The Way We Source

Susan Walsh, Founder & Mistress of Data at The Classification Guru, is a globally recognised expert in data classification, cleaning, and transformation who has spent over a decade helping organisations across many industries resolve their "dirty data" issues.

In 2017, she founded The Classification Guru Ltd to provide innovative solutions to data problems, particularly in procurement, where clean and accurate data is critical. Since then, Susan has successfully worked with over 90 clients worldwide, unlocking the true potential of their data.

In this fantastic episode, she joins Sam to discuss the importance of data quality in Procurement for insights, efficiency, & AI excellence, the challenges that Procurement teams face with their data, how teams can best clean & harness the power of their data, and more!

We’re joined by Nicolas Passaquin, Chief Procurement Officer & Supply Chain Officer for Telia, the multinational telecommunications company and mobile network operator, and Ambassador at The Sustainable Procurement Pledge.

As a seasoned Procurement practitioner and leader with previous experience at Thomas Reuters, Efficio, Refinitiv, Air France, and more, Nicolas shares his knowledge with Sam Jenks about setting up Procurement orgs for success, staying energized to drive continual transformation, and future-proofing Procurement to stay ahead of the curb. He and Sam also explore the changes that Nicolas has seen his career and the lessons he’s learned, what to look for with new talent, digital inclusion within Procurement, how to make Procurement be seen as a strategic function, the importance of your network, and more!

Keith McCabe is the Founder & Managing Director of AVAM Solutions, a specialist procurement and supply chain consultancy focused on cost reduction, supplier performance, project delivery, and strategy. Before taking his knowledge into consultancy, Keith was an experienced Procurement practitioner and leader at organizations such as NHS, United Biscuits, Carillion, and Aramark. Keith is also a Procurement and Supply Chain thought leader as the Co-Founder and Host at Proctopus.

Keith and Sam Jenks dive into the lessons Keith has learned throughout his career as a practitioner turner leader and how he made that transition, the role of creativity and humor in Procurement, how Procurement is entrepreneurial, and more!

Mathew Schulz is the Founder of Matchat - modern procurement’s trusted voice that is changing the perception of procurement and movement followed by practitioners, business leaders, and founders at Google, Nike, Coca-Cola, Ramp, Stripe, Zip, American Express, Mastercard, All, Coupe, Amazon, and more. His work is read, viewed, and listened to by millions and featured on industry podcasts and major publications.Prior to founding Matchat, Mathew has a seasoned career as a procurement practitioner at GE Aerospace, SS&C Eze, Forrester, and Airbase.

Don't miss this fantastic conversation where Mathew and Sam dive into how Procurement should build its story, cross-functional collaboration to drive valuable change, how to start with building procurement excellence, the future of procuretech, and more!

This episode, we’re joined by Daniel Wilson, Head of Indirect Procurement at Philips and a seasoned Procurement practitioner with 25+ years experience at businesses such as Adidas, Unilever, Teva Pharmaceuticals, Air Canada, KPMG, and more.

Daniel joins Sam for an inspiring discussion about leadership and change within Procurement, the differences between direct and indirect procurement, staying relevant and contributing as a Procurement leader, succeeding with procuretech adoption, and much more!

This episode, we’re joined by Jonathan O’Brien, CEO @ Positive Purchasing, who empowers practioners and teams to transform their procurement and negotiation capability through world-leading digital platforms, high-impact training, and coaching. In his career of Procurement coaching and though leadership, he has trained over 15k people in more than 350 organizations in 48 countries across the globe.

Jonathan joins Sam for a fantastic discussion about succeeding with strategic goals, AI adoption and success, sustainable Procurement & ESG regulations, how to facilitate strong training, the state of Category Management, and more!

This episode, we’re joined by Laura Sellers MCIPS, Executive & Leadership Coach @ Coaching for Procurement Ltd., who offers a wide range of bespoke leadership development services for Procurement teams. 

She joins Sam for this fantastic conversation where Laura shares her knowledge and insights from coaching a wide range of Procurement organizations, including how Category Management teams can break down barriers, how Procurement can solve its identity crisis & find its story, how Procurement can collaborate better with stakeholders, curiosity & creativity in Procurement, and much more!

We're joined by Pedro Berrocoso, a Digital Procurement & Process Automation advisor and founder of AccelerIQ – a boutique consultancy helping businesses to maximize process and technology value with a human-centric view. As a Digital & AI enthusiast, he is passionate about advancing Procurement into the future. Pedro lead a Center of Excellence for Digital Innovation in his recent role and before that held various roles as Head of Procurement Processes and Tools across CPG, Pharma and Energy businesses. 

