Omer Abdullah Managing Director The Smart Cube, Inc

Omer Abdullah is co-founder and Managing Director of The Smart Cube, Inc., a business and investment research and analysis firm with a special expertise in delivering procurement intelligence to corporate and professional services clients globally.  The firm is a pioneer of the outsourced research delivery model – providing high value research and insights at excellent value to clients across the globe.  Omer manages the North American operations and is the Marketing Director for the company. Omer has 18 years of management consulting, global corporate and industry experience across North America, Europe and Asia. Prior roles include A.T. Kearney (North America), Warner Lambert (USA) and The Perrier Group (Asia-Pacific). Omer has an MBA from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, USA and a BBA from the University of East Asia.

Brian Bancroft CPO Oil-Dri Corporation

Brian K. Bancroft is the Vice President International Operations and Chief Procurement Officer for Oil-Dri Corporation of America.  Oil-Dri is a leading developer, manufacturer and marketer of products for consumer, industrial and automotive, agricultural, sports fields and fluids purification markets.

Prior to joining Oil-Dri, Brian was Director Supply Management at Sara Lee Corporation leading the companywide strategic sourcing efforts for $1.5B in Indirect spending.  Throughout his 20 year career Brian held a variety of procurement and strategic sourcing roles at Unisys Corporation, Smithkline Beecham and The Coca-Cola Company.

Mr. Bancroft holds a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration from St. Joseph's University and his Master's in Business Management from the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University.

Jean-Jacques Beaussart CPO National City Corp

Jean-Jacques Beaussart is the Chief Procurement Officer of National City Corp since April of 2005. He did lay foundation for over 300MM annualized savings in from 2005 to 2008. Savings are coming from better sourcing, better processes, better demand management, and better policies and controls. He also implemented an e-procurement system to provide a single portal and “an Amazon.com “experience to more than 35,000 National City Corp associates. In addition, the creation a world-class procurement organization along with redesigning positions and reporting lines to better support corporate needs and strategies has been one of his key successes.

Prior to joining NCC, Jean-Jacques held positions as a sourcing executive with Bank of America in Charlotte and with GE Capital in Stamford. He also spent many years as a management consultant with Booz Allen & Hamilton in New York.

Education: : MS, Applied Mechanics, Institut National des Sciences Appliquees - Lyon – France, MS, Mechanical Engineering, Columbia University – NYC, MBA, Executive Program, Fairleigh Dickinson University – NJ, Columbia University – NYC, MBA, Executive Program, Fairleigh Dickinson University – NJ

Randy Clark Sr. Strategic Buyer, Volvo Group Non-Automotive Purchasing Volvo

Randall C. Clark is a Global Senior Strategic Buyer for Volvo Group Non-Automotive Purchasing (NAP).  His role is to create the procurement strategy for MRO and Packaging products and services required by the brands of Volvo Group worldwide.  He is focused on the requirements of each manufacturing facility to create the process for supplier selection, negotiation, implementation and development.  He has over 15 years of manufacturing experience focused on reducing cost, increasing revenue and streamlining operations through the procurement strategy.  Cost containment, supplier rationalization and revenue enhancement are areas that he has contributed to several industries with strategic initiatives on a global basis.

Randall has also been featured in Purchasing magazine on several occasions regarding supplier selection, procurement strategy, and the overall distribution chain of MRO suppliers.  He has served on Volvo Group NAP steering committees to develop the Strategic Sourcing Process and the Project Management Process.  He is frequently asked by companies and universities to lead workshops and discussions on international business procedures.

One of his core values states that every meeting with a supplier is a negotiation.  Our job in procurement is to understand the market so we can establish a fair profit margin and mutually beneficial business relationship for both buyer and seller.

Randall is a graduate of Tennessee Tech University with a B.S. degree and Elon University with an M.B.A. Degree.  He currently resides in Greensboro, North Carolina with his family.

Jamie Crump Director Indirect Strategic Sourcing United Rentals

Jamie Crump has more than 20 years indirect strategic sourcing experience in a variety of industries including banking, medical products, pharmaceutical, telecommunications and welding. Her category experience includes advertising, benefits, BPO, brand, contingent staffing, facilities, financial services, human resources, IT, legal, marketing, meetings & events, MRO, office services, print, real estate, reprographics, telecommunications, transportation, travel, treasury, utilities and vehicles.  She is currently Director of Indirect Strategic Sourcing for United Rentals, Inc., the largest equipment rental company in the world supporting over 12,000 employees in over 690 locations in 48 states, 10 Canadian provinces and Mexico.

