Leeds, England, United Kingdom
I have a proven track record of delivering commercial solutions in a variety of industries and sectors whilst creating significant savings and efficiencies forging lasting commercial relationships in the process.
Reporting to the Director of Procurement, I am the commercial lead within the Transformation Office, leading on all procurement, contract and supplier management activity. I am operating across a range of ambitious change programmes which include the transformation of large and complex embedded IT solutions aimed at improving the digital maturity and capabilities across the organisation.
Managing a £150M category I led a team of eight commercial managers and officers, the commercial category team for services at the West Yorkshire Combined Authority covers all commercial activity across a range of categories of spend including: ICT, transport, adult education, consultancy, finance, and HR. As part of this role I operated as the commercial lead for bus reform for the combined authority starting the process of bringing buses back under public control.
This role focused on managing a the ICT and Transport category team. Along with many other projects; during my time in this role I managed and project led the procurement of a £2M finance and HR (ERP) solution, including appointing an implementation partner within 12 months, on time and on budget. Following the success of this role I was then asked to manage the wider professional services portfolio. In this role I sourced a £20M revenue generating investment business accelerator fund which provides debt and equity investment into high growth SMEs in West Yorkshire, the first of its kind for the Combined Authority.
During my time as a senior consultant at Proxima, I gained experience of working with a range of clients, from a wide spectrum of industries and categories both in the UK and in the US. This included working on the re-implementation of an ERP system at the UK's largest airport and operating as the global IT category manager for the world's second largest glass manufacturer of glass containers. Utilising my commercial experience to drive savings whilst building strategic commercial relationships on behalf of our clients.
TransUnion is one of three credit reference agencies in the UK and operates as an FCA accredited organisation. Joining the team; I was targeted to achieve significant savings, one which I was able to rise to and surpass. Whilst delivering savings was a primary target for TU, enhancing the image of the procurement team was of paramount importance, changing the perception of procurement within the business to being a strategic business function.
Following the success of my previous role I was promoted. I operated as the ICT Category Manager for North Yorkshire County Council. I was responsible for all ICT purchases across the Authority, with an annual ICT spend of around £10 million.
Having successfully applied for the North Yorkshire County Council Graduate Scheme; I was appointed as a Procurement and Commercial Services Officer. In this role I operated in two of the council Directorates; Central Services and Business Environmental Services. Working in a role that is split between two directorates allowed for working in a diverse range of procurements and projects.