In this fantastic conversation, Pedro joins Sam to discuss AI in Procurement, change management, how to drive digital literacy & maturity in Procurement teams, how to build champions for new technology & processes, and more! 

Tune in to the full episode below 👇

Fabian Lampe, Founder of Advance Procurement, joins The Way We Source to share his unique expertise within the intersection of Procurement, Marketing, and Technology.

With a wide range of experience as a practitioner at Bayer and Unilever, consulting at Deloitte, and ProcureTech marketer at Archlet, Fabian is unique expert and thought leader who helps Procurement teams and solution providers speak the same language to accelerate transformation.

In this fantastic discussion, Fabian and Sam explore the gaps between Procurement practitioners and solution providers, how ProcureTech can cut through the noise of the space, how the brand of Procurement is changing, the differences in the types of procurement Fabian has worked with, and much more!

We’re joined by Robert Byström, Head of Procurement at Holmen Wood Products, Partner at StromGold Consulting, and Ambassador at The Sustainable Procurement Pledge.

With over 18 years experience as a Sourcing & Procurement leader, both as a practitioner and consultant, Robert shares his extensive knowledge about effective change management and Procurement transformation in this fantastic discussion with Sam Jenks. They discuss what type of change is needed in Procurement, common challenges of driving change, how Procurement can succeed throughout their organization, and much more! 

In this fantastic episode, we’re joined by ⁠Jason Cipriano⁠, a seasoned CPO/Procurement Executive who has built organizations at Fortune 500s such as Nike and startups alike, and now the Founder of ⁠Tivore⁠ consulting. 

With 15+ years of experience and $15B+ impacted sourcing, Jason sat down with Sam to share his insights about procurement leadership, strategy, supplier relationships & diversity, ESG, procuretech adoption, and much more! 

Tune in to the full episode below

In this episode, we’re joined by Nico Bac – Founder of Digital Procurement Now, former Senior Director at Procter & Gamble, and an expert in Digital Procurement Transformation with over 20 years of experience in Purchasing.

Nico joins Sam for a fantastic discussion about digital transformation in Procurement – from building business cases and being bold about new technology needs, to overcoming struggles and succeeding with tech adoption, to closing Procurement’s knowledge gaps with technology, and much more!

In this episode, we’re joined by Constantin Conquet, Head of Procurement at Monks and a seasoned Procurement professional with over 10 years of experience at companies like Adidas and Sanofi.

Constantin joins Sam for a great discussion about how Sales experience can influence Buying, the role of brands in supplier negotiations, the differences between tech & material procurement, how Procurement should adopt technologies & build their tech stack, and much more!

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In this episode, we’re joined by Anna McGovern, CPIM, CSCP - Business & Consulting Partner at Tompkins Ventures, Founder & Managing Director at Pondview Consulting, former CPO at Unilever, and a Supply Chain & Procurement Evangelist helping business to streamline supply chains & procurement, boost efficiency, maximize value, and tapping into supplier networks for innovation and growth.

In this fantastic conversation, Anna and Sam discuss various lessons from her impressive career, the importance of strategic supplier relationships, how to drive procurement together with suppliers, and Procurement’s role within their business in this new era.

Tune in below! 

In the latest episode of “The Way We Source,” we’re joined by Rani Al Hajji, start-up advisor and an experienced marketing and brand manager in the FMCG space.

With over 25 years of experience with iconic brands such as L'Oreal, Garnier, Colgate, and Palmolive, Rani joins Sam to share his knowledge about the relationship between sustainability, innovation, & functionality, how businesses should drive sustainable innovation across their organization, and more!

Tune in to the full episode below

In this episode, we’re joined by Sigrid Brendel, an experienced Procurement leader within the FMCG industry and the Founder & Strategic Adviser at Brendel Interim.

In her impressive career, she has served as a Procurement Director at companies like Kraft and Modelez, as well as the CPO at Campari Group. Sigrid joined Sam for an enlightening discussion about her journey in Procurement, how to build a strong organization, elevating Procurement as a priority within a business, how to best collaborate with internal stakeholders, the importance of Supplier Relationship Management, and more!

Tune in below!

In this episode, we’re joined by Keith Wright - Founder & CEO of K. Wright Consultancy and author of “The Power of Professional Procurement.”

With 25+ years experience as a Procurement practitioner, Keith shares his knowledge about Procurement’s new challenges, new role, and new value creation–as well as the best and worst practices that he’s seen in his consulting career. He also talks to Sam about why he made the transition from practitioner to consultant and the lessons that he’s shared about “Professional Procurement” in his new book.

