2023 North America Procurement Executive Forum

Fern Hernandez

Vice President

The Boeing company

Priscila Mendes

Procurement Vice President

Cummins Inc.

In 2003, Priscila joined Cummins as the Purchasing Leader in Brazil. Shortly after joining Cummins, she moved to the U.S. to become the Global Sourcing Director for Forgings. In 2011, she moved back to Latin America to lead the Indirect Purchasing team and then the Direct Purchasing team. She moved back to the U.S. in 2016 to lead the Global Indirect Procurement organization and became the Vice President of Global Procurement in 2021.
As a Cummins leader, Priscila exemplifies Cummins core values everyday by building trust, exuding enthusiasm and leading by example in everything she does. Throughout her Cummins career, she has demonstrated strong leadership skills in her various roles.

As the Vice President of Global Procurement, Priscila along with her Procurement Leadership Team are responsible to define and deliver the strategic direction, capabilities and tools to maintain and continue advancing the Cummins Procurement organization.
Priscila received her degree in Mechanical Engineering from Escola Federal de Engenharia de Itajuba (EFEI) in Brazil and her MBA from the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University. She is also a Certified Professional in Supply Management and Six Sigma Green Belt and Sponsor. She is also a proud graduate of the Cummins Global Leadership Development Program.

Priscila lives in Carmel, Indiana with her husband, Rodolfo. She has two stepdaughters, Daniela and Isabela, and two grandchildren, PJ and Emilia. Priscila and Rodolfo enjoy traveling, listening to music, watching movies, going on off-road trips and running – a hobby they picked up during the pandemic and are loving.

Dave McMurray

CPO North America

Kellogg Company

Dave McMurray joined the Kellogg’s Global Procurement team in 2015 as Vice President and Chief Procurement Officer for North America coming directly from McKinsey consulting after having spent over 25 years leading
procurement/supply chain activities across the manufacturing, distribution and retail industries.

Responsible for approximately $6B of total spend, Dave brings a deep background in global strategic procurement to Kellogg’s and was instrumental in the design and transformation of Kellogg’s current Global Procurement structure. In addition,
the implementation of an end to end Source to Pay model has helped the company drive further benefits across its Global Business Services agenda.

Viewed as a progressive change agent, Dave has been highly successful at
driving cash flow improvements across the supply. He has led sourcing teams in all areas of procurement from direct materials, indirect materials & services, external manufacturing, distribution/logistics, commodities and finished products (grocery retail) and is passionate about his involvement to drive improvement in areas of cost,
cash, diversity, sustainability and talent development.

Chris Bailey

Vice President - Supply Chain

Otis Elevator Company

Nancy Nicoll

Vice President Indirect CoE

Retail Business Services, a company of Ahold Delhaize USA

Nancy Nicoll is the Vice President of the Indirect Sourcing Center of Excellence for Retail Business Services, the services company of Ahold Delhaize USA. Retail Business Services serves a portfolio of five omnichannel grocery brands, including Stop & Shop, Food Lion, The GIANT Company, Hannaford and Giant Food, which collectively operate more than 2,100 stores and have some of the most extensive supply chain operations on the East Coast. Retail Business Services leverages scale to drive synergies and provides innovative solutions, as well as industry-leading expertise, insights and analytics to local brands to support their strategies. Nicoll oversees the development and deployment of a best-in-class strategic sourcing organization across multiple campuses.

Based in Salisbury, N.C., Nicoll works to create a partnership model where stakeholder relationships are the pillar of the sourcing process and to drive operational performance for Retail Business Services. She creates a culture of continuous improvement for her team of 39 associates and for Retail Business Services.

Nicoll has a 17-year tenure with Ahold Delhaize USA companies, and has served in continuous leadership roles including Director of Not for Resale and Senior Manager of Strategic Sourcing for Delhaize America. Prior to working for Delhaize America, she held leadership positions with TOYS R US and LORD & TAYLOR.
Nicoll earned her bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Denison University. She lives in Concord, N.C., with her son, Griffin.

Brad Tobin

Director

American Securities

Rich Szellan

SVP Procurement and Margin Improvement

Dollar General

Rich Szellan is the Senior Vice President of Procurement & Margin Improvement at Dollar General Corporation, headquartered in Goodlettsville, TN. Dollar General helps shoppers Save time. Save money. Every day. Dollar General operates 19,000+ stores in 47 states, and reported Net sales of ~ $37.8 billion in fiscal 2022.

In his current role, Rich leads the Procurement efforts for both Direct and Indirect spend, supporting DG’s aggressive growth strategy, which has recently entailed adding ~ 1,000+ new stores per year.

Previously, Rich gained 30+ years of experience and knowledge in other roles, including leadership positions in: Supply Chain, Inventory Management, Global Sourcing, Private Brand Development, Marketing, and Retail Merchandising.

Pardeep Gill

CPO & VP, Supply Chain

Ameren

Pardeep Gill (Gill) is the VP of Supply Chain and Chief Procurement Officer for Ameren Corporation, a Fortune 500 leading U.S. utility serving 2.4 million electric and nearly 1 million natural gas customers across Missouri and Illinois. Gill leads the Supply Chain function which includes the Company’s Procurement including Strategic Sourcing and Category Management, Supply Chain Operations, Contracting, SC Data & Analytics, Market Intelligence, Supplier Diversity and Supply Chain Sustainability departments. His organization is responsible for managing over $3.5 billion of spend for Ameren while focusing on continuity of supply, customer affordability and mitigating risks. Over $1B of this spend was sourced to diverse and minority owned vendors and he is a strong advocate for diversity, equity and inclusion internally and with vendors. Additionally, he is responsible for warehousing and logistics at more than 100 locations throughout MO and IL.