Carol Danoff Director Global Indirect Purchasing Colgate-Palmolive

Carol Danoff is the Director of Global Indirect Procurement at Colgate-Palmolive. Colgate-Palmolive is a $11.5 billion consumer products company that serves people around the world with well-known brands that make their lives healthier and more enjoyable. Truly global in scope, Colgate operates in over 200 world markets, and approximately 70 percent of its sales come from international operations.

Carol leads Colgate’s Global Indirect Procurement team in delivering superior quality and service as well as reducing total business costs.  She brings to Colgate more than 20 years of purchasing experience. Prior to joining Colgate, she was Vice President, Indirect Procurement and Strategic Sourcing at Pitney Bowes, where she significantly reduced indirect costs and improved service and quality.  Previous to joining Pitney Bowes, Carol worked at Motorola where she held leadership positions in indirect and direct procurement, systems and technology.

Carol holds a B.A. degree in Business Administration and an MBA from Florida Atlantic University, as well as, professional accreditations in procurement and supply management from the Institute of Supply Management (ISM) and APICS.

Jill Efford Procurement Manager Indirect Goods and Services Cameron

Jill Efford, Procurement Manager - Indirect Goods and Services, is responsible for the strategic sourcing and category management across plants, divisions, and groups at Cameron International.    All Indirect Categories, from Temporary Labor and IT to General Industrial and Tooling Requirements are within scope of responsibility.  She has been with Cameron for 4 years in Direct and Indirect Purchasing roles.  Cameron employs over 13,000 employees worldwide and is a leading international manufacturer of oil and gas pressure control equipment.

Wayne Evans Sr. Director Procurement DHL

Wayne is currently the Sr. Director of Procurement at DHL, the global market leader of the international express and logistics industry.  His career in procurement spans more than 20 years in which he has held senior level procurement positions at Lockheed Martin, Unisys, and CBS.  In addition, he was a Senior Manager for a “Big Five” consulting firm where he performed supply chain consulting services for industry leaders such as Boeing, Carnival Cruise Lines, Federal Express and BP.  His current responsibilities include the sourcing of more than $1 billion in network supplies, fleet, and transportation. He has recently completed a series of sourcing workshops around the globe entitled “Leave No Stone Unturned”.  He has been published by the Procurement Strategy Council and been a featured speaker at several supply chain forums.  Wayne is currently working on a book that provides the customers perspective on selling.

Ron Fijalkowski Executive Vice President, Technology and Central Services Strategic Distribution, Inc. (SDI)

Ron Fijalkowski serves as Executive Vice President, Technology and Central Services for Strategic Distribution, Inc. (SDI) after serving as the Company’s Chief Information Officer for 3 ½ years. Mr. Fijalkowski is responsible for enterprise-wide IT operations as well as related technology departments supporting the Company’s Strategic Sourcing, Central Planning, and Customer Support Call Center. He has been recognized by Computerworld magazine as a Premier 100 IT Leader, was a guest speaker at Computerworld's 3rd annual Mobile & Wireless World Conference and led the successful stabilization of SDI’s information technology processes, infrastructure, and environment. Current responsibilities include integration of enterprise wide strategic sourcing strategies with tactical transaction processing, inventory management and logistics in order to optimize the MRO Supply Chain and provide streamline business practices.

Mr. Fijalkowski holds a Master of Engineering degree from Villanova University and is a Registered Professional Engineer in Pennsylvania. In addition, Ron has several published articles related to supply chain and technology applications and is a member of the Society of Information Management and Association of Information Technology. Ron and his wife Barbara reside in the south Jersey suburbs of Philadelphia.

Bruce Finch Director Corporate Services Autodesk

Bruce Finch is the Director of Corporate Services for Autodesk, Inc., the world's leading design software and digital content company based in San Rafael, California.

Bruce began his career at Eastern Airlines in New York in 1977, and in 1987 purchased Around the World Travel, a Boston-area travel agency, which he managed until 1995.  Bruce served as the Manager of Travel Operations at the Gillette Company in Boston and then as the Senior Manager of Global Travel for FleetBoston Financial before taking the role of Senior Manager of Global Travel Services for Autodesk in 2004.  

Bruce received his bachelor’s degree in Geography from Salem State College. He has received his CTA and CTC certifications from the Institute of Certified Travel Agents, and his CCTE certification from the National Business Travel Association.   Bruce has served as chairperson of the technology committee for New England Business Travel Association, co-chaired the National Business Travel Association technology committee and currently serves as the US Representative on the Board of Directors for the Association of Corporate Travel Executives

Christopher Flum Vice President Global Indirect Supply and Procurement Harman International

Chris joined Harman/Becker Automotive Systems in 2003 to establish an Indirect Procurement organization.  He has progressed to become Harman International Vice President; Global Indirect Supply & Procurement overseeing the MRO, Services, Logistics, and Capital Equipment areas with spend over $500 million. 