Tune in to the full episode below

In this episode, Sam is joined by Pascal Evertz, a Procurement Innovator with over 25 years of experience, Founder of GoBeyondProcurement, and Owner & Managing Director of Buyers United.

Pascal shares his knowledge with Sam in an enlightening discussion about AI solutions, Procurement’s digital transformation, the shift from cost savings to value creation, stronger supplier relationships, change management, and more!

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In this episode, we’re joined by Adwoa Owusu-Banahene, Procurement Leader at London Legacy Development Corporation and a seasoned leader in public procurement and the construction & development space with over 15 years of experience.

She and Sam share a great discussion on how Adwoa felt called to procurement, the responsibilities of public procurement to their communities, how new regulations are reshaping supplier relationships, the importance of diversity in procurement teams and the supply chain, and much more!

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In this episode of “The Way We Source,” we’re joined by Anam Rahman–“Agent PO” and the Founder & CEO at Kavida, the AI solution that empowers manufacturing teams with post-PO management for on-time deliveries.

As a former procurement practitioner turned ProcureTech founder, Anam shares his wide range of Procurement insights with Sam Jenks in this great discussion, covering Kavida’s mission, AI adoption, PLG, Anam’s learnings as a founder, and more!

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On this episode, we’re joined by Vera Rozanova–a Procurement thought leader, award-winning speaker, CIPS lecturer, and former CPO at Royal Canin, Altar Education, British American Tobacco, Rusagro, and Proctor & Gamble.

Vera joins Sam for a great discussion about the future of Procurement, how to build new plans and frameworks, building strong Supplier Development Programs, the necessary skills for Procurement teams, new technology adoption, and more!

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In this special episode of “The Way We Source,” we're joined by one of Kodiak Hub's beloved partners–Denin Gigovic, Head of Global Procurement at Elektrobit, a visionary global leader of embedded and connected software products and services for the automotive industry.

Denin joins Sam for a fantastic discussion about how Procurement can help power innovation together with suppliers, how to balance cost with innovation, building strong relationships between internal stakeholders and external suppliers, the future of Procurement, and more!

Tune in to the full episode below.

In this episode, we’re joined by Magnus Josephson, an accomplished Procurement expert and consultant with experience in both the private and public sectors. In his impressive career, Magnus has worked with over 600 companies and public entities in 12 countries and is one of Sweden’s top consultants in public Procurement.

Magnus joins Sam to discuss the differences between public and private Procurement, the politics of public Procurement, how to build sustainable supplier relationships in the public sector, and more!

Tune in to the full episode below.

This episode, we’re joined by Alex Evans, a procurement practitioner with a wide range of experience in the aerospace and defense sector–having previous sourced for Boeing, Leonardo, Vertical Aerospace, and Heart Aerospace before joining Elbit Systems UK as their Supply Chain Manager.

Alex discusses his experiences of working at both multinationals and startups, the differences and similarities between Procurement in aerospace vs. other industries, whether Procurement has won the trust of stakeholders, how to build a supplier base from scratch, which SRM tactics are dead or here to stay, and more!

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In this episode, we’re joined by Francesco Bassoli, an accomplished Procurement leader and practitioner with over 20 years of experience, having previously served as the CPO of Alcoa and the VP of Global Procurement at Amcor.

Francesco discusses how his background in engineering has influenced his career in Procurement, how he’s transitioned to different industries during his Procurement career, his thoughts on how Procurement can drive Sustainability within their organizations, and more!

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In this episode, we’re joined by a household name and thought leader in Procurement–Peter Smith.

With over 40 years (or make that 30 years) of experience, Peter has worked with Procurement as a practitioner, professor, Managing Editor of Spend Matters Europe, and author of the books “Bad Buying” and “Procurement with Purpose.” He joins us to discuss how he’s seen Procurement evolve during his career and where it’s going in the future, where Procurement is succeeding and “F’ing up,” how to avoid “Bad Buying,” and more!

Tune in to the full episode below.

In the latest episode of “The Way We Source,” we're joined by Lukas Wawrla, Co-Founder & Managing Director of Archlet, to discuss the current state of digital maturity and transformation in Procurement & Sourcing.

Lukas also talks about how he stumbled into Sourcing & Procurement with no prior experience while co-founding his Sourcing platform in university, how Archlet broke into the Sourcing space and found the success it has today, Lukas’s experience as an unexpected ProcureTech founder, and his thoughts on what the next trends in Procurement and Sourcing will be.

Tune in to the full episode below.

In this episode, we’re joined by a ProcureTech pioneer–Heiko Schwarz, founder & CEO of riskmethods. Heiko discusses his journey as a ProcureTech founder, how risk management has evolved over the last decade, the next big trends he sees coming in procurement, and more!