Prior to joining Ameren in 2019, Gill held various leadership roles at Exelon/Constellation Energy within Supply Chain, Operations and Sourcing for Nuclear. His previous work experience also includes Procurement, Category Management & Strategic Sourcing roles at Alcoa and Ford / Visteon. He has over 20 years of experience in Supply Chain complemented by over 4 years of experience in Operations and has worked in industries such as Mining & Metals, Automotive, Utilities, Nuclear, Retail Energy and Telecommunications. He has a strong commitment to developing supply chain maturity in renewables and supporting the growth of transmission and the application of digital technologies to benefit the organization.
Gill earned an MBA from The Ohio State University in Operations & Logistics with a minor in Real Estate Finance. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration majoring in Economics and Operations & Logistics from John Carroll University.

He is committed to community service. Gill is on the board of directors for Big Brothers & Big Sisters of Eastern Missouri. He has also represented Ameren on Civic Progress for St. Louis and is on the United Way Campaign Cabinet as the Chair for the Merit Division Campaign which raised nearly $2M annually in 2020, 2021 & 2022.

Gill currently serves as Co-Chair of the EEI (Edison Electric Institute) CPO subcommittee to address supply chain related concerns across all utilities. He is also Chair of the Sustainable Supply Chain Alliance (SSCA) which is focused on advancing sustainability across Ameren and all utilities. Gill was also the Chair of the CPOs in the STARS nuclear alliance until 2023.
He resides in St. Louis with his wife and two children.

Laks Natarajan

Head, Global Business Services

Marsh McLennan

Rich Sweeney

VP, Supply Chain

FirstEnergy

Rich joined FirstEnergy in 1999. He has served in multiple roles across various business lines, including IT, Operations, and Supply Chain. He assumed the VP, Supply Chain role in 2021.

Eddie Gordon

Vice President - Global Procurement

United Airlines

Eddie Gordon is vice president of global procurement at United. In this
role, Eddie is responsible for driving the team’s efforts to efficiently
and cost-effectively manage United’s vendors and suppliers.

Prior to his current position, Eddie served as the Managing Director
of Hub Operations at Dulles International Airport. In this role, he led
his team in navigating the challenges presented by a global pandemic,
the events that occurred at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2022, and
one of the most tumultuous winter operations Dulles has experienced
in recent years. Eddie did this all while learning and focusing on the
operational success of, and getting to know the many co-workers at,
the hub he called home.

Eddie started his journey with United in Houston, Texas as a corporate
finance attorney in its legal department in 2009. In this role, Eddie
supported corporate finance, fleet transactions, corporate transactions,
United Express, loyalty and alliance groups. He was also responsible
for the purchase, sale, financing and leasing of aircraft, and other flight
equipment, as well as United’s strategic investments and other aspects
of the company’s corporate affairs.

Eddie earned his Bachelor of Arts Degree from Duke University and
his Juris Doctor from New York University School of Law. Eddie is a
Legal Council on Legal Diversity Fellow and has been a Legal Council
on Legal Diversity Mentor and often served as a pro bono attorney for
members of the community. In 2016, Eddie was selected to be a Class
of 2017 Fellow in the IMPACT Leadership Development Program,
which was created by the Chicago Urban League in partnership with
the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business, from which he
graduated in May 2017.

Eddie is an enormous college basketball fan (Go Blue Devils!) with
a deep affinity for professional tennis (Go Serena!). When he is not
working or home watching sports, Eddie is likely visiting family
and friends or traveling internationally to one of his favorite
foreign destinations.

Aashima Jain

Director, Procurement Strategy, Spend Analytics & Supplier Risk Management

United Airlines

Aashima Jain is a Director in Global Procurement at United Airlines leading the Office of Procurement Operating Model, Spend Analytics, Supplier Diversity, Strategic Supplier Management and Enablement.

Aashima joined United in 2014 and has done a variety of roles in Procurement and Finance since then. Prior to United, she has been a strategy and procurement consultant with KPMG and Kearney Solutions, respectively. Aashima has a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IIT Delhi), India and an MBA from Krannert School of Management, Purdue University.

David Watkins

Director, Supply Chain Management

Alliant Energy

Arvind Anantharaman

Operating Partner

Mubadala Investment Company

Arvind is an Operating Partner within Mubadala’s private equity platform. Area of focus is value creation in Industrial & Business Services, Energy portfolio companies. More broadly across all portfolio companies, Arvind leads Supply Chain & Procurement driven value creation.

Prior to Mubadala, Arvind led performance transformation work initially at McKinsey and subsequently at Bridgewater Associates where he also led several line functions.

Peter Boehmer

Director Corporate Procurement Strategies

kdc/one

Rocky Vermani

Senior VP, Supply Chain & Innovation

NOVA Chemicals Corporation

Rocky Vermani is the Senior Vice President, Supply Chain and Innovation, responsible for driving value creation and enhancing customer experience through all elements of the supply chain and technology development. In his current role, Vermani is focused on drawing on his global insights and relationships to help drive business performance and meet the emerging challenges in the industry through innovation.

Vermani joined NOVA Chemicals in 1994 as process engineer, and since then served the company in a number of roles throughout manufacturing, technology licensing, polymer sales and marketing, olefins products business and olefins feedstock & energy acquisition. His years of experience in the petrochemical industry has helped him become an expert in all key functions of the business.

Prior to joining NOVA Chemicals, Vermani was a Process Engineer at DuPont Canada.

Vermani earned a Master of Science in Chemical Engineering and a Master of Business Administration from the University of Saskatchewan. He currently serves on the board of the Chemistry Industry Association of Canada (CIAC), Resource Diversification Council (RDC) for Alberta, and is a member of the Dean’s Advisory Council for Mount Royal University’s business school.

Jorge Camez

SVP Worldwide Procurement

Dell Technologies

Carl Robie

Executive Vice President & Chief Supply Chain Officer

Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd.

Leslie Benners

SVP Finance

FedEx

Leslie Benners is a qualified financial expert who collaborates with CEOs and executive leaders to drive shareholder value. Through her career in finance and disrupted industries, Benners manages change, improves revenue, and lowers cost while maintaining a people-friendly and high integrity culture.

As a former director of start-up company TropicSport, Benners provided governance, financial, and overall business guidance for this fast-growing sunscreen and facial care company; she also served as a connection for raising capital.