Harman is a $4 Billion dollar global business engaged in the development, manufacture and marketing of high-end / high-fidelity audio products and electronic systems for the automotive, consumer, and professional markets.

Before joining Harman, Chris was with ThyssenKrupp Budd; a $2.5 billion dollar tier-one automotive supplier; with the last position held as its Vice President, Supply Management.  During his tenure, Chris held various key supply management leadership roles which included direct and indirect supply management as well as supplier quality & development.  He also led all eSourcing and eProcurement activities. 

Prior to joining ThyssenKrupp, Chris held many progressive supply management positions with three automotive business divisions of AlliedSignal.

Chris is a 22-year veteran in supply management and is an active member of various academic and supply management advisory councils; including the ISM Services Group.

He is regularly asked to speak at various sourcing & procurement events and was selected twice for Supply & Demand Chain Executive magazine “Pros to Know” issue.

Chris is a graduate of Western Michigan University’s College of Business and possesses a lifetime C.P.M (Certified Purchasing Manager) certification. 

Dennis Gawlik Sustainability and Supply Management Expert Seattle Children's Hospital and Regional Medical Center

Dennis has over 25 years of supply management and Toyota Way experience. He leads the Purchasing Services department at the Univ. of Washinton and he is currently a member of ISM's Committee on Sustainability and Social Responsibility.  He also teaches a course in sustainable operations at Bainbridge Graduate Institute - a  MBA program based on sustainability.   He has a BA degree in economics and geography from Northwestern University and a Master of Science in transportation/business logistics from Penn State.

Erik Gershwind Senior Vice President of Product Management and Marketing MSC Industrial Direct Co., Inc

Erik Gershwind is the Senior Vice President of Product Management and Marketing for MSC Industrial Direct Co., Inc. In this role, Erik is responsible for leading a team of procurement and marketing professionals focused on optimizing relationships with suppliers and acquiring market intelligence to support business development activities and company strategy.

Erik holds a B.S. in Economics from the Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania and a J.D. from Harvard Law School. He joined MSC in 1996 as manager of the Acquisitions and Integrations Initiative.

Scott Goodlett Global Director Procure-To-Pay Georgia-Pacific

Scott Goodlett is currently the Global Director – Procure to Pay for Georgia-Pacific LLC.
Prior to joining GP in June 1991, Scott worked with Andersen Consulting and Contel Corporation.

Since joining GP, Scott has worked in a variety of leadership positions focusing on human resource and payroll systems, progressing from Manager of Information Technology to Director of Employee Management Systems in 1998.
From 2000 to 2003, Scott was a member of the Corporate IT organization focusing on IT Strategy and Planning. He also led a Leadership Development program for the GP Information Technology organization during this time.

In 2004, Scott moved to the Supply Chain Excellence Program Office, where for the next two years, focused on cross-divisional supply chain optimization. In 2006, he transitioned into his current role within Procurement. Scott holds a bachelor’s degree and an MBA from the University of Alabama.

Joe Gordon Vice President Supply Chain Noodles & Company

Joe Gordon is Vice President of Supply Chain Management and Quality Assurance for Noodles & Company, a fast casual restaurant company with approximately 200 locations in the United States.  Joe oversees direct and indirect spending for the company, including equipment and restaurant services.

Prior to coming to Noodles & Company, Joe spent 10 years in a variety of purchasing, supply chain and logistics roles at Kimberly-Clark, Mead Corporation and Wendy's International, Inc.

Joe's areas of expertise include risk management, strategic sourcing and total cost of ownership.

Louis Green President and CEO Michigan Minority Business Development Council

Louis Green is the new President and Chief Executive Officer of MMBDC. The Michigan Minority Business Development Council (MMBDC) is one of the nation’s premier organizations for increasing business opportunities between major buying organizations and minority-owned businesses.   The 2,500 member MMBDC facilitates over $14 billion dollars in annual purchases from minority businesses annually.

Prior to joining MMBDC, he served as National Director of Supplier Diversity at NBC television in New York and as Supplier Diversity and Social Responsibility Leader at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.  His public sector experience includes management roles as Chief Deputy Director of the State of Michigan Department of Civil Rights, and work for Governor’s Blanchard and Engler.  He served on Mayor Kilpatrick’s transition team, and as and member of Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s Minority Business advisory team.

Louis was born and raised in South Central Los Angeles.   He has an undergraduate from Oberlin College and a graduate degree from the University of Michigan. He has owned a number of businesses where he learned as much from those that failed as those that thrived.

He is a member of 100 Black Men of New York and served as the corporate chair of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

He has been recognized by the Michigan Legislature for Excellence in Diversity and Minority Business, and received the first and only ICON Award in the history of NBC Television.

