At Fairmarkit, we’re passionate about revolutionizing procurement and celebrate leaders who are driving innovation and leveraging technology to make an impact on their companies. As we round out Women’s History Month 2021, we want to recognize 10 women that we believe are redefining the role procurement plays across organizations and sectors. These women are challenging the status quo and pushing forward initiatives to position procurement as a strategic partner in navigating evolving business dynamics. Pay attention to what these leading women are up to throughout 2021 and beyond!
1. Natasha Gurevich
Natasha Gurevich recently joined Nike as Chief Procurement Officer after spending three years at Salesforce as Vice President of Global Procurement. The earliest years of Natasha’s career were spent in her home country of Russia where she actually founded a school to educate young adults looking for work with foreign businesses in the post-Soviet era. Natasha immigrated to the San Francisco Bay area at age 27, and secured her first job in procurement, ultimately leading to her current role at Nike. Natasha has emphasized the role mentorship has played throughout her career, and encourages others to elevate the next generation of procurement leaders.
2. Karmetria Burton
“Digitization will elevate diverse suppliers to be more competitive with the overall supplier ecosystem,” says Karmetria Burton, General Manager of Global Corporate Supplier Diversity and Inclusion at Delta Airlines. Karmetria has spent 20 years championing supplier diversity strategies at organizations including BellSouth International and InterContinental Hotels Group prior to joining Delta. Karmetria values forming internal alliances to drive forward this critical role of procurement.
3. Patricia Moser
Patricia Moser is a truly global procurement leader with experiences spanning from Canada to Copenhagen. Patricia was the Chief Procurement Officer at UNOPS, a United Nations organization that offers infrastructure, project management, and procurement services to drive sustainable development. She has since returned full-time to her consultancy where she applies her deep expertise in supply chain and procurement to help organizations build their operational excellence and resilience. Patricia was recognized as a ‘Pro to Know’ by Supply & Demand Chain Executive earlier this year.
4. Nancy Nicoll
Nancy Nicoll is a 20+ year procurement veteran and the Vice President of Not-for-Resale/Indirect Sourcing at Retail Business Services. Nancy’s depth of experience has given her exposure to the changing dynamics of procurement and has fostered a belief that diversity is key to building the strongest possible procurement functions. “Done right, procurement and sourcing will drive a significant competitive advantage for organizations. Looking at the procurement model without a new perspective, becomes a competitive disadvantage,” Nancy believes. Outside of her day-to-day, Nancy often speaks at events like ProcureCon East.
5. Joselina Peralta
Joselina Peralta is currently the Vice President of Global Supply Chain and Procurement Operations at Troy Corporation, and has 22 years of experience in the consumer products, chemicals, and pharmaceutical industries. Her career has been spent delivering multi-million dollar cost-savings while optimizing for productivity and strong stakeholder engagement. Joselina was honored as part of Supply Chain Digital’s Top 100 Women in Supply Chain 2021. She also spends time outside of work serving on the executive board of a nonprofit organization that provides essential services to expectant mothers, which we loved to see in honor of Women’s History Month!
6. Sylvie Noel
Sylvie Noel is the Chief Procurement Officer at Covéa Group, a role she has held for nearly a decade. Some of her accomplishments at Covéa include leading a complete overhaul of Covéa Group’s purchasing process, including new systems implementations and a change effort involving new manager priorities, procedures, and compliance. When asked how procurement can effectively expand their influence in their organization, Sylvie urges leaders to “think business first.”
7. Mary Beth Lang
Mary Beth Lang is the Chief Supply Chain and Procurement Officer at Kaiser Permanente. In a recent Art of Procurement podcast, Mary Beth shared how procurement teams can play an active and important role in supporting corporate social responsibility and diversity initiatives. As part of Kaiser Permanente’s pandemic response, Mary Beth’s team paid special attention to small and diverse suppliers who had to temporarily pause their business with the managed care consortium. Under Mary Beth’s leadership, the team created a toolkit for these suppliers to help them access small business loans and to ensure that the suppliers were ready to reenter with Kaiser Permanente when the time came. In 2020 alone, Mary Beth’s team drove more than $2B in spend to diverse and small businesses.
8. Melissa Drew
Melissa Drew is the Director of Cloud Procurement at PwC and has nearly 30 years of experience of combined procurement industry and consulting experience. Melissa is passionate about redefining success in procurement through digital transformation. She has been recognized for multiple industry awards, serves as an instructor for the Institute for Supply Chain, and was recently recognized by Thinkers360 as a top B2B thought leader to follow in 2021.
9. Jessica Rosman
Jessica Rosman is the Vice President of Procurement and Sourcing at Caesars Entertainment, Inc. She has been with the company for over a decade and has climbed the ranks to her current position where she is responsible for major initiatives like technology strategy and sourcing category analytics. Beyond that, Jessica has led work at the intersection of supplier diversity and sustainability, and recently spoke at this year’s ProcureCon Indirect Connect Virtual Event.
10. Shachi Rai Gupta
Shachi Rai Gupta is the Global Head of Strategy, Analytics and Digital Transformation for Bristol Myers Squibb’s Strategic Sourcing and Procurement function. At BMS, Shachi spearheads strategic portfolio management and digital transformation to build best-in-class procurement capabilities. When asked what transformation means to her, Shachi defines transformation as “a process of conscious evolution. The pursuit of growth and evolution is a common theme, which is deeply embedded in my personal and professional journey so far.” On top of her day job where she manages $12B in global spend, Shachi is also a Sustainable Procurement Ambassador.
