CPOs are navigating two pressures at once right now: figuring out where AI actually fits in their operations, and keeping their teams motivated through what feels like unending disruption. Michael Dunlap, Head of Content and Growth, ProcureCon Events at Worldwide Business Research, runs around 30 research calls with procurement practitioners before building each conference agenda, … EP 48 – WBR’s Michael Dunlap on Why Procurement Hiring Is Split between Degrees & Experience

Jim Francis, Chair of Supply Chain Management, built Mayo Clinic’s supply chain commercialization business not out of ambition, but out of necessity. Eighteen years later, it’s generating enough revenue to offset 73% of the department’s operating expenses. The strategy rests on three principles: never launch a “me too” commercial offering, hire experts who already understand … EP 47 – Mayo Clinic’s Jim Francis on Strategy, Commercialization & Giving Back

During COVID, Stamford Health built inventory dashboards that updated multiple times per day to track supplies arriving in bulk quantities at unpredictable intervals from new vendors. This real-time visibility transformed clinical leadership’s perception of supply chain from back-office function to operational intelligence center. Shenelle Padarat-Singh, Director of Strategic Sourcing, explains how her transition from managing … EP 46 – Stamford Health’s Shenelle Padarat-Singh on Clinician Wants vs. What Usage Data Shows

Procurement’s biggest misconception isn’t about the work itself; it’s about believing your role stops at cost savings. Juliana Saretta, Former VP of US Sourcing at Keurig Dr Pepper, spent 30 years proving that procurement touches every part of the enterprise: growth strategy, cash flow management, brand integrity, and now climate solutions. She shares how when … EP 45 – Keurig Dr Pepper’s Juliana Saretta on Post-merger Integration through Listening, Not Leverage

Amanda Chawla, SVP – Chief Supply Chain & Post Acute Care Officer at Stanford Health Care, inherited a supply chain where half the organization was outsourced, basic functions like category management and master data management didn’t exist, and clinical staff were calling daily about missing products. Nearly a decade later, Stanford’s supply chain has earned … EP 44 – Stanford Medicine’s Amanda Chawla on the People-First Framework behind a 10-Year Transformation

Utz Brands’ Senior VP/CPO Ron Schnur‘s M&A integration framework strategy challenges the standard playbook: across six acquisitions, his team at his previous company, White Wave, diagnosed each deal separately. Some received immediate full integration, others got a soft touch for a few months to protect supplier innovation pipelines that created category advantages. The critical question … EP 43 – Utz Brands’ Ron Schnur on Outpacing Competitors with Risk-Taking and Supplier Partnerships

St. Luke’s Health System built a 330,000 square foot consolidated service center with an ASRS featuring 28 automated pickers and nearly 20,000 bins. Adrian Wengert, CSCO & VP of Supply Chain, spent 3 years visiting a dozen health systems before construction, extracting one unanimous lesson: every organization regretted not building bigger. He secured board approval … EP 42 — St. Luke’s Adrian Wengert on Embedding Medical Directors to Find Cost Savings Buyers Miss

EBIT Intelligent Procurement ditched their 50% gain-share model for fixed-fee managed services after recognizing how gain-share creates operational friction: departments paying fees from their budgets start resenting consultants as cost-cutting mercenaries, regardless of actual performance. The fixed-fee pivot quieted the “who really drove this saving?” disputes that derail stakeholder relationships and freed category experts to … EP 41 – EBIT Intelligent Procurement’s Joanne McCourt on Measuring Procurement Success beyond Savings

Daniel Hurry, President at Advantus Health Partners & CSCO at Bon Secours Mercy Health, helped  justify building Advantus Health Partners to their board by calculating the admin fee equation, then proving they could negotiate better pricing at their scale. Their commercialization strategy was to skip the crowded commodity categories where another contract for gloves or … EP 40 – Bon Secours’ Daniel Hurry on Industry Elevation over Retention in Leadership Development

Procurement at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center requires abandoning traditional sourcing language when working with physicians whose primary concern is patient outcomes, not optimization metrics, but Matthew Laud, Director of Strategic Sourcing & Supplier Management, has figured out the translation. Framing procurement’s value into clinical terms creates the trust necessary for physicians to delegate critical … EP 39 – Memorial Sloan Kettering’s Matthew Laud on Diversity in Team & Supplier Selection