He strongly believes that you have “no permanent friends, no permanent enemies, just permanent interest”.  His primary interest is the economic health, wealth creation and retention in the minority community.

David Hargraves Director Strategic Sourcing University of Pittsburgh Medical Center

David A. Hargraves, C.P.M., is the Director of Strategic Sourcing and Distribution at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, a $7b international healthcare delivery network where he is responsible for all clinical contracting, strategic materials distribution, Value Analysis and Supplier Risk Assessment. David worked previously as the Manager of Market Intelligence for Alcoa where he created a team of analysts charged with providing Alcoa’s procurement organization with industry research and supplier analysis to drive better sourcing decisions. Prior to Alcoa David worked with Ariba (FreeMarkets) as Ariba’s Director of Global Category Knowledge where he managed a global team of commodity managers covering direct and indirect categories. David is a Certified Purchasing Manager, received his MBA from Waynesburg University, a B.S. in Organizational Leadership from Duquesne University, and Associates degree in Biomedical Engineering Technology from Penn State University. David is an active member and former Board Member of ISM - Pittsburgh PA

Erica Hill Director Indirect Sourcing Meadwestvaco

Erica Hill is the Director, Indirect Sourcing (Services) in MWV’s Supply Management organization. In her role, she is responsible for leading the Services team in leveraging the company’s $500 million external services spend to improve productivity, optimize cost efficiency and alignment with the overall business strategy to achieve best value.  Prior to joining MWV she worked for Georgia Pacific, Deloitte Consulting and Ernst and Young in various supply chain and procurement functions.  She started her career in the automotive industry with General Motors as a staff accountant.  She received her Bachelors of Science in Accounting from Florida A&M University and her Masters of Science in Operations Management from Purdue University.

Gerry Hodson Director Enterprise Sourcing Operations H&R Block

• Been with Block for 6 years
• Responsibility for
• All procurement operations – day-to-day activities and continuous improvement efforts
• Spend analysis
• Sourcing and contracts processes and systems
• Leader of the 4-year, $15M Source-to-Settle initiative
• 12 years of experience in the Purchase-to-Pay function and leading large-scale change initiatives
• Prior to H&R Block, worked as a management consultant for Accenture

Larry Kihlstadius Senior Vice President Guidant Group

Mr. Kihlstadius joined Guidant Group in December of 2007 and is currently responsible for leading the business development team. The team consists of our sales force and the marketing department for Guidant Group.

With over 20 years experience in operations, sales, and developing new business strategy, Mr. Kihlstadius was a visionary in the Human Resources Outsourcing market and developed the first Recruitment Process Outsourcing model to become commercially viable.

Prior to joining Guidant Group, Mr. Kihlstadius has held senior leadership positions at Accenture, Spherion, and Monster Worldwide. Mr. Kihlstadius has facilitated business process re-engineering successes at John Wieland Homes and American Woodmark. John Wieland Homes won the National Housing Quality Award during his tenure and American Woodmark became a case study in the Peter Senge seminal work The Fieldbook for the 5th Discipline.

Mr. Kihlstadius is a published thought leader and is a sought after speaker on the topic of Human Resources Outsourcing and talent acquisition. He is a graduate of the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis and the Juran Institute for Six Sigma facilitation.

John Maguire Sr. Director Indirect Procurement Kellogg’s

John Maguire is the Senior Director of Indirect Procurement at the Kellogg Company.  With 2007 sales of almost $12 billion, Kellogg Company (NYSE:K) is the world’s leading producer of cereal and a leading producer of convenience foods, including cookies, crackers, toaster pastries, cereal bars, fruit snacks, frozen waffles, and veggie foods.  Kellogg products are manufactured in 17 countries and marketed in more than 180 countries around the world.  

In his 10 years with Kellogg John has held many supply-chain and finance positions including Plant Manager, Asia-Pacific Procurement Manager, Investor Relations Officer, Global Financial Planning Manager, and Global Procurement Financial Business Partner.

Prior to joining The Kellogg Company, John held positions with CSX Transportation and Mobil Oil Corporation.

John holds a BA in Communications and an MBA in Finance from Michigan State University.

Tony Massey Group Sales & Marketing Director HH

Tony Massey joined the print industry after reading Maths & Physics at The University of Liverpool. After 6 years selling for a large manufacturing group, he joined Alistair McIntosh Limited, now part of Williams Lea plc, where he rapidly rose in the ranks to Business Development Director. He was invited to join Centurion, the former print management arm of Communisis plc, before the combination of a wider European portfolio. The prospect of an enterprise-level sales proposition attracted him to HH, where he fulfils the role of Group Sales & Marketing Director. Tony is an active member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing and a Fellow of the ISSM. He recently completed a Masters in Strategic Marketing & Sales Management at the University of Portsmouth Business School.