Until June 2023, Benners performed a dual role as Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer for FedEx Office and Print Services, Inc. and FedEx Corporate Services, Inc., both operating companies of FedEx Corporation (NYSE: FDX), one of Fortune’s Most Admired Companies for each of the past 20 years.

At FedEx Office, Benners led financial planning and analysis, pricing strategy and operations, global sourcing, sustainability, procurement, internal controls, and payroll services as well as real estate strategy, design, and execution. She also collaborated with the accounting and tax shared services teams. During her tenure, the operating company more than doubled its retail network to ~2100 stores, driving shipping growth and making it one of the most profitable shipping channels in the FedEx enterprise.

At FedEx Services, Benners was responsible for managing and planning all FedEx enterprise shared services expenses including technology, marketing, sales, accounting and back-office finance and human resource functions. She also led a global effort to transform the enterprise’s financial planning and analysis functions.

In June 2023, Benners became responsible for leading global sourcing and procurement for the FedEx enterprise, managing ~$40 billion in spend across numerous operations and services categories, and she is driving a significant cost reduction and process improvement effort as part of the Company’s transformation.

Earlier in her career, Benners led treasury and tax for Kinko’s, a portfolio company of the private equity firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, before FedEx acquired and re-branded it as FedEx Office. She also led treasury, corporate finance, and investor relations during her 11 years at American Airlines, managing all capital raising and investment activities as well as handling relationships with investors, sell side analysts, and debt rating agencies.

Benners is a cum laude graduate of the University of Vermont, with a Bachelor of Science degree. She received her Master’s in Business Administration from the University of Chicago. She resides in Dallas with her husband, and they have two adult sons.

Phil Seidler

SVP Supply Chain

Vistra

Phil Seidler is the Senior Vice President of Supply Chain for Vistra, including its competitive generation and retail subsidiaries. Generation activities include power plants (coal, gas and nuclear), coal mining, renewables (solar and battery), wholesale marketing and trading, and development operations. Vistra also has multiple market-leading competitive retail electricity providers, offering innovative solutions to a broad base of residential and business consumers. Operations span across 20 states in the USA, plus a footprint of retail operations in Japan and Canada.

Phil Seidler has 25 years of Supply Chain experience. He is a visionary leader with a global business perspective, an innovative thinker and has success in business transformation. His background includes leadership roles in the Automotive and Energy/Utility industries, with a strong track record of performance in Supply Chain and Operational Excellence. Phil joined Vistra in 2007. He spent his first five years in the Generation side of the business until 2012, when he moved to lead the Mining organization. In October 2016, he became the head of Supply Chain activities for all Business Units: Vistra (Corporate Services, Process Excellence and Supplier Diversity), Luminant (Fossil, Nuclear and Mining) and multiple Retail brands. Functional groups within Business Units include Category Management, Procurement Operations, Warehouse Operations / Materials Management, Supplier Diversity and Process Excellence. He also sits on the WBENC Board of Directors, as well as on the Advisory Board of Directors for Dallas ISM (Institute of Supply Chain Management).

Phil Seidler’s responsibilities include:

• Setting and achieving aggressive supply chain performance targets that support Vistra and operating company business objectives
•  Collaborating with Vistra operations, business development and financial planning to define and implement comprehensive spend category management strategies, focused on value creation, risk mitigation, compliance and optimizing total cost of ownership
• Leading transformational improvement initiatives in people, process and technology across the supply chain, power generation fleet, coal mines and retail electricity operations
• Integrating with asset management and financial planning to develop long range capital plans and operating budgets that support Vistra Energy long-term business objectives

Prior to joining Vistra, Phil was a Purchasing Manager at Ford, where he maintained purchasing responsibility of $1.45 billion spend annually. He managed a small staff and oversaw use of cost-effective strategies for the purchase of raw materials and capital goods for all North American vehicles.

Phil Seidler holds a bachelor’s degree in Finance from Michigan State University. He also earned a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Detroit-Mercy.

Al Williams

Global Chief Procurement Officer

Invesco

Joe Bellman

Vice President Procurement and Corporate Real Estate

Ellucian

Joe Bellman is the Vice President Procurement and Corporate Real Estate for Ellucian, reporting to the Chief Financial Officer. Brought onboard in 2013, he leads multiple strategic initiatives for Ellucian. During his time at Ellucian, he has built a centralized procurement function that continues to excel and drive value back into the business. Additionally, Mr. Bellman has streamlined the facilities organization and operations to more closely align the real estate portfolio to the strategic goals of the company.

Before joining Ellucian, Mr. Bellman was Vice President, Procurement at LightSquared and a Director, Strategic Sourcing at Qwest Communications. He led organizational restructuring; people, process, and system assessments; and solution implementations. He has consistently turned around low-performing teams and increased the strategic impact of procurement. Early in his career, he excelled in Operations Management with Ford Motor Company. Mr. Bellman began his career as a Surface Warfare Officer in the United States Navy.

Chris Kee

Vice President, Sourcing and Procurement

Northwestern Mutual

Chris Kee is the Vice President and head of Sourcing and Procurement at Northwestern Mutual. In this role, he leads a team of experienced procurement professionals responsible for the strategic utilization and management of the company’s suppliers and third-party relationships. Chris also has leadership responsibility over the company’s Supplier Diversity, Supplier Sustainability, Supplier Governance, Sales/Use Tax, Travel, Accounts Payable, Organizational Excellence, and Third-Party Risk Management functions.

Before joining Northwestern Mutual in 2020, Chris held several leadership roles in Supply Chain Management, Procurement, and Finance at companies such as Kimberly Clark and Blue Cross and Blue Shield. In his previous role at BCBS, Chris helped to start and transform centralized procurement across over 3 billion in annual third-party spend.

Chris has a BS degree in Supply Chain Management from Michigan State University and earned a Six Sigma Black Belt during his time at Kimberly Clark. Chris currently lives in downtown Chicago with his wife Irene and their three children.

