Procurement Leaders Awards – the winners

I attended for the first time the Procurement Leaders awards dinner last night, as the guest of Beeline, who are one of the leaders in VMS software, used for managing contingent labour and related spend categories.  (I'm also speaking today at the Procurement Leaders Forum at a Beeline-sponsored session - more on that later).

Held at the Brewery, Chiswell Street, it was a very enjoyable event.  There were around 500 people there, so not as big as the comparative CIPS Supply Management event, but with a very impressive list of large blue-chip organisations attending.  It therefore had perhaps a more international and private sector feel to it than most CIPS events; and it was somewhat less raucous than the SM awards can be! Having said that, the after-dinner entertainment was an African drumming group, who got the whole audience drumming along - quite a sight (and sound)!

I  remember the beginnings of Procurement Leaders, and you have to give Mark Perera, Richard Pope, Alex Martinez and the whole team huge credit for what they've built in a fairly short period with the organisation, and now the PIU as well.

But one problem with these events is that I always want to know more about the best of the entries, and last night was no exception. From the summaries we heard, there were some great stories.  Perhaps we can follow up on some at a later date, although I have a feeling Procurement Leaders might want (not unreasonably) to have the 'scoop' on those! But anyway, the winners, to whom we offer our sincere congratulations were as follows:

Best Cross-Function Project

• Premier Foods

Best Procurement Team

• Reed Elsevier

Best Use of Technology

• Delphi

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

• Tata Steel

Innovation

• Thames Water Utilities

People Development

• Anglo American

The Partnership Award

• H J Heinz

Procurement Leader

• Detlef Schultz, Vodafone

Transformation

• Delphi

Excellence

• Unilever

Well done to all the winners!