Zoe Matsell European Head of Indirect Procurement Wolseley UK

Zoë Matsell is the European Head of Indirect Procurement for Wolseley.  Zoë has been a purchasing professional for over 10 years and has gained experience in several fields including central Government, automotive and wholesale distribution.  Her current focus is indirect procurement where she has been instrumental in developing a strategy and delivering significant benefit through collaborative sourcing across Wolseleys multiple locations in Europe.  During her time as UK Procurement Manager for Wolseley UK, Zoë identified and delivered an online automated procurement solution which has transformed the way the company obtains its indirect goods and services, as well as delivering significant savings in terms of people, processes and pounds.

Miguel Miciano Director Business Systems and SRM Amgen

Miguel Miciano is a Director with Amgen’s Global Strategic Sourcing department.  He has served in several leadership capacities within the department spanning multiple spend categories including construction services, facilities services, corporate services, manufacturing automation & equipment, and information technology services, software, & equipment.  More recently, Miguel led the transformation of the department’s Business Intelligence Group into a Center of Excellence for industry & supplier analytics and Category Management process leadership, which included the design and roll out of a formal, scalable, and enterprise-wide SRM Program.  In his current role, Miguel is responsible for driving continued growth in the SRM Program and in the department’s business systems solutions, which include Spend Management, e-sourcing, Cost Savings, Contract Management, Catalog Management, Lab Supplies Inventory Management, and Supplier Information Management.  Prior to Amgen, Miguel was with Dell Computer, in their Worldwide Procurement Group.

Betsy Miller Corporate Director Sourcing and Procurement Northrop Grumman

Betsy Miller is the Corporate Director for Sourcing and Procurement. In this role, she is responsible for providing executive oversight and leadership for enterprise wide commodity sourcing, non production commodity procurements and technology guidance to ensure optimal operational effectiveness within the Procurement Shared Services organization.  This role originated from the Achieving Competitive Excellence (ACE) initiative which focused on aggregating sourcing opportunities within the corporation and has produced significant returns.  Most recently this role has expanded from the results of the Competitive Excellence (CE) initiative of which Betsy led the business case for Procurement Shared Service.  This latest initiative now adds shared service procurement of non production commodities on behalf of the sectors.  Miller is also responsible for establishing and maintaining a close working relationship with internal executive management and sector procurement operations throughout the company along with building strong relationships with the external supply base. 

Prior to transferring to the corporate office in August 2005, Miller was the Electronic Systems sector Director of Material Acquisition and Integration.  In this position, she was responsible for the executive oversight of $800K in ES commodity procurements, the oversight and accountability of the eProcurement implementation, and leadership in the sector consolidation of procurement systems and processes due to corporate acquisitions.   Previous to this role, she has numerous other management roles in the Supply Chain organization.

With more than 25 years of service at Northrop Grumman, Betsy is a leader in the Supply Chain discipline producing significant improvements to the corporation.  Miller holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration degree from Indiana University of Pennsylvania and numerous Supply Chain and process improvement certifications.   Betsy chairs the NGC Procurement Strategy Council and participates in numerous industry associations including the Supplier Management Executive Council for Aerospace Industries Association, the Conference Board Purchasing and Supply Leadership Council, the Procurement Strategy Council Executive Board and the Institute for Supply Management. 

Chris O’Brien Director Responsible Purchasing Network

As Senior Director of the Responsible Purchasing Network, at the non-profit Center for a New American Dream, Chris works with government, corporate, and non-profit purchasers to advance socially and environmentally responsible procurement. In his dozen years of corporate responsibility experience he served as Director of the Co-op America Business Network and the Fair Trade Federation. He has presented dozens of speeches to thousands of purchasers about how to design and implement successful green purchasing programs.

He is also part-owner of Seven Bridges, the world's only supplier of organic and fair trade beer-brewing and coffee-roasting supplies. O’Brien is author of the award-winning book Fermenting Revolution: How to Drink Beer and Save the World about sustainability in the beer industry and is working on a book about sustainability in the coffee industry. He has lived, worked and traveled extensively around the globe.

Michael has more than 30 years of experience in the supply chain, sourcing, materials and project management arena. Currently he is the Vice President of Supply Chain Consulting at Corbus and is the former Director of Supply Management for Johnson Controls, Inc. and the former CEO of PurchasingFirst and MinorityAmerica, whose core business was providing Best Practice outsourcing, supply chain and materials management services to all sectors of business. He has worked for, directed and been a provider of procurement and materials management expertise for middle-market and Fortune 1000 including Johnson Controls, Shell Oil Company, Baxter Healthcare, Cardinal Industries, Celanese, Jacobs Engineering, Huntington National Bank and Prosero.