Chuck Hatsis

CPO

CME Group

Barbara Forlin

Procurement Manager

Aché Laboratórios Farmacêuticos S.A.

David Johnson

Sr Director Procurement

Restaurant Brands International

Sanjeev Majoo

Chief Procurement Officer

AbbVie

Jim Ardell

VP Corporate Services

Elevance Health

Jennifer Lestini

Vice President, Global Procurement Raw Materials

Hexion Inc.

Jennifer M. Lestini is Vice President at Hexion Inc. responsible for Global Raw Material procurement.

Hexion is based in Columbus, OH, operating 30 facilities globally with approximately 1300 employees. Hexion is one of the world’s leading global producers of adhesives and performance materials that enable the production of engineered wood products, one of the world’s most sustainable building products and other growing specialty materials.

Jennifer’s team is responsible for $950 million in North American raw material spend, and Jennifer is indirectly responsible for additional $400 million spend globally. At Hexion for over 18 years, she has held various roles and lead many different teams, including those directly responsible for developing global strategies, negotiating and managing supply contracts and driving global commodity decisions.

Inspired by her own female experience in a traditionally male dominated industry, Jennifer has a passion for diversity and the benefits it brings to the business. Jennifer is currently Chair of the Women @ Hexion business resource group within the company. Under her leadership, the group is committed to helping make Hexion Inc. an ’employer of choice’ by fostering the advancement of women and building a corporate culture in which women associates are recruited, valued, developed, retained, and promoted globally. Jennifer’s engagement with leaders across the chemical market has supported the sharing of best practices, further promoting Hexion in the market.

From 1996 through 2005, Jennifer lived in Cincinnati, Ohio and worked in both procurement and engineering roles at BASF (previously Cognis). Her formal education is a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from the University of Cincinnati and a Master of Business Administration from The Ohio State University, Fisher College of Business.

Ryan Stevens

Executive Director

HCSC

Craig Reed

VP & Chief Procurement Officer

Thermo Fisher Scientific

Craig Reed | VP & Chief Procurement Officer

Craig Reed is Vice President and Chief Procurement Officer for Thermo Fisher Scientific. In this role he has global responsibility for the sourcing and supplier management of all spend for goods and services in support of the company. This includes strategies that support Thermo Fisher’s sustainability efforts as well as supplier diversity.

A proven leader in the supply chain and sourcing area, Reed has more than 27 years of global experience in multinational corporations, including Corteva Agriscience, DuPont Corporation, Eaton PLC, Delta Air Lines, Deere & Company, BMW Manufacturing, and Honda of America Manufacturing.

He is a member of the Board of Trustees for Florida A&M University (FAMU) and a past member of the Board of Directors for the National Minority Supplier Development Council (NMSDC). He is a former Board Chair for the Institute for Supply Management (ISM).

Craig holds a BS in Economics from Florida A&M University and an MBA with a concentration in Supply Management from Arizona State University.

Harro Meijran

CPO

Fresenius Medical Care

Chris Smith

Chief Procurement Officer

Trinseo

Christopher Smith has been overseeing global procurement since joining the company in 2011. As Chief Procurement Officer, Chris leads teams that manage: Sourcing, Toll Manufacturing, Supplier Conduct/Compliance, Supplier Sustainability, and Risk Management.

Prior to joining Trinseo (Formerly Styron), Smith was a Senior Consultant working in Procurement and Supply Chain with several consulting firms. Smith’s areas of focus included: Procurement Organizational Design, Strategic Sourcing, E-sourcing Tools, and Designing Emerging Country Supply Strategies. In this capacity, Smith has had the pleasure to work with many of the top oil and gas companies from the super majors to the midstream pipeline and storage companies as well as numerous chemical, CPG and pharmaceutical companies.

Smith spent five years at FreeMarkets/Ariba leading various category sourcing teams and key customer accounts. Smith helped build out the Oil and Gas practice and led the global BP account. Chris built the Market Development Team responsible for delivering procurement category experts and market insights across the large portfolio of Fortune 500 clients.

Smith started his career with ICI Plc, working in their Explosives, Polyester, Surfactants, and Polyurethane businesses over eleven years. He held many positions in the US and Europe including in Product Management, Procurement and Supply Chain.

Smith holds an MBA from Villanova University and a B.S. in Mathematics from Carnegie Mellon University.

Erin Geldard

Senior Vice-President, Corporate Services

Kruger Inc.

Ms. Geldard has extensive executive experience leading cross-functional teams through major business transformations across multiple industries. She joined Kruger in 2018 to lead a transformation of its sales operations and business analytics team. In 2022, she was named Senior Vice President, Corporate Services leading Information Technologies, Strategic Sourcing, Sales Operations as well as being the lead integrator following the acquisition of the Kamloops Pulp mill. Prior to joining Kruger, she helped build the strategic sourcing function for Cogeco Connexion driving major strategic procurement initiatives. She was also responsible for real estate, facilities as well as the distribution centers. From 2010 to 2014, Ms. Geldard was Senior Director, Strategic Sourcing and Administrative shared services for Desjardins Group throughout Canada. She built the strategic sourcing department for the business sectors and oversaw the internal shared services through successful optimisation initiatives. Earlier in her career, she held various management positions within the supply chain at Bombardier Aerospace from 1996 to 2010.

Ms. Geldard holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Université de Québec à Montréal (Montréal) as well as of Executive MBA from Paris Dauphine (Paris, France). She has a Bachelor of Arts (BA) from McGill University (Montreal) as well as a Certificate in Aeronautical Engineering from École Polytechnique (Montréal).

Dave Fontaine

Vice-President, Supply Management

Kruger Inc.

