Welcome to week three of our series, CPOs on the Rise in 2011, that is focused on highlighting different procurement executives and the strategies and approaches they will take (and have taken) in leading their organizations forward in 2011.

Today we profile John Sorci, VP, Global Operations at Symantec Corporation. Symantec provides security, storage and systems management solutions to help its customers secure and manage their information. With more than 18,500 employees in more than 40 countries, Symantec has become one of the largest software companies in the world. Symantec has more than 120 million consumer users and 110 million enterprise customers.

At this early point in the article, I am certain that many readers have noted that a “VP of Global Operations” title sounds more like a COO role instead of a Chief Procurement Officer role (COORising? anyone? anyone?). Those who did are 100% correct. John is Symantec’s de facto COO (Symantec generally eschews CXO titles). But, John wears many hats as a Symantec executive and has the responsibility for four global functions: Procurement, Supply Chain (which includes manufacturing and distribution of all products), Corporate Travel, and Trade Compliance.  So, while John’s operational focus is much broader than a traditional Chief Procurement Officer, the long and short of it is that he functions as Symantec’s CPO. Here is how he explains it:

“I am responsible globally for Procurement, Travel, Trade Compliance and Supply Chain. The complexity of these diverse functions provides an opportunity to work with the key stakeholders in our BUs and infrastructure functions to drive down costs, improve process flows, and have a significant impact on our internal customer satisfaction.” John Sorci, VP, Global Operations, Symantec Corporation

This larger operational role places John at the vanguard of CPO career trends. We have previously discussed and predicted (see prediction #1) that many of today’s leading CPOs will move into roles that command greater responsibility and control. John has done exactly that. We will start by reviewing the three “other” hats that John wears:

HAT #1 – Supply Chain: John’s Supply Chain team oversees the creation, manufacture, and distribution of Symantec’s products, which, in the retail software industry, are all critically important functions. John’s team is focused on “managing an efficient and effective supply chain” by keeping inventory levels low and developing innovative and new distribution models. Every fall, John’s team is responsible for clearing out the channel for the new line of products.

Hat #2 – Trade Compliance: As one of the largest and fastest growing software companies in the world with offices, customers, and suppliers globally distributed, international trade at Symantec has become increasingly complex. In 2009, John picked up the responsibility for Trade Compliance at Symantec which means that he is ultimately responsible for ensuring that the export and import of Symantec’s products are compliant with all applicable export, import and trade compliance laws in all countries that Symantec does business and the internal controls to manage trade compliance are sufficient.

Hat #3 – Corporate Travel: Here too John sits at the vanguard managing the active convergence of travel and procurement. Symantec utilizes American Express as its global TMC while Genpact oversees its corporate card program. One recent initiative that John has focused on within the travel category is the management of strategic meetings, a surprisingly large sub-category of spend for most enterprises.

Next time, we’ll look at John’s “top” hat: procurement

Tagged in: Case Study, Chief Procurement Officer, CPO, CPOs on the Rise, From CPO to..., People, Strategy