A little bit of background credentials are in order. Supply Management is my passion. For more than 15 years, I have benchmarked, assessed, advised, and reported on sourcing, procurement, supply chain, and supply management practices and technologies.

My career has taken me from an analyst of electronic component market trends to an assessor of federal procurement and technology policy to senior editor of supply chain strategy and technology at Purchasing Magazine to senior executive and supply management research practice lead at the Aberdeen Group.

During my tenure, I’ve had the opportunity to benchmark and examine procurement and supply management practices at thousands of companies. I’ve also been fortunate enough to interview and network with some of the pioneers of the supply management discipline, including Tom Stallkamp, former CPO and President at Chrysler Corporation; the late Gene Richter, former CPO at IBM and Hewlett-Packard; and Dave Nelson, former CPO at Honda, John Deere, and Delphi Automotive. (I’ve also documented the rise of the next wave of supply management visionaries, including many of “Dave’s Disciples,” such as Aaron Dent, VP of Supply Chain at Delta Airlines; Garry Berryman, CPO at Sara Lee; and Shelley Stewart, VP of Supply Chain at Tyco.)

Considering my proximity to these and other procurement executives, I have jokingly referred to myself as the Howard Cosell of Supply Management: “I never played the game, but I have learned from the greatest athletes to ever take the arena.”

In full disclosure, I recently retired from the analyst world and joined a leading supply management solution provider in an effort to take a more hands on role in helping enterprises drive improvements in strategic sourcing, contract and compliance management, and supplier management. That said, commentary in this blog will be vendor agnostic and deliver the straight facts and best practices you can use to drive continuous improvement in your supply management operations.

Globalization, regulatory pressures, procurement automation, outsourcing, and supply market instability have simultaneously elevated the supply management discipline and increased its challenges. As a supply management executive you are constantly challenged to up skill your teams, adopt new organizational structures, and employ new supply management strategies and systems infrastructures.

SupplyExcellence.com is the first blog dedicated exclusively to fostering and accelerating supply management excellence. Whether you are just beginning your supply management journey or searching for the next opportunity for improvement, this blog is for you.

We will profile proven supply strategies, best practices, and case studies to help companies of all sizes and industries accelerate results and drive continuous improvements in global supply management performance. We will also provide a unique, objective, and interactive forum for procurement and supply management executives to exchange ideas and questions on all aspects of supply management, including:

• What’s the right organizational structure for my company?
• How do I grab and keep the attention and support of company executives?
• How can I capitalize on low-cost country sourcing opportunities without disrupting my supply lines?
• What are the right sourcing and costing approaches for complex spend categories?
• How can I monitor and enforce compliance?
• How can I rationalize and segment my supply base for strategic supplier management?
• What are the best metrics to measure supply performance?
• What are the best practices for supplier development and improvement?
• How should I evaluate and deploy the right supply management automation solution to support my company’s needs and IT infrastructure requirements – without busting my budget? 

We encourage your participation and feedback to ensure lively exchange of ideas that can help your company accelerate and sustain supply management excellence.