Dave McMurray

CPO - North America

The Kellogg Company

Dave McMurray joined Kellogg’s Global Procurement team in 2015 as Vice President and Chief Procurement Officer for North America coming directly from McKinsey consulting after having spent over 25 years leading procurement/supply chain activities across the manufacturing, distribution and retail industries. Dave was instrumental in the design and implementation of Kellogg’s Global Procurement Transformation. Responsible for approximately $6B of total spend, Dave brings a deep background in global strategic procurement to Kellogg’s and was instrumental in the design and transformation of Kellogg’s current Global Procurement structure. In addition, the implementation of an end-to-end Source to Pay model has helped the company drive further benefits across its Global Business Services agenda. Viewed as a progressive change agent, Dave has been highly successful at driving cash flow improvements across the supply. He has led sourcing teams in all areas of procurement from direct materials, indirect materials & services, external manufacturing, distribution/logistics, commodities and finished products (grocery retail) and is passionate about his involvement to drive improvement in areas of cost, cash, diversity, sustainability and talent development. As the Kellogg Company embarks on their company split into two separate publicly traded companies, Kellanova and WK Kellogg Co, Dave will lead procurement activities for Kellanova North America.

Olivier Buton

SVP Marine, Technical & New Build Supply Chain Management

Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings

Cheryl Boddiford

SVP, Supply Chain

Mitsubishi Power Americas

Cheryl Boddiford is Senior Vice President of Global Procurement & Logistics at Mitsubishi Power. In her role, Cheryl is responsible for the Mitsubishi Power Americas integrated supply chain with ~2 Billion Euros in annual spend supporting complex customer solutions for Power Generation business. Prior to joining Mitsubishi Power, Cheryl was the Senior Vice President of Global Procurement and Logistics at Siemens Energy. During her 30-year career, Cheryl has held leadership positions across various functions including, Head of Global Order Management, Quality Management, as well as Business Improvement for Region North America, with the majority specializing in supply chain. Cheryl is a strong leader with a focus on talent development, strategic planning, best practice sharing, industry benchmarking, digitalization, and the latest developments in organizational transformation.

In addition to her focus on Supply Chain Management, Cheryl has always been passionate about Diversity. She was integral in launching the Diversity Council at Siemens Energy and served for 4 years on the work/life balance committee. Since that time Cheryl has continued to support diversity through book clubs, speed connect, and mentor programs. She held the co-chair position for the Diversity & Inclusion Council for Siemens Energy ensuring business strategy and structure are the focus for sustainability.

Cheryl volunteers her time as a mentor through Women Unlimited and local STEM programs supporting elementary education. Over the past five years, she has also mentored engineering students at the University of Central Florida through an Engineering Leadership & Innovation program.

Cheryl holds a lifetime Certification for Procurement Manager (C.P.M), as well as two degrees from the University of Central Florida: a BS Degree specializing in Marketing/Computer Science and a Masters Degree in Business Administration. She has continued her education through the European School of Management – studying in Berlin, Darden School of Business in Virginia, and the Beijing School of Executive Education. Most recently, she has been selected by Accenture & Harvard to participate in the Next Generation Operations Team (Leadership for a Networked World).

Cheryl is married to her college sweetheart and together they have two daughters, 22 and 24. She loves OrangeTheory Fitness, cycling, boating, and trips to the beach. In addition to being an avid UCF football fan, she is now a fan of BAMA football and USNA swimming.

Berengere Leguin

Global Procurement - Strategy Director

EDPR

Sonia Dziubek

AVP Procurement Operations and Innovation

CNA Insurance

Micah Mahnke

Director Strategic Procurement

Clarios LLC

Oscar Rodriguez

Director, Procurement

NAPA Autoparts

Nathan Ayres

CPO

Prudential

Nathan J Ayres is Chief Procurement Officer at Prudential. He joined Prudential in 2015 tasked with leading Procurement Transformation and Category Management. In his current role Nathan is focused on driving the next level of sourcing transformation at Prudential. Driving data analytics to create transparency and knowledge, leading strategic sourcing that leverages Prudential’s total spend in the marketplace. Supporting customer focused solutions that enable the business to react and adapt to the constantly changing external marketplace while ensuring Prudential maximizes value from its supplier partner networks. With more than 25 years’ experience in procurement he has held positions within Merck, Thomson Consumer, Motorola, Seagate and Raytheon prior to joining Prudential. Nathan holds a master’s degree in Business Administration from Ashridge Business School and is a qualified member of the Chartered Institute of Purchasing & Supply both in the UK.

Roger Kao

VP, Procurement

Global Foundries

Duane Maier

Chief Procurement Officer

Johnson Controls

Duane Maier is Chief Procurement Officer and oversees Johnson Controls end-to-end procurement process including strategy, supplier identification, sourcing execution, contract negotiation, procure-to-pay and ongoing performance management and improvement across both direct and indirect materials and services. Duane has been with Johnson Controls for over 20 years, holding roles in engineering, commercial, finance and has been in procurement for the last 12 years. Duane has worked in North America, Europe and Asia. Prior to his current role, he was the Vice President of Procurement for Global Products. Duane holds a Master of Business Administration from Oakland University and a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering from Kettering University.

Rodney Wolter

Procurement Director

McLane

Maureen Fairfax

Vice President, Strategic Sourcing

Prudential

Sheri Anilonis

Vice President, Global Sourcing and Procurement

Prudential

Dan Eller

Business Development

Divergent Alliance

Steve Lee

VP - Procurement & Financial Shared Services

Vail Resorts

Steve Lee – Vice President of Procurement & Financial Shared Services at Vail Resorts At Vail Resorts, Steve is responsible for managing Vail Resorts’ global spend across 41 world class destination ski resorts, 9 premium golf clubs and over 250 dining establishments with a centralized organization of strategic sourcing, procure to pay, order to cash and report to record operations.

Since arriving at Vail Resorts in 2020, Steve has been transforming the procurement function by implementing an enterprise wide spend cube for advanced analytics to enable greater sourcing value realization, focusing on building global category management capability while rigorously addressing P2P process optimization, spend policies and compliance management. In 2021, Steve received additional scope over the shared services function (AR, Billing, Credit Card, GL, Accounting Services, and Payroll) and began transforming the shared services organization into a global business service (GBS) model by focusing on process standardization, automation, digitization and scalable growth. Prior to joining Vail Resorts, Steve held the role of VP Global Procurement and GM Global Headquarters at Cabot Corporation where he spent 10 years building a global strategic procurement and logistics function, implemented an enterprise wide procurement and expense systems and lead the development and implementation of a captive low cost transactional global business service center in Riga Latvia. Prior to Cabot, Steve was with The Timken Company where he held various leadership roles in strategic sourcing and global supply chain management.