He is recognized as a leading expert on outsourcing, strategic sourcing and supply chain management firms. He is recognized nationally as a leading expert on outsourcing, strategic sourcing and supply chain management. He has provided a variety of procurement, supply chain, logistics, process mapping, expenditure analysis, outsourcing and project management services to approximately one hundred companies. Mike has a long and successful record of reducing costs while improving quality, service, efficiency and productivity for large and mid-size organizations.

In addition to writing articles and conducting seminars for the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) and their local affiliates, Mike has presented at national conferences hosted by ISM, APICS, ProcureCon, TEC Leadership, Wescon, eProcom, Western League, International Quality Productivity Center, American Management Association, MarketFocus and the Bank Administration Institute (BAI). He has authored multiple articles for ISM, conducted ISM seminars, presented at ISM affiliate meetings and developed and presented a national satellite videoconference on outsourcing.

Mike has a Bachelor of Science degree in Operations and Production Management from Ohio State University with advanced coursework (MBA) at Texas A&M University.

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

Jim Polak became Director, General Purchasing for PPG Industries in June of 2000.  Jim joined PPG in 1974 as a Production Engineer at the Carlisle, PA float glass plant.  He moved to PPG’s Pittsburgh headquarters in 1979, where he held information systems (Management Science) and market research posts until 1984, when he was named Chicago Zone Customer Service Manager for Primary Glass.  In 1985, he became Manager of Customer Services at the Northwest Regional Float Glass plant in Chehalis, Washington, and the following year was named Flat Glass Products District Sales Manager in Detroit.  Mr. Polak returned to PPG’s world headquarters in 1989 as Director of Marketing and Development for Automotive OEM Glass Products.  In March of 1993, Jim became Plant Manager at PPG’s Berea, Kentucky Automotive Replacement Glass facility, followed by his role as Director, Production & Distribution for ARG in September of 1995.  A native of Chicago, Jim is a graduate of Purdue University (BS ET) and has an MBA from the University of Illinois.

In 2004, PPG was named “Spend Analysis Star” by Purchasing Magazine, and was highlighted as a Spend Analysis Best Practice company by the Aberdeen Group.  Supply & Demand Chain Executive Magazine named Jim as one of their 2004 and 2006 “Pros to Know”.  Jim has been a featured speaker at ProcureCon, Ariba Live, Sourcing Interests Group, Conference Board, and other events.

William Pollard Director Telecommunications and Networking Sourcing Nationwide Insurance

Bill Pollard has over 14 years of Information Technology Sourcing experience, the most recent 6 years focused on Telecommunication and Network Sourcing. Bill has been with Nationwide Insurance for the past 8 years. Prior to joining Nationwide Bill held progressively responsible Sourcing Management positions with Victoria’s Secret Stores, Perot Systems-SBC Warburg Dillon Read, ACNielsen and the Dun and Bradstreet Corporation. Bill also has 5 years of Auditing experience with the Audit Bureau of Circulations and began his career with Shatkin Investment Corporation working on the Trading floor of the Chicago Board of Options Exchange.

Bill has conducted numerous development programs and workshops with the National Association of Purchasing Management and Sourcing Interest Group. Subjects include -Negotiations, Overcoming Impasses-Ploys & Tactics, Effective Cost Modeling-the Honda and Nationwide way, Building Negotiating Teams, Supplier Management and Landline Voice and Data Sourcing the 3rd Party Advantage. Bill has been active in promoting the Sourcing profession outside of his current position serving as President of the National Association of Purchasing Management Columbus, Ohio and has co-authored and published several articles for Inside Supply Management Magazine (Applying Critical Metrics of Strategic Suppliers to a Relationship Scorecard, Applying Project Management Principles to Supplier Management and Ending a Supplier Relationship).

Bill received a BA in Economics from Eastern Illinois University and an MBA degree in Finance from Loyola University of Chicago. He holds the Certified Purchasing Manager (C.P.M.) designation, and is a member of the Institute for Supply Management, International Computer Negotiators (ICN) and the Sourcing Interest Group.

Jack Quarles Senior Strategic Sourcing Category Manager Sallie Mae

Jack Quarles leads Procurement at the Reston, VA headquarters of Sallie Mae. He oversees areas of spend including information services and financial operations. Prior to joining Sallie Mae, Mr. Quarles was a founder and VP of Operations at Invoice Insight, a leading telecom expense management and business process outsourcing firm.

Previously Mr. Quarles has worked in management consulting and software development. Mr. Quarles holds an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Business, and a B.A. from Yale University.

Dan holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Milwaukee School of Engineering in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, with specialization in power system analysis and control systems. He also has a Master’s Certificate in Project Management from The George Washington University in Washington, D.C.

