Even in the Dog Days of Summer, Chief Procurement Officers are making news

Apple CEO (and a Former CPO) Celebrates One Year Anniversary in Role

So this is not breaking news, but it is significant. As you’ll recall from last week’s series, Apple thinks differently about procurement and Steve Jobs understood procurement’s importance to Apple’s success. Tomorrow, Tim Cook, a former procurement executive celebrates his one year anniversary as the CEO of the Largest Company in the History of the World. Cook’s move from CPO to CEO is pretty impressive and inspiring. Here’s to thinking differently!

Hitachi Announces New “Group CPO” Strategy

Hitachi, Ltd., a leading global electronics company with approximately 320,000 employees worldwide, announced a new division that will be used to drive the company’s strategic initiative to achieve greater growth in global markets by strengthening its cost competitiveness in all Hitachi Group companies and regions and implementing other corporate structural reforms. The initiative called the “Hitachi Smart Transformation Project” began in fiscal 2011 and has a goal of reducing costs relative to revenue. As part of this new approach, Hitachi will appoint Group CPOs (Chief Procurement Officers) in the Power Systems Group, the Infrastructure Systems Group, and the Information & Telecommunication Systems Group. These Group CPOs will promote global procurement and engineered sourcing aimed at lowering direct materials cost from the perspective of the entire value chain.

Largest US Utility’s Post-Merger Integration Efforts To Be Led by CPO

Jim Rogers, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Duke Energy which became the largest US utility company after its merger with Progress Energy closed last month recently announced that “Lee Mazzocchi has been named to lead our integration efforts and will report directly to me. Lee has demonstrated strong execution skills and leadership abilities, and previously served as Progress’s Chief Procurement Officer. Lee and his team will ensure the organization is keenly focused on achieving the merger benefits.” Mazzocchi has more than 22 years of experience in the electric utility industry. Prior to the Duke Energy/Progress Energy merger in 2012, he served as Vice President of Supply Chain and Chief Procurement Officer for Progress Energy. In this role, he was responsible for Progress Energy’s acquisition of products and services – totaling approximately $3 billion per year.

From Master’s in Procurement to GM to CPO:

Northrop Grumman Corporation has selected Karen A. Williams as Vice President Contracts, Pricing and Supply Chain. Williams will report to James F. Palmer, corporate vice president and chief financial officer. Williams was previously the Vice President and General Manager of the Defense Technologies division which provides end-to-end support systems and services for defense customers. Williams has a Master’s degree in procurement and acquisition management from American University’s Kogod School of Business in Washington, D.C.

Other CPOs, Rising

Webster Bank has announced the hiring of Greg Woods as senior vice president and Chief Procurement Officer. Woods has 15 years of experience in procurement and operations, and previously spent 8 years as director of Tenzing Consulting, LLC and president and founder of Sea Change Enterprises.

Greg replaces “friend of the site,” Anders Lillevik, who recently became the Chief Procurement Officer at Fannie Mae in Washington D.C. Long-time readers my remember that Anders was profiled on CPO Rising two years ago in this article – Lillevik in the Field: Webster Bank’s First CPO.

Unilever Holds First Supplier Summit in South Africa

Marc Engel, Chief Procurement Officer at Unilever who was mentioned in April’s CPO News for his company’s commitment to sustainability is back in these pages again – this time, for Unilever’s first ‘Partner to Win’ Supplier Summit in South Africa, where Unilever hosted 85 of its key suppliers. Not surprisingly, the Summit’s theme was ‘Sustainable Living’, which focused on the importance its supplier partnerships and the crucial role suppliers play in achieving the group’s goals. Said Engel, “The summit allows us to celebrate the unique relationship we have with our suppliers and to cement our commitment to growing our businesses in a mutually beneficial and sustainable way.”

Tagged in: Chief Procurement Officer, CPO, CPO News, CPO Shop Talk, CPOs on the Rise