Steve has a BS in mechanical engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute and an MS in manufacturing engineering and management from Boston University.

James Ford

VP Procurement

Warner Bros Discovery

James Ford is a Global Procurement Executive with 20 years of experience across pharmaceuticals, chemicals, and media & entertainment. He is currently VP of Procurement at Warner Bros. Discovery. Previously he served in a variety of roles at Novartis AG in the US, Europe and Latin America. He holds an MBA in Finance & Supply Chain from Rutgers and a BS in Chemistry from Penn State.

Jerry Gordon

VP Global Procurement

Quaker Houghton

Jerry has been with Quaker Houghton for 23 years in various roles. Currently VP Global Procurement with leadership of Sourcing, Purchasing, and technical teams. Prior roles include Integration Leader for Quaker Houghton combination, and business unit leadership for Quaker Chemical. Graduated from Golden Gate University with MBA and CSU California Maritime Academy with BS Mechanical Engineering. Enjoy snow skiing and water sports in the mountains with my family during free time.

Anupam Aggrwal

CEO & Co-Founder

AgileApt Solutions Private Limited

Over 23 years of Experience in B2B relations in large organizations and now CEO & Co-Founder of AgileApt Solutions, I facilitate organizations to become bottom-line centric by
– Hunting for efficiencies in supplier Negotiation using technology
– Identifying and nurturing win-win situations
– Changing approach from Product to Solutions – Managing and sustaining exponential growth – Creating ‘Blue Oceans’ and retaining leadership in ‘Red Oceans’

Justin Colley

Senior Director

RR Donnelley and Sons

Arasu Thirunavukkarasu

Lead - Strategic Sourcing

Air India Limited

Rob Vislosky

Chief Supply Chain & Procurement Officer

NOVA Chemicals

Trace Angell

Head of Sourcing and Procurement

Baldwin Richardson Foods

Trace L. Angell is the Head of Sourcing and Procurement for Baldwin Richardson Foods. He is responsible for the risk management of commodities, direct material sourcing and procurement, and development of the Indirect procurement aspects. One of his key objectives is to build and develop the team into a strategic minded contributor and partner for BRF’s future success.

Prior to Baldwin Richardson Foods, Trace worked for Groupe Lactalis where he led the North American Indirect Procurement team. During his tenure, Trace developed a Indirect sourcing strategy, built a robust team and increased procurement led involvement from under 30% to over 65% of $1 Billion in annual spend. He spearheaded the onboarding of seven acquisitions including Stonyfield, Siggi’s and Kraft Natural Cheese and the alignment of risk management strategies for energies and category-based approaches for the entire Indirect portfolio across North America.

Trace holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Management from University of Phoenix and is a graduate of the US Army Sergeant’s Major Academy. In addition, he is a DOD Certified Mediator and Equal Opportunity Program Manager. Trace is an Active member of the Army Reserves and is currently the Command Sergeant Major for 1st Battalion, 390th Regiment in Buffalo, NY. He is also on the Board of Advisors for a packaging technology start-up company (SoFresh).

TJ Spohnholtz

Chief Procurement Officer

HCSC

Amit Saronwala

Vice-President, Global Indirect Supply Management

Medtronic

Amit is based in Minneapolis, MN, and is currently Vice President, Global Indirect Supply Management at Medtronic, a $30B+ MedTech company. He has ~17 years of experience across sourcing, strategy, transformation, M&A, and Shared Services, in industry and as a management consultant. Prior to Medtronic, Amit worked at Deloitte and at Ameriprise Financial. He has an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore (India), and an M.D. from Govt. Medical College, Patiala (India)

Shawn Pace

Vice President and Chief Procurement Officer

The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co

Matt Davis

Sr. Director, Global Raw Materials

The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co

Jim Prentis

Sr. Director, Global Indirects

The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co

Aleck Matambo

Senior Director: Global Procurement

Google

Luis Pérez Wever

Assistant Manager Procurement

Bi

Phil Anzai

SVP, Strategy and Business Development

Hornblower Group

Philip Anzai is the Senior Vice President, Strategy and Business Development at Hornblower Group. He is responsible for the growth strategy, M&A, strategic projects, and margin improvement efforts across all Hornblower companies. Additionally, he leads the Contact Center, Product Management, PMO, Salesforce (Sales and Service), Procurement, and Partnership teams. Previously, he served as the COO at American Queen Voyages where he managed the Hotel, F&B, Procurement, Shore Excursions, Marine, and FP&A divisions and Chief of Staff to the CEO at Hornblower Group where he managed strategic projects.

Hornblower Group is a global experiences and transportation operator, which includes iconic brands and experiences such as Journey Beyond in Australia, the Statue of Liberty and Alcatraz in the US, Niagara Falls in Canada, and exclusive access tours at the Vatican. The full list of land and water based experiences internationally can be found at https://hornblowercorp.com/about/

Prior to Hornblower, Philip worked at McKinsey & Company where he led large, dispersed teams with various expertise from Generalist Consultants to Designers to Data Scientists. He regularly engaged and provided feedback to clients in the C-Suite. He managed full lifecycle projects from assessment through implementation.

Philip has expertise in customer experience design, quantification, and implementation, service operations improvement, back office transformations and overall strategy. His industry experience is in Travel, Transportation, Technology, Hospitality, and Real Estate companies. Philip graduated with high honors from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business (MBA).

