Nisreen Bagasra is the Chief Procurement Officer for Veolia North America (VNA) and leads its procurement organization to maximize value and mitigate risk across the company’s supply base, for both direct and indirect spend categories. Nisreen’s team is responsible for managing national suppliers, strategic sourcing, contract negotiations, and compliance to purchasing policies and processes. Her team is also responsible for VNA’s travel, fleet, and purchasing card programs. Nisreen and her team work with Veolia’s Paris headquarters to implement global agreements in North America. She also has a seat at Veolia’s global executive procurement counsel, which is responsible for strategic decisions on global spend categories.

Nisreen will participate in the CPO Panel Discussion on Day 1 of CPO Rising 2019. I had the chance to catch up with Nisreen ahead of the event and learn more about her, her role, and what excites her about procurement.

Matthew York: Tell us a bit about your background – education and early career. How did you get started in procurement?

Nisreen Bagasra: I grew up in Mumbai, India, and came to the United States to pursue an MBA at Babson College in Wellesley, Mass. Upon graduating, I took a position as a consultant at Coopers & Lybrand and then joined Thermal Electron, where I developed a passion for procurement as an E-Sourcing Manager, running online reverse auctions and generating double digit savings for the company. Last year, I joined Veolia North America as Chief Procurement Officer — the first woman ever to hold the position within the company. In my role, I lead VNA’s procurement organization to maximize value and mitigate risk across the company’s supply base. My team manages national suppliers, strategic sourcing, contract negotiations and compliance of purchasing policies and processes. We are also responsible for VNA’s travel, fleet and purchasing card programs.

MY: What are you and your team focused on over the next 12-18 months?

NB: Veolia North America is at a pivotal point in its procurement journey. As a company, we have a solid foundation in place, and now we are in the process of building up the rest of the house. We are building a centralized team of sourcing experts in MRO, Chemicals, Waste Disposal, Temp Labor, Fleet, Facilities, and Technical products that can be leveraged across our 3 lines of business – Water, Waste, and Energy. Our focus is on simplifying processes and using technology to make it easy for our stakeholders to acquire the products and services needed to run their business efficiently, consistently, and competitively. We want to create an Amazon like experience for our diverse and widespread locations, for all their supply needs.

MY: What are some of the major changes that you’ve witnessed in the profession?

NB: One of the biggest changes I have seen within the profession is the increasing importance that company leaders are placing on procurement. Organizations no longer look at us as simply responsible for compliance functions and for putting controls in place, but also for delivering greater value through innovative and operational synergies. Chief Procurement Officers increasingly have a seat at the executive table. Ten years ago, you didn’t see that so much.

MY: What gets you excited about the future of procurement?

NB: What makes me excited about the future of procurement is the ability we have to make more happen with less by automating transactional purchasing using technology (Artificial intelligence and business intelligence) and leveraging data to provide us with greater insights into the supply chain. We are becoming much more pro-active in engaging early with our stakeholders in the capacity of a trusted advisor, and as the technologies continue to evolve, it’s going to be a big game-changer for our profession.

MY: That’s awesome, Nisreen — thanks so much and looking forward to seeing you later this month.

NB: Likewise, Matthew.

Tagged in: Ardent Team, Chief Procurement Officer, CPO, CPO Rising Summit, CPO Shop Talk, CPOs on the Rise, Events, Innovation, People, Process, Sourcing, Strategy, Technology, Transformation