Welcome to the Spring edition of CPO News! Over the past couple months there have been some higher-profile appointments and promotions that occurred in the procurement world, and we wanted to highlight them this morning. So grab yourself a hot cup of coffee and get caught up.

Got any procurement news to share? Drop us a line at editor at cporising dot com. Thanks, and enjoy!

Tom Linton Joins Resilinc Leadership Advisory Board

A special congratulations to CPO Rising Hall of Fame Class of 2017 inductee, Tom Linton who was recently appointed to lead the executive advisory board at Resilinc. Resilinc is the leading provider of AI-based supply chain data monitoring, mitigation and risk analytics solutions and is headquartered in Silicon Valley with more than 150 employees. Resilinc tracks disruptions in the supply chain for millions of parts and hundreds of thousands of suppliers around the globe.

Tom Linton holds nearly 40 years of procurement experience and expertise across multiple geographies. He is an evangelist for center-led procurement structures, and, over the past four decades, has become a “go-to” procurement leader for numerous business and academic advisory boards. Tom is the founder of a procurement and supply chain software solution E2Open, has served as IBM’s CPO for global hardware procurement, and previously served as the CPO of Flex, one of the world’s largest electronics manufacturers. He is also the co-author of the book, “The Living Supply Chain,” which details how supply chains adjust and evolve in ways similar to how the natural world behaves.

Tom Linton (CPO Rising Hall of Famer) joins Sierra Wireless Board of Directors

It was also announced that Sierra Wireless (NASDAQ: SWIR) (TSX: SW), a leading IoT solutions provider that combines devices, network services and software has appointed Tom Linton to its Board of Directors. Sierra Wireless has more than 1,300 employees globally and operates R&D centers in North America, Europe and Asia. In connection to its upcoming Annual and Special Meeting with Shareholders, Sierra Wireless recommended to its shareholders that they consider and, if deemed appropriate, pass a special resolution authorizing the Company to amend its articles to increase the maximum number of directors of the Company from nine to twelve.

In 2019, Tom Linton was honored with the Institute of Supply Management’s prestigious J. Shipman Gold Medal. Linton has served on the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Mobility and currently serves as an advisory board member for a number of institutions of higher learning, including the MIT Center for Transportation and Logistics, as well as on several boards in the electronics hardware supply chain.

Kimblery-Clark Corporation Names New Chief Supply Chain Officer

Kimberly-Clark Corporation (NYSE: KMB) recently announced that Gustavo Ghory has been named Senior Vice President and Chief Supply Chain Officer, effective July 1, 2020. Ghory joins Kimberly-Clark with more than 35 years of deep experience within the consumer products goods industry, spanning several key senior leadership roles at Procter and Gamble and most recently at SmarterChains, a technology leader focused on creating agile manufacturing operations for manufacturers around the world. At Kimberly-Clark Ghory will be responsible for global procurement, manufacturing, transportation, continuous improvement, sustainability, and quality, safety and regulatory operations.

Advanced Concepts and Technologies International Names Angel Hunt Director of Procurement

Last month, Advanced Concepts and Technologies International, LLC (ACT I) announced the promotion of Angel Hunt to Director of Procurement. For the last two years as Senior Manager of Contracts, Hunt helped oversee the company’s contracting efforts. In her new role, Hunt will lead the company’s purchasing system, ensuring efficient, effective and compliant management of suppliers and vendors. Prior to joining ACT I, Hunt worked at Lockheed Martin and Hewlett Packard. ACT I is a leading acquisition management firm that provides solutions for four customer sets: the Defense Department, federal agencies (including the Homeland Security Department), the space and intelligence community, the allied international community (Japan, Korea and Israel) and international cooperation programs.

Ann Ackerson Named Chief Procurement Officer for BAE Systems

In April, it was announced that BAE Systems Inc. had named Ann Ackerson its global Chief Procurement Officer (CPO), effective May 4. Ackerson will lead the company’s global supply chain strategy to maximize the purchasing power of the global enterprise. Ackerson has more than 30 years of experience in procurement and supply chain management spanning a range of industries. Most recently, Ackerson served as the senior vice president of Global Supply Chain Management for Freeman, leading the global supply chain function for the company, and included strategic procurement, distribution and warehousing, inventory supply planning, transportation, and sustainability. Prior to her role at Freeman, Ackerson was the CPO and vice president of Supply Chain Management at Dresser-Rand.

Sweetgreen Names Former Starbucks Executive to COO Role

Sweetgreen, the Los Angeles-based fast-casual restaurant specializing in salads, recently hired Chris Carr as its new Chief Operations Officer. Sweetgreen, which has over 97 company stores, invested $150 million in technology to expand its outpost locations and add native delivery in 2019. Carr had previously held the role of EVP and CPO for Starbucks and was tasked with shaping the coffee chain’s supplier base spend. Carr was responsible for strategic planning, annual operations, market planning and sales for 6,500 licensed stores. Before taking the job at Starbucks Carr worked at ExxonMobil.

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