Dave Cloete

VP Procurement - NAMER

Kerry

Tim Coughlin

Vice President of Procurement

Rosendin

Tim Coughlin has over 20 years of experience in various leadership roles across multiple industries. Over the past decade his focus has been in leading various procurement change initiatives through acquisitions, supply chain reorganizations, as well as transformation efforts. All initiatives have been focused on maturing the skill-set of the current workforce, driving a scalable organizational structure to drive value across the corporate portfolio, creating operational efficiencies through process enhancements and technological investments, as well as enhancing corporate supplier relationships to drive synergies with our strategic partners upstream in the supply chain.

Although a majority of his tenure has been within the regulated utility industry, he has recently transitioned into the role of Vice President of Procurement at Rosendin, one of the largest employee owned electrical contractors in the United States. Revenue growth projections for Rosendin over the next 10 years are aggressive, and with the growth comes a need to redefine, re-calibrate, and reposition the Procurement organization as a strategic partner who can drive bottom line value on behalf of Rosendin, our customers, and our suppliers. Success will require investments in people, technology, and supplier relationships while also standardizing the operating model across the corporate portfolio.

Pam Daskalakis

Chief Supply Chain Officer

NOBLE

Pam has more than 20 years of experience in Supply Chain and Procurement across multiple industries. Since July 2022, Pam has held the role of Chief Supply Chain Officer for NOBLE, a global supplies and logistics company based in Boston, MA, overseeing Strategic Sourcing, Procurement, Distribution, Analytics and Customer Service. Prior to joining NOBLE, Pam was head of Strategic Operations for Amazon Robotics Supply Chain, where she was responsible for strategy, business planning and performance, program management, sustainability and systems. Prior to Amazon, Pam spent 14 years in consumer products, including Keurig Dr Pepper and Avon Products, in a variety of roles spanning direct and indirect procurement, supply chain strategy, productivity and enterprise transformation. She began her career in Accenture’s Sourcing and Procurement business consulting practice supporting procurement transformation and strategic sourcing programs for clients in multiple industries including media, CPG, utilities, and government. Pam holds a BS in Economics and Policy Studies from Syracuse University, and an MBA from NYU’s Stern School of Business.

Connie Walters

Head of Procurement

Vertex Pharmaceuticals

Connie leads the global Strategic Sourcing organization at Vertex Pharmaceuticals, driving strategic supplier solutions that enable excellence in delivering transformative therapies to patients. Prior to Joining Vertex, she led the Commercialization and International Strategic Sourcing and Procurement at Bristol-Myers Squibb, and previously held roles at Goldman Sachs and Merck.  Connie earned her undergraduate degree in Mathematics from the University of the Virgin Islands, St. Thomas and her MS in Operations Research from Columbia University.

She has a passion for leading diverse teams, addressing complex business challenges and opportunities, and making a sustainable impact. She is excited about organizations making a difference for communities, and for the world.

John Klein

SVP - Global Supply Management

Medtronic

John is responsible for the centralized global supply management organization that provides spend and supplier management across Medtronic. Medtronic is the world’s largest medical device manufacturer with a market capitalization of $150B. The Supply Management organization has almost 1000 employees with $15B in spend. John also serves on private equity and non-profit Boards.

Prior to joining Medtronic in September 2015, John was with the Avery Dennison Corporation, where he was Global Vice President for the procurement function and led the Performance Polymers adhesives division. Prior to Avery Dennison, John was at The Valspar Corporation (now Sherwin Williams), the global leader in paints and coatings. John held several functional leadership roles including managing the supply chain and supply management organizations for several of the business groups. John’s last position was to lead the global implementation of lean six sigma across Valspar. John started his career at Quantum Chemical Corporation (now Lyondell Basell Industries) the global leader in polyolefin resins. John worked in research and development and was involved with several new product introductions in the packaging and medical fields. John earned his BS in Materials Science (Metallurgy) and Engineering from the University of Illinois and has his MBA from Harvard University.

John, his wife Amy, and their three kids reside in Boulder, Colorado. John is active with Community Food Share and various community services. John’s activities include skiing, golfing, hiking, biking and his children’s hobbies.

Lainie Suarez Butler

Vice President Strategic Sourcing & Procurement

Bristol Myers Squibb

Lainie Suárez Butler is vice president of Enabling Services Procurement, where she leads business partner and strategy teams across a breadth of BMS Enabling Functions, including, IT, Human Resources, Finance, and the Law Department. She is also responsible for enterprise services that include Consulting, Contingent Labor, Travel, Fleet and Meetings. In August 2023, she joined the SS&P Leadership Team, bringing with her a wealth of experience in cross-functional leadership, strategic sourcing, supplier relationship management, procurement strategy development, and team empowerment.

Prior to becoming VP of Enabling Services, Lainie held the position of executive director of SS&P Business Partnering & Strategy (BP&S) starting in 2019. She joined BMS in 2013 as a BP&S director, inspired by the mission to help patients and the opportunity to work in a strategic and business-minded procurement organization. At BMS she has received several awards, twice being honored with the CPO Award, receiving the 2019 One Company One Mission award, and the previous year the CFO’s GBO Award.

Prior to joining BMS Lainie gained extensive experience in various roles within the financial services industry. She began her procurement career at Lehman Brothers, where she remained through the bankruptcy and its subsequent acquisition by Barclays in 2008.

Leslie Lauderbaugh

Sr. Director, Global Procurement Knowledge Center

Kellanova

Jim Zhang

Chief Procurement Officer

Rich Products Corporation

Tim Sutton

VP - Indirect Procurement

Fresenius Medical Care

Frank Kuchma

VP, Global Product Development & Supply Procurement

Bristol Myers Squibb

Frank is currently Vice President of Global Product Development and Supply (GPS) Strategic Sourcing and Procurement at Bristol-Myers Squibb. In his current role, he leads a team of 150+ responsible for all direct and indirect sourcing and procurement across biologics, small molecule and cell therapy development and commercial operations.

Frank’s GPS Strategic Sourcing and Procurement scope includes approximately $4BB spend across 18 global GPS sites for sourcing categories of external manufacturing, direct materials, site procurement operations, clinical and commercial logistics, construction and engineering, real estate, and facilities management services.