Tune in to the full episode below.

We’re thrilled to be joined by a household name in the Procurement space, Omer Abdullah–former Principal at A.T. Kearney, co-founder of The Smart Cube, and author of “Risk and Your Supply Chain: Preparing for the Next Global Crisis.”

Sam talks to Omer about the changes he’s seen in Procurement in his 30-year career, the adoption of ProcureTech solutions and how it will transform teams in the future, whether the hype around GenAI is justified, and more!

Tune in to the full episode below.

This week, we’re joined by Fredrik Taube, Head of Procurement at Söderberg & Partners and former Head of Sourcing for Ericsson.

Fredrik discusses how he began his career in Sales at Ericsson before transitioning to Procurement and leading Ericsson’s global Sourcing team. He shares some lessons that he’s learned from having sat on both sides of the table to develop a 360-Degree Procurement Mindset and his experience with building a Procurement team from scratch.

Tune in to the full episode below.

Christian Paul, is an expert in game theory and Geschäftsführer (or “Managing Director”) of nnamu–the German ProcureTech solution that utilises game theory algorithms to improve sourcing strategies and negotiations.

He joins us to discuss his journey from Procurement consultant to startup founder, how nnamu helps its clients, and what Procurement teams can learn from game theory in their strategies and negotiations.

Tune in to the full episode below.

Authenticity, ESG, & Innovation in Procurement with Alex Gosney

In  this episode, we’re joined by Alex Gosney, CEO & Founder of Nutral, the UK-based Procurement consultancy dedicated to making workforces more sustainable, ethical, and transparent. With his 15 years of experience in Procurement, Alex talks about his journey as a founder, his thoughts on corporate ESG, authenticity and innovation in Procurement, and more!

Tune in to the full episode below.

“Keep close to your supply chain and learn from supplier information.” This was the #1 piece of advice that Petra Sjögren, Vice President & Head of Procurement Aeronautics at Saab, had to share about how Procurement teams can succeed.

On the latest episode of “The Way We Source,” we're joined by Petra to discuss her Procurement career in the telecom and defense industries, the lessons that she's learned, the challenges that Procurement teams face today, and the growing importance of supplier collaboration.

Tune in to the full episode below.

This time we’re joined by Stephen Day, CPO of Kantar and an accomplished international executive with expertise in operations management, supply chain purchasing, and multi-country transformation and change.

Stephen shares with us the lessons that he’s learned in his 30-year career in Procurement at organisations such as Rolls Royce, Phillips, T-Mobile, and Vodafone, and how he’s witnessed the evolution of ProcureTech and its impact on creating end-to-end value for businesses.

Tune in to the full episode below.

“When you implement technology, you always have two choices. You bend the technology to your process, which is very expensive and leads to mistakes. Or you bend your processes to the technology with it, which is much less expensive, but you might leave a competitive advantage on the table.”

We spoke to Joël Collin-Demers in the latest episode of “The Way We Source” and had some really interesting discussions on how Procurement Teams can successfully adopt new tech, common mistakes they're doing and much more!

Tune in to the full episode below.

In this episode, we cover:

• How Daniela believes the Procurement Function can best aid a business to reach it’s sustainability goals?
• What are Procurement Teams getting wrong when it comes to sustainable procurement? What are they getting right?
• A couple of concrete tips for procurement teams that is looking to evolve in their sustainable impact.

Tune in to the full episode below.

We were delighted to have Stephane Morel as a guest on our Podcast in our latest episode!

This time we talk a lot about how SRM can impact ESG and what it takes to build a Procurement Excellence function in your organization.

We also cover:

• Is Procurement struggling with Change Management?
• When is the right time to invest in a Center of Excellence in a Procurement organisation?
• How can Procurement deliver on ESG in a VUCA world? VUCA, ACCA, ESG, SRM, COE - we cover all acronyms in this episode. 

Tune in to the full episode below.

Kaspar Korjus from Pactum AI shares how their AI helped Walmart save millions in spend with autonomous negotiations.

How can a less mature business adopt AI? Do teams need certain competencies to leverage this kind of tech? What is the barrier for more to adopt? We also talk about how the life of a ProcureTech Founder looks like & how Kaspar thinks the future of AI in Procurement looks like.

Tune in to the full episode below.

Tune in to this episode of The Way We Source where we spoke to Dr. Jonathan Sims, CPO at Equans.

• What happens when you bring in academics to tackle challenges in your procurement org?
• Is there a discrepancy between Procurement Theory and Practice?
• What does it take to keep your procurement team happy?
• Tune in to the full episode below.

