Women in Procurement Wednesday: Dawn Andre on solving procurement puzzles and being a continuous learner

While many first jobs for teenagers involve sitting poolside or babysitting, some lucky people find their passion at 15 or 16 years old. Jaggaer’s Executive Vice President of Product Management, Dawn Andre, fell in love with sourcing and logistics at her first job when she worked for her family’s retail company.

While her career took a few twists and turns along the way, Andre found excitement doing various procurement-related tasks. Andre finds fulfillment in all things procurement data, sourcing, solving problems for customers and bringing products to market.

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A lot of it stems from an interest in her childhood to solve puzzles. But Andre also said it’s part of being a continuous learner. Education doesn’t just stop when you get a cap, gown and diploma.

“How do we ensure we have supply chain resilience? How do we ensure that we have continuity of service and how does all this happen when we’re working remotely now?” Andre asked. “So these are the challenges that really get me excited about this particular market space. And I don’t think we’re done yet. We have lots of problems that we can solve.”

Andre calls her journey to Jaggaer a “networked web,” where her prolific career has taken twists and turns but has somewhat been rooted in procurement and sourcing the entire time. After graduating from Penn State with a degree in supply chain and information systems, Andre worked at Procter and Gamble in ordering and distribution.

When the technology boom took off, Andre wanted to get into that market to be a part of the teams that enable business processes with technology. She joined a company called Manugistics where she specialized in vendor management and forecasting.

In her current role at Jaggaer, she helps solve customers’ business problems with procurement solutions. With her various experiences in global enterprises, she’s seen it all and has learned to say yes to new opportunities as different procurement trends arise.

Andre admits that being a woman in the industry wasn’t always easy. At times, she’s been the only woman in the room. Other times, men have underestimated her role in a meeting.

Andre is hopeful for what the future holds for women in the industry. Women are increasingly taking executive positions, and Andre believes women are feeling much more empowered every day.

Although Andre has been in procurement for nearly her whole career, she said that every day is something different. This is one of the many things she loves about it.

The Covid pandemic has challenged and changed what her customers are looking for in a procurement organization. For many, risk management is now a key metric. Andre said the technology will likely move in that direction with more vendors coming on the scene.

From a professional perspective, Andre said the pandemic has opened new opportunities for her. She joined Jaggaer a few days before the pandemic shut down many places in the US. It also opened the opportunity for people and organizations to be more emphatic about people’s lives.

The pandemic has certainly provided new obstacles for most everyone, but Andre found some silver linings.

“It did affect my world of work as a woman, for example, as a mom,” Andre said. “There was a period of time not so long ago where if there was kid noise or anything going on in the background I would be mortified. I wouldn’t want people to question my dedication and focus.”

“But now it’s welcomed. We have people who are bringing their kids into meetings, and I think it makes it a little bit more of a kinder and gentler place. It certainly provides a level of empathy for your teammates (female or male) because you really never know what’s going on.”

Read about other professionals featured in our “Women in Procurement Wednesdays” series. Are you a woman in the procurement space who has a compelling story to tell? We’re all ears. Send us an email at: sehrmann@spendmatters.com.