incorporate sustainable best practices. If you would like to learn more about the Sustainable Procurement Pledge click her: https://spp.earth/

We kick off Season 2 of the Procurement Rising Podcast Series with globally renowned CPO, Bill Cooper. Bill retired earlier this summer after an illustrious career in procurement where he was most recently the Associate Vice President and Chief Procurement Officer for the entire University of California system. In our discussion Bill reflects back on his decades long career in procurement. We also talk about how the role of CPO has changed over the years and what it takes to succeed in the job today.

This week, listeners will hear Part 2 of the key findings of Ardent Partners’ sixteenth annual State of Procurement and the CPO market research study. In our follow up to Part 1, Andrew is again joined by is Ardent’s VP of Research Christopher J. Dwyer, and Ahmad Jiwani, the Senior Product Marketing Manager at Workday. Together they dive into the annual research study, talk about what is happening in the world of procurement today, and discuss the key procurement benchmarks for 2021.

This week features a special edition of the Procurement Rising Podcast. Listeners will hear Part 1 of the key findings of Ardent Partners’ sixteenth annual State of Procurement and the CPO market research study. Joining Andrew on this presentation is Ardent’s VP of Research Christopher J. Dwyer, and Ahmad Jiwani, the Senior Product Marketing Manager at Workday. Together they dive into the annual research study, talk about what is happening in the world of procurement today, and discuss the key strategies that are most relevant to the CPO community.

On this week’s podcast, Andrew talks with John Dickson, the Chief Procurement Officer at AstraZeneca. Andrew talks with John touches on a wide range of topics, including John’s five-year plan of establishing the “brand” of the procurement function at AstraZeneca, work during the pandemic, and the four key elements that drive a successful procurement operation.

Like many procurement professionals, Chris Shanahan sort of “fell” into the space. Now, after a long and impressive career, Chris has taken over the role of CPO at Thermo Fisher Scientific. On this week’s pod, Andrew talks with Chris about his career and experience working in procurement, taking over at Thermo Fisher, and how he launched a full P2P program during the pandemic with a distributed workforce.

Greg Tennyson is one of the best-known and most outgoing Chief Procurement Officers in the world. He's also been a trailblazer who has delivered great results throughout his career. Andrew's conversation with Greg focused on many pandemic-related topics including: managing a distributed workforce, sustaining results through difficult times, new opportunities, and procurement's "new normal." We hope you enjoy the conversation with a recent CPO of the Year!

On the evening of the 93rd Academy Awards (aka. The Oscars!!), it is entirely appropriate that we publish Andrew's interview with Jim Polak, who was inducted into the CPO Rising Hall of Fame in 2019 during the CPO Honors ceremony (aka "The Procurement Oscars") in acknowledgement of an outstanding career in procurement. Jim, the former Director of General Purchasing at PPG Industries, shares his thoughts on how to become a CPO (and succeed in the role), overcome powerful objections, and build Best-in-Class teams.

Ian Maher is the Vice President & Head of Strategic Sourcing at Global Atlantic Financial Group, but he wasn’t always. In this episode, Ian shares his approach to onboarding into a new Chief Procurement Officer role, the important role that relationships have played in his success, and the value of data in managing third-party contracts. Thinking about taking a new job in procurement? Looking to build greater influence for your procurement operation and/or improve its overall BPO management, this Procurement Rising episode is for you as we hear first-hand strategies from a highly-regarded procurement expert.

Jacob Larsen is the man (and the brains) behind the "Moneyball for Sourcing" concepts that have electrified our industry. He's also a preeminent expert on the role that technology can play within a procurement department. As the Director of Digital Procurement at Maersk Group, Jacob was an earlier proponent of our own eSourcing 2.0 doctrine and has arguably managed and overseen more eAuctions than any professional working today. His background brought him to CPO Rising years ago. His new book, A Practical Guide to e-Auctions for Procurement brought him to Procurement Rising.

As the Global VP of Indirect Procurement and Real Estate ("CPO") at Univar Solutions, Alejandro Gusis doesn't just "do procurement," at least not in the way that most approach it. Despite that or perhaps because of it, Alejandro was named the "CPO of the Year" at the prestigious CPO Honors 2020 Awards ceremony last fall. On this podcast, Alejandro shares his approach to the profession and shares the experiences and insights that led to his award.