Frank has over 30 years of Bio-Pharmaceutical industry experience across Bristol Myers Squibb and Pfizer with prior significant roles in global supply chain, manufacturing operations and business development. He also led major GPS transformations over the past decade related to company acquisition integrations and business unit divestitures.

Frank earned a MS in Management and BS in Mechanical Engineering from Drexel University and is a Licensed Professional Engineer in the State of Pennsylvania.

Jim Line

Senior Director of Enterprise Procurement

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Michigan

As senior director of Enterprise Procurement, Jim Line oversees the leadership of the Procurement Operations and Procurement Consulting departments, as well as the Vendor Management and Knowledge Management teams. In addition, he oversees the award-winning Supplier Diversity Program.

Line is a current board member of NASPURC, a consortium of procurement leaders from Blue Cross plans throughout the US, ESCOT which provides kids a safe place where they can excel in Athletics, Academics, Leadership, and community. In recent years, Line has also served on the board for the Great Lakes Women’s Business Council, which supports women-owned businesses in both Michigan and Indiana, and the Michigan Minority Supplier Development council, which certifies and develops minority-owned businesses.

Line commits to various volunteer activities that keep him actively involved in the community. He has been with Blue Cross since 2003, is a graduate of Leadership Detroit XXXV and has an MBA from Northwood University.

Vanessa Marrou

VP & Sr. Director II Category Manager

Liberty Mutual

Kristy Waters

SVP SSRM

CommonSpirit

Kristy Waters is an experienced senior level healthcare executive with over thirty years of hospital and health system operations and operations finance experience. Since October, 2022, Kristy has been the SVP SSRM for CommonSpirit Health, one of the largest faith based IDNs in the US. Prior to CommonSpirit, she was a Senior Advisor to McKinsey’s Healthcare Practice since 2017 specializing in integration, best practice development, and efficiency. Prior to contracting with McKinsey, she served as the senior vice president of Tenet Healthcare Corporation’s performance management and innovation department, overseeing Tenet’s internal consulting operations aimed at improving hospital performance in the areas of cost efficiency, standardization, patient flow and throughput and the identification and deployment of best practices in Tenet’s hospitals to drive value. She reported to Tenet’s president of hospital operations.

Previously, Waters served as the chief financial officer of Tenet’s Central Region. She also served as the vice president of operations finance for Tenet’s Southern Region, SVP and CFO for Tenet’s Sierra Providence Health Network, CFO of Tenet’s East Cooper Medical Center and prior to Tenet in executive roles for a faith based, not-for-profit Health Systems. Her experience spans financial, operational, and clinical areas including Surgical Services, Behavioral Medicine, Imaging Services, Labor Management, External Spend, Asset Life Cycle Management, Capital Planning, Revenue Cycle, Organization Design and Financial Services.

Waters earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the College of Charleston and a master’s degree in health administration from the Medical College of Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth University.

Sandra Brummitt

Chief Procurement Officer and SVP Admin Services

NiSource

Sandra Brummitt serves as Senior Vice President Administrative Services and Chief Procurement Officer at NiSource, with responsibility for Supply Chain, Real Estate Services, Accounts Payable and Aviation. Sandra is a senior finance executive with over 20 years of experience leading transformation, innovation and operational excellence in Tax, Accounting, M&A Integration, Investor Relations, Supply Chain, Real Estate, Accounts Payable and Aviation. Prior to joining NiSource, Sandra was Senior Director, Global Tax Reporting at Walmart and led global tax accounting and forecasting. Sandra also spent over 15 years at Exelon, a Fortune 100 power & utility company, with her last role as Vice President Tax for Exelon’s Utilities. In addition to her role on the board of National Church Residences, Sandra supports the Columbus, Ohio community as Treasurer and First Vice Chair on the Board of Trustees for the Center for Healthy Families, Development Committee Chair for Gladden Community House and on the Advisory Board for the African American Leadership Academy. Sandra is a member of the EEI Chief Procurement Officers forum, the SAP Utilities Think Tank and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Sandra is also a member of the National Association of Black Accountants (NABA), National Black MBA Association (NBMBAA) and the American Association of Blacks in Energy (AABE). Sandra holds a master’s degree in business administration from the Smith School at the University of Maryland, College Park, and a bachelor’s degree in business economics with an accounting emphasis from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Doug Kortfelt

Chief Procurement Officer

Chubb Insurance

Doug Kortfelt serves as Senior Vice President and Chief Procurement Officer for Chubb. In this role, Doug is responsible for leading Chubb’s Global Enterprise Procurement, Strategic Sourcing Innovation, Supplier Relationship Management, Corporate Services teams, while partnering with executive leadership and leaders of functional areas to bring insights and strategies on how suppliers can deliver on business results.

Dan Hurry

President

Advantus Health Partners (AHP)

https://advantushp.com/dan-hurry-president/

Jessica Pfeiffer

Director, Procurement

rEvolution Marketing, LLC

Fred Perreand

VP Global Supply Chain Operations

Emerson

Fred Perreand is the Vice President, Global Supply Chain Operations at Emerson, is a global technology and software company providing innovative solutions for the world’s essential industries. He leads Enterprise Supply Chain which includes (a) strategic sourcing of key electronics and electrical categories, (b) sourcing-to-pay processes for indirect materials, (c) global logistics management, (d) advanced digital solutions via a Supply Chain Center of Excellence, as well as (e) Responsible Sourcing programs. Fred joined Emerson in 1999 and has held positions of increasing responsibility and leadership. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Louisiana, and an MBA from Carnegie Mellon University. Fred serves as a Board member on the Boeing Center for Supply Chain Innovation at Washington University in St. Louis, the Center for Supply Chain Excellence at Saint Louis University, and the Gateway Region YMCA.

Lydia Swatek

Vail Resorts

James Niemie

Entergy

Dewann Weltmer

Charter Next Generation

Juliana Saretta

Keurig Dr Pepper

Jorge Andres Springmuhl

Bi Corporation