Mike Rager Vice President Global Indirect Procurement Diebold

Mike has held pivotal leadership positions within Operations / Supply Chain Management in the Aerospace, Defense, Commercial, Appliance and Chemical industries.

Over 27 years of experience, he has held positions with increasing responsibility with five major corporations, United Technologies, Raytheon, Invensys, Electrolux and Diebold Inc.

He has been an active member of the Corporate Executive Board, the Procurement Strategy Council, and the National Minority Supplier Development Council. He participated as a member of the New England Minority Supplier Development Certification Board. 

Mike has participated / chaired round table forums, and has been a guest speaker for various engagements on strategic sourcing and supply chain topics.  He also served as an advisor to course content for Howard University’s, Supply Chain Graduate School curriculum.

A Navy veteran and a product of evening and weekend education opportunities over a 20 year period, Mike holds a Bachelors Science in Business, a Masters of Science in Industrial Technology as well as an Executive Masters degree with a concentration in finance.

Vijay Ramachandran Director, Strategic Sourcing Strategic Distribution, Inc. (SDI)

Vijay Ramachandran currently serves as Director of Strategic Sourcing for Strategic Distribution, Inc. (SDI) and has worked at SDI for over 5 years assuming various Supply Chain leadership roles. Prior to his current role he was Director of Inventory Management. During his tenure at SDI, Mr. Ramachandran played a leading role in major supply chain transformations at SDI, which includes: centralizing replenishment, implementing SDI’s industry leading Inventory Management System, developing of SDI’s Spend Analyzer and Spend Detail reporting tool, automating the procure-to-pay process utilizing ERS (Electronic Receipt Settlement) for 180,000 PO lines since 2006, acquiring and employing an in-house reverse auction technology platform, and standardizing SDI’s enterprise sourcing methodology.

Mr. Ramachandran is responsible for Sourcing related aspects of SDI’s enterprise spend, which currently exceeds $220 Million involving over 4000 active vendors, 300,000 sku’s, across 42 locations in North America.

Vijay holds a Bachelor degree from Pennsylvania State University in Business Logistics. In addition, Vijay has been published in Sun Microsystems Executive Journal and participates on SDI’s behalf at the Penn State Center for Supply Chain Research. Vijay and his family reside in Princeton, New Jersey and actively raise funds for CAN (Cure Autism Now) and the HELP Foundation.

Dan Rathbun Sourcing Manager for Indirect Michael Foods

Dan Rathbun is the Strategic Sourcing Manager – Indirect and Energy for Michael Foods, Inc., the world’s largest egg processing company with additional operations in processed potatoes and cheese.  He is responsible for the management of indirect material, capital equipment, and energy purchases for Michael Foods locations.

Prior to joining Michael Foods, Inc., Dan has held engineering positions in the Railway Signal and Communications industry with Chicago & Northwestern Railway and Wisconsin Central., project management positions in Utility Control Systems industry with Siemens Power Transmission and Distribution, and commodity management positions in the manufacturing industry with Pentair, Inc. 

Dan holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Milwaukee School of Engineering in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, with specialization in power system analysis and control systems. He also has a Master’s Certificate in Project Management from The George Washington University in Washington, D.C.

Brian D. Schulties C.P.M. Vice President Sourcing General Cable

Brian D. Schulties has been Vice President of Sourcing for General Cable Corporation since January 2006.

Mr. Schulties began his career as a Purchasing Manager with U-Brand Corporation in 1986. He has over 20 years of experience in the sourcing field, holding several senior level management positions in the automotive and metal castings markets and has significant experience working with suppliers around the world. Prior to joining General Cable, he was the Director of Purchasing for Prysmian Cables & Systems.

Mr. Schulties holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Cleary College in Ann Arbor, Michigan and received his lifetime C.P.M. certification in early 2007.

General Cable (NYSE: BGC), headquartered in Highland Heights, Kentucky, is a global leader in the development, design, manufacture, marketing and distribution of copper, aluminum and fiber optic wire and cable products for the energy, industrial, specialty and communications markets. Energy cables include low-, medium-, high- and extra-high-voltage power distribution and power transmission products. The Industrial and Specialty segment is comprised of application-specific cables for uses such as electrical power generation (traditional fuels, alternative and renewable sources, and distributed generation), the oil, gas and petrochemical industries, mining, industrial automation, marine, military and aerospace applications, power applications in the telecommunications industry, and other key industrial segments. Communications wire and cable products transmit low-voltage signals for voice, data, video and control applications. General Cable, with annual revenues over $6 billion, has 46 manufacturing facilities in 23 countries and offers competitive strengths in such areas as breadth of product line, brand recognition, distribution and logistics, sales and service and operating efficiency.

