After a slightly longer than expected break, our CPOs on the Rise in 2011 series ramps back up this month and will go “full throttle” over the summer. We have a long way to go with this series and I get very excited just thinking about all of the great stories from some big name CPOs that we will soon share. One great story from a Chief Procurement Officer who will soon be a very big name is our focus today –

In many ways, Eric Beylier epitomizes the new generation of procurement leaders which expects that procurement leadership will operate at the highest levels of an enterprise. Young (40s) and talented (and a “friend of the site”), Eric has an entrepreneurial background, dual Masters Degrees in Engineering and Finance, and extensive consulting and business development experience. Not afraid of change, and always looking forward to new challenges, Eric decided he would pursue a career in supply chain & procurement, and joined TETRA Technologies, Inc. in 2007, a NYSE publicly-traded and geographically-diversified oil and gas services company. Matching a drive to build and transform, with a true passion for supply chain & procurement, he joined a back office purchasing department that reported into finance – several levels below the CFO – and in less than four years led an organizational transformation, became the Head of Global Supply Chain & Procurement (CPO), and now, reports directly to the CEO.

The results stem from a view that Eric shared with the CEO, CFO and the five divisions heads that “if you need tangible and sustainable results fairly rapidly, the most symbolic way to empower a supply chain & procurement function is to give it a seat at the senior executive table”. He reasoned that “if I am not at the table with all senior executives along with the CEO, noone will take supply chain & procurement as seriously, as it needs to be provided current cost pressures and suppliers management concerns”. Fortunately he came into a company with a CEO that took a progressive (and in our opinion, the correct) view of the opportunities that exist for supply chain & procurement.

Executing and Selling

When Eric joined Tetra, he joined as the director of a “purchasing” organization that was operating several levels below the executive tier and the CFO. The team had limited tools, nothing automated, and the term “strategic sourcing” was not known. Eric began by focusing on the opportunities within his organization. To start, he focused on transactional procurement and quickly added some eProcurement. The new approvals and basic processes that were established as part of the deployment became accepted and appreciated. Next, he introduced strategic sourcing to the company, and focused on spend analysis and supplier performance to early adopters within the businesses. The first few opportunities were a huge success with very tangible results. Slowly, the sourcing program started to smolder and catch fire. While savings were identified, Eric kept the team focused on the larger goal of value creation and long term innovative relationships with suppliers. As the team began to execute, he also focused on improving the overall capabilities of the staff, paid for additional education, training and certifications.

As Eric began working on the many opportunities for performance improvement within the team, he also began to work on organizational realignment. When the time was right, he began to make the case that supply chain & procurement should report to the CEO. The CEO was open to Eric’s vision and requested a clear plan showing how it would work from a people, processes, tools and financial returns standpoint. As a result, Eric became VP and head of TETRA’s supply chain & procurement department.

Next time, we’ll see that at Tetra, “with power comes real responsibility.” We will also discuss a very specific (and exciting) 2011 performance target that Eric’s CEO assigned to him and his department.

Tagged in: Case Study, CEO, Chief Procurement Officer, CPO, CPOs on the Rise