Kathi Jobkar • Matters arising
Kathi Jobkar is the strategic sourcing manager at Allegheny Technologies Incorporated (ATI) in Pittsburgh. She directs the negotiation and administration of contracts for ATI, and initiates, evaluates and implements strategic sourcing solutions, contract marketing strategies and communication vehicles. Kathi has an MBA from Robert Morris University, and served as President of the Institute for Supply Management – Pittsburgh from 2000–2001.
Richard Porcaro • InterviewRichard Porcaro is head of procurement – Americas at UBS, a global firm providing financial services to private, corporate and institutional clients. Previously, Richard was vice-president of strategic sourcing at AllianceBernstein, where he led IT, administrative services and HR sourcing, and a Procurement Centre of Excellence. His procurement career began at Lucent Technologies, where he was a member of a team that won Purchasing magazine’s Medal of Excellence award.
Eric Walsworth • Meeting FinanceEric Walsworth is a procurement finance consultant at publishing giant Reed Elsevier, and a founding member of its Global Procurement Management Team (GPMT). Prior to joining Reed Elsevier’s GPMT, Eric was with Booz Allen Hamilton’s (now Booz & Co) sourcing design team, and Archstone Consulting, where he managed strategic sourcing and operational efficiency client engagements.
David Yungbluth • Meeting FinanceDavid Yungbluth is also a procurement finance consultant at Reed Elsevier, and founding member of its GPMT. His and Eric Walworth’s efforts to bridge the gap between procurement and finance have been a key factor in the transformation of the company’s procurement function. David joined the GPMT after working in a number of diverse finance roles at LexisNexis, a division of Reed Elsevier.
Patrick Dunne • Procurement predictions
Patrick Dunne joined Alliance Boots in February 2008 as group procurement director following the merger between Alliance UniChem and high-street retailer Boots The Chemist in 2007. His role has been to lead a programme of procurement-led business change across the group, challenging the traditional role of the procurement function. He was recently appointed group procurement and property director, and began his career at Nissan Motor Company.
Patrick started his career at the Nissan Motor Company where he gained international purchasing experience, but he has also worked for furniture retailer MFI. Prior to joining Alliance Boots he was chief operating officer for Howden Kitchens Limited, part of Galiform.
Ian Russell • Procurement predictions
Ian Russell is head of SABMiller, looking after the commercial management of all the supply chains that support the South African breweries business. He previously worked in numerous roles at Absa, including chief procurement officer, chief administration officer, and group integration director. In the early 2000s he worked at Barclays, where he and his team led a series of ground-breaking outsourcing/co-sourcing deals which changed the way that financial services’ back-office functions were viewed and run.