Guy Strafford Client Services Director BuyingTeam

Guy is responsible for client and business development. He joined buyingTeam in 1996 and having gained experience within consultancy moved into client service. Guy is a regular speaker at purchasing and management conferences and author of many purchasing articles. He is a Certified Public Accountant and trained with KPMG. Guy was responsible for buyingTeam’s relationship with Universal Music, which won the Outsourcing Center’s 2008 Outsourcing Excellence Awards.

Stacey Taylor Vice President Indirect & Capital, Enterprise Procurement ConAgra Foods

Stacey Taylor joined ConAgra Foods in July 2006, as vice president, Indirect and Capital Procurement. In this position, she leads ConAgra Foods’ Indirect Procurement team, directing the company’s efforts in strategic sourcing and spend management.

Taylor is accountable for generating significant savings year-to-year, while driving continuous improvement and compliance to all sourcing practices and policies. She also is the Organizational Change Leader for the implementation of the SAP “Procure to Pay” system. In this role, she provides overall change management guidance and facilitation of improved processes to ensure a successful transition from legacy procurement systems to SAP.

Taylor has an MBA from Anna Maria College in Paxton, Mass., and a bachelor’s of business administration in management from Dowling College, in Oakdale, N.Y. She currently is a member of the board of directors for the YWCA-Omaha, as well as the GPMSDC, and was a member of the board of directors for the NEMSDC from 2004 to 2005,

Doug Weeks President-Elect Association of Corporate Travel Executives (ACTE)

 Doug Weeks is the Global Sourcing Manager at Booz Allen Hamilton located in Herndon, Va. Booz Allen, a $4 billion global strategy and technology firm with 20,000 employees on six continents, has been at the forefront of management consulting for businesses and governments for more than 90 years.

In his current role, Doug is responsible for the sourcing and contract management of all travel categories and services throughout the Firm totaling nearly $200M USD annually. He also oversees and manages sourcing and contract management activities for other categories including IT hardware and services, HR professional services, and other professional services categories purchased throughout the Firm.

Prior to joining Booz Allen in 2000, Doug worked as a travel industry consultant at the Travel Management Group helping clients implement best practices in corporate travel management.

Doug has been a active member of ACTE since 2000 having participated on the Steering Committee for the 2004 Global Conference in Stockholm as well as having received a ACTE Distinguished Fellow award in 2004 for his participation and achievement with an educational presentation at the ACTE Conference in Orlando. He has also been an active participant on client advisory boards for Travelport, American Airlines, Starwood Hotels, and JetBlue.

Doug is a graduate of Clemson University in Clemson, S.C. with a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics.

Tom Wesley Global Sourcing Director Waters Corp

Thomas Wesley has been involved in global commerce since his first trip to Asia as a Midshipman in 1975.  He has obtained increasingly relevant experience in global negotiations involving large scale programs in the aerospace and life sciences industries.  Mr. Wesley has successfully established manufacturing capacity in Singapore and has transitioned product lines there on multiple occasions.  Most recently, he was responsible for pioneering a unique third party manufacturing partnership with a leading EMS provider to build a complex life science analytical system in Singapore.  He has been intimately involved in discussions with the Economic Development Board on manufacturing issues and the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) on R&D investment in the Biopolis.  Mr. Wesley devised and staffed Supplier Relationship Management organization at Waters Corporation.  He holds a BS in Marine Transportation form the US Merchant Marine Academy and a MS in Management from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

John Wesolowski Vice President, Corporate Financial, Corporate Controllers MassMutual Financial Group

John Wesolowski is Vice President of Corporate Budget and Expense Management at MassMutual, a mutually owned financial protection, accumulation and income management company headquartered in Springfield, Mass. The triple AAA rated Fortune 100 Company is ranked amongst America’s “Most Admired Companies” and one of the best 100 by Working Mother magazine. John is responsible for corporate budget development, expense management, reporting and analysis. He recently completed a procurement efficiency initiative that resulted in $75 million in annual savings. As the former Procurement manager, he restructured the department operations to a commodity sourcing focus, implementing new systems and performance metrics to achieve best practice spend management.

Prior to joining MassMutual in 2002, John worked for more than 20 years at Massachusetts Municipal Wholesale Electric Company. As Treasurer and CFO, he executed a strategic plan to improve its financial rating and execute a billion dollar refunding, recognizing the industries highest transaction savings. He has chaired numerous industry group organizations including Chairman of the APPA Finance and Management Association and Budget Officer for the Government Finance Officers Association. He also serves on various municipal and charitable organizations to advance the well-being of the community. John holds a MS in Accounting from Western New England College, and a BS and BA in Accounting and Management from Northeastern University, where he graduated with honors, as well as other financial certifications