women in procurement Content

To advance in any career, people need a mix of hard work, guts, intuition and a bit of teamwork to get the job done. Rosalyn Curato, the new Executive Vice President at the B2B accounting technology provider Lockstep, knows how important it is to advocate for yourself in the workplace. She says everyone needs to be able to “carve their own path.” Yet, Curato also acknowledges the importance of lifting up everyone around you to achieve true success.

She sat down with Spend Matters for the women in procurement series to discuss her path through finance and procurement, and the powerful role of women banding together.

Kids are often asked about what they want to be when they grow up. Common answers vary but can offer insights. Elisabeth Bykoff wanted to be a movie director.

Today, Bykoff is the Vice President of Global Alliances at Agiloft, a contract lifecycle management (CLM) solution provider. So, not exactly a movie director but an equally fulfilling role, she said. Read about the role of CLM and her journey through procurement in this latest Women in Procurement on Wednesday feature.

Whether it be in procurement, supply chain or any other field today, diversity, equity and inclusion (or DEI) are immensely important. Of those three components, many in the procurement field are focusing on equity.

“Equity” and “equality” may sound very similar to some. However, there is a clear distinction between the two — one that Maria Prince, the Vice President of the National Minority Supplier Development Council (NMSDC), detailed in a recent Women in Procurement interview.

After growing up in a family of entrepreneurs who were ingrained in their hometown in Maine, Sarah Nelson was accustomed to being involved in her community and helping to change it. She learned to work and have ownership in her roles — whether it be at the family-owned gas station, laundromat or pizza place.

Now as a manager at Velocity Procurement, Nelson’s primary role is project management for the implementation of procurement solutions. She spoke with Spend Matters about her journey to procurement and being a woman in the industry.

Procurement bridges business operations, so it’s imperative that the professionals running the department become a jack of all trades. It involves a mixture of data analytics and project creativity, or the combo of teamwork and being self-sufficient.

That’s exactly what Shannon Kreps strives for as the vice president of product marketing at Medius, a provider of spend management solutions. With her nearly 25 years of industry experience, she’s established herself as an expert in the field.

Read and listen to our interview with Shannon Kreps for the women in procurement series. She shares how to find your voice in procurement.

While Jamie Crump’s typical day may look like that of many others’ in today’s pandemic world — virtual meetings, remote speaking engagements, and so forth — her journey to get her where she is today certainly took a scenic route. As the author of “Backstage Pass: Pulling the Curtain Back on the Business of Supplier Diversity,” Crump has over 25 years of experience in supply chain and supplier diversity.

In this "Women in Procurement on Wednesday" interview, Crump shares her journey through the procurement industry and her experience as a woman in the industry.

“My daily job and what I’m trying to do with my team is to prove the value — with a big V — of what procurement is,” said Sylvie Noel, the Chief Procurement Officer at Covea Group. “For me, the best value we can have is to be involved as soon as possible in the goals and the KPIs the business might have. … You have to know really well in advance what you are going to buy and how you are going to buy it.”

We met with Sylvie Noel to discuss value in procurement as part of our "Women in Procurement Wednesday" series.

As the world continues to deal with the tumultuous environment of today’s COVID-19 pandemic, it can be useful to understand that while a pandemic itself is unique, disruption is not. A lot of the tools people have used to successfully deal with and thrive in disruptive environments in the past can also be put into place now.

“I wake up every day so excited about what the day’s going to bring. … Carpe the heck out of that diem,” said Joanna Martinez.

Joanna Martinez is a speaker and educator on digitization, innovation and managing change. She’s the author of “A Guide to Positive Disruption” and the founder of Supply Chain Advisors. She’s also the woman featured in this week’s installment of the “Women in Procurement Wednesday” series. Martinez talked with Spend Matters about seizing the day and causing disruption in the procurement industry.

Indirect materials procurement has dominated technology coverage and innovation for decades now. If 2020 has taught us anything, it’s that the time has come for direct materials technology to shine. The market is growing, and the opportunity is ripe for the taking. Anne-Sophie Le Bloas saw this market developing.

Le Bloas has nearly 15 years of experience in direct materials supply chain and sourcing, and she was puzzled over the lack of digitalization and innovation on the direct side. She couldn’t believe some of the biggest, most cutting-edge companies in the world used Excel spreadsheets to track data from suppliers and sourcing.

That's why she started Ravacan. We sat down with Le Bloas to learn more about her experience in direct procurement and how it was being a woman growing up in the field.

Procurement is about numbers, figures and cost savings. But equally as important is the human side of procurement. In this Women in Procurement Wednesday series, Amanda Prochaska and Jessica Walther share the importance of nurturing relationships in procurement — the ones with your suppliers and the ones with yourself.

If you’ve been following our social media channels recently, you might have noticed a new weekly feature called “Women in Procurement Wednesday.”

We met with Lisa Reisman to discuss how women can advocate for themselves in the workplace, especially as women face heightened challenges with the COVID-19 pandemic. Reisman is the first of many empowering women to share her expertise as a woman in procurement with our audience.