“You don't know what you don't know. So if you don't know what a certain vendor does as a new software provider. You might be missing that perfect fit for your tech stack.”

We had the pleasure to sit down with Dawn Tiura, CEO & President of Sourcing Industry Group (SIG). Topics covered:

• Where should procurement leaders be challenged? 
• What's it like being the leader of one of the largest organizations in Sourcing & Procurement?
• How can we get more females in leadership roles in Procurement?

“People do or do not realize that we have what’s called our cognitive biases. So far it’s about 206 I think that we’ve cataloged, referenced and assimilated. And all these cognitive biases we put on a scale of one to five, so you could be anywhere on a scale of that axis”

Very interesting episode together David Loseby where he talks about Behavioural Procurement and how it can be applied to enhance buyer-supplier relationships.

Procurement & Procurement–it's not always the same thing. Samuel Jenks had a real nice chat with one of the most popular voices in Procurement on LinkedIn, Tom Mills!

Hear him talk about his greatest learnings from building a procurement function from scratch. His take on the differences between direct and indirect procurement + what he thinks working with procurement for consumer brands helped him in his role today.

Go subscribe to his newsletter here: https://lnkd.in/ds3abRNe

This time we talked to Cyril Pourrat at BT Sourced about how they are challenging the status quo and traditional way of doing procurement, with digital solutions.

We'll also talk about what other Chief Procurement Officers can do to challenge their current model of procurement.

And what type of results they've seen due to their Digital Transformation and what they like to call; their Digital Procurement Garage!

Autonomous Sourcing, is that really possible? 

We spoke to Andreas Zimmermann, CEO & Founder of mysupply about their journey to disrupt the procurement industry and how he thinks Autonomous Sourcing will change the way Procurement Professionals work.

And the importance of keeping human intelligence at the core of buying decisions.

Hubert Verweij, Head of Procurement Transformation at Capgemini Invent sat down with our own Samuel Jenks to talk about the important steps to develop Supplier Management, Collaboration & Innovation frameworks!

How do you know which suppliers to invest more time with? Which KPI's should you use to measure the success of Collaboration & Innovation initiatives? + Much more!

This episode stands out from the previous ones a little bit–we got the chance to speak to Tom Jackson, Co-founder at Honest Ocean, a supplier of fully transparent and traceable recycled ocean plastic materials.

Hear about their mission and story of how they started Honest Ocean to combat the growing problem of plastic pollution in one of the worst affected area in the world.

We’ll also touch on topics like; Accountability among businesses and the problem of greenwashing. What Tom learned from his time in FMCG on Supplier Enabled Development and the problem of virgin manufacturing vs. recycled Infrastructure in Indonesia.

How has Oatly actively worked with reducing Tail Spend?

How to bridge the gap between Procurement and Sales?

Is Procurement a supporting- or a primary function?

What role does the sourcing department play in a high-growth environment like at Oatly?

How do they work with Responsible Sourcing at Oatly?

How covid was a blessing in disguise for Supply Chain & Procurement Teams.

The importance of having a mentor in your career.

How Supplier Development can be leveraged to improve Supplier Performance.

How the Enhanced Supplier Development Framework works.

Reactive vs Strategic Supplier Development.

Tune in below or read the blog post

You might be wondering about the biggest challenges Procurement is facing today?

Or perhaps want to have some practical tips on what Procurement should be doing to align with the overall business goals?

Maybe you would like to hear about what sets apart good CPO's from great CPO's?

We're covering that and a lot more in this episode! 

Tune in below or read the blog post

How can Procurement, Sustainability and Supply Chain teams become better at cleaning their Supplier Data?

What are some of the pitfalls when launching projects to clean your data and how could it potentially harm your business by not investing in cleaning your data?

Also, what are companies actually getting right with their data?

Tune in below to become an expert on cleaning your supplier data.

David goes through what Logitech did in order to start working more with diverse spend, gender equality and what your company should do if they want to improve in these important areas.

We'll also talk about what procurement should do to get “a seat at the table” and his tips on mindset for people just entering procurement as well as current leaders.

Tune in and read the blog post.

We talk about the state of Procure Tech, productivity tips for procurements peeps, why he left working in procurement as a practitioner?

What Procurement Teams should consider when choosing between Best-of-Breed vs All-in-One platforms?

That and a lot more in our second episode of The Way We Source Podcast!

We talk about concrete tips on what type of Market Intelligence procurement teams should be looking at to drive real value. Also, what's the current state of talent & recruitment in procurement today?

And should your team consist of generalists or specialists?

That and a lot more in our first ever episode of The Way We Source Podcast!