Welcome to the inaugural episode of Smarter Sourcing: Healthcare, with host Eric O’Daffer. Gary Fennessy, VP & Chief Supply Chain Executive at Northwestern Medicine, has been NM’s Chief Supply Chain Officer for over 20 years and brings 44 years of industry experience navigating the transformation from a single academic hospital to a multi-site health system. … EP 38 – Northwestern Medicine’s Gary Fennessy on the Shift to Partnership-Based Healthcare Procurement

Most health systems report supply chain spend in the high teens while industry data confirms it’s actually 35-40% of operating expenses, a measurement gap that systematically undermines investment cases to the C-suite. Eric O’Daffer, Executive Producer for Smarter Sourcing: Healthcare, shares why he’s convinced the answer to indirect spend isn’t another platform but sustained center … EP 37 – Eric O’Daffer on 3 True Norths for AI Investment, Indirect Spend, & Benchmarking

Aleck Matambo’s approach to supplier relationships proved critical during Dell’s COVID-era factory relocations. When inventory shortages forced allocation decisions across the industry, suppliers prioritized Dell because of partnerships built long before the crisis. His framework moves beyond transactional cost negotiations to create symbiotic relationships focused on innovation, market insights, and long-term value creation. This partnership … EP 36 – Supplier Data as a Compass, Not a Mirror with Aleck Matambo

Kriti Jain, Sr. Director of Indirect Procurement, walked into Lucid Motors to find an indirect procurement function that barely existed — a team in single digits without the infrastructure to support a scaling EV manufacturer competing against established players. Within a year, she built what she calls “indirect procurement 2.0,” growing to nearly 30 people … EP 35 – Lucid Motors’ Kriti Jain on Maximum Chaos Creating the Best Transformation Conditions

LogicSource Board Chairman & Former CFO of Victoria’s Secret, Tim Johnson‘s three-pillar methodology for collaborative cost cultures centers on objective third-party benchmarking, transparent measurement systems, and positioning procurement teams as strategic partners at the decision-making table. His approach consistently delivered results by focusing resources on growth and innovation rather than headcount reduction. His organizational structure … EP 34 – Victoria’s Secret’s Former CFO Tim Johnson on Building a Cost-Centric Culture

Transactional supplier relationships weren’t working out, so Abhijit Kulkarni, Director of Manufacturing Strategy and Procurement at AMD, and his team shifted to identifying “growth partners” who can scale across AMD’s entire product portfolio over three-to-five year horizons. Abhijit also offer insight on crisis management: AMD runs supply chain stress tests every 3 to 6 months, … EP 33 – AMD’s Abhijit Kulkarni on Selecting 5-Year Growth Partners

Duncan Scott, Sr VP of Strategic Sourcing & Quality at New Balance, manages sourcing and quality for a company that introduces thousands of new footwear and apparel products annually, each requiring specialized manufacturing capabilities that generic suppliers cannot provide. His approach rejects commoditization in favor of deep category expertise and multi-decade supplier partnerships. The athletic … EP 32 – New Balance’s Duncan Scott on How Marketing Decisions Reshape Supply Chains

Freya Hurwitz, Director of Procurement at TripAdvisor, manages procurement for TripAdvisor’s 3,500 employees across four global brands with just one and half people on her team. Rather than trying to control every transaction, she built scalable systems that empower stakeholders to handle their own procurement while her team focuses on high-impact negotiations. Freya discusses how … EP 31 – TripAdvisor’s Freya Hurwitz on Cross-Functional Experience vs Category Expertise

Cost avoidance delivers the same strategic value as cost savings, but CFOs often miss this reality when evaluating procurement performance. At JLL, Senior Director, Group Sourcing Lead Brent Kellett has cracked the code on demonstrating total cost of ownership value through cross-functional partnerships that quantify operational efficiencies, energy savings, and service reliability improvements that don’t … EP 30 – JLL’s Brent Kellett on Elevating Procurement Through Trust and Early Engagement

Mark Vierling, Procurement & Supply Chain Leader, makes a simple observation: while fractional COOs, CEOs, and CFOs are common, virtually no one was providing fractional Chief Procurement Officer services to companies that desperately needed them. His embedded approach, which he shares with John, differs from traditional consulting by making fractional leaders part of the client … EP 29 – Procurement & Supply Chain Leader Mark Vierling on the Three P’s of Supply Chain Science