Michael Aldwel
Managing Director New Zealand
Kuehne + Nagel
Michael is responsible for the overall direction and strategy of the organization in New Zealand business. Michael has 10 years’ experience in the Global Supply Chain environment in a variety of roles including general management, operations and supply chain, sales and account management.
Prior to his appointments in Australasia, Michael headed Seafreight business units on the North East and West Coasts of the United States; driving several large scale change and growth initiatives. Michael’s extensive experience in Global Corporate Account Management includes consultation for major Fortune 500 Companies; establishing global supply chain infrastructure across broad geographies. Michael is considered an authority in Supply Chain Management.
Barbara Allen
Senior Lecturer
Victoria University Wellington
Dr Barbara Allen is Senior Lecturer in Public Management at the School of Government, Victoria University Wellington. Building on her experience as a Canadian Air Force Logistics Officer and a Transportation Company Operations Manager, Barbara went on to complete an MBA and a PhD in Public Policy(Carleton, Canada). She held academic positions at the University of Birmingham, Warwick Business School and the University of Nottingham.
Barbara is passionate about understanding and comparing procurement systems with a view to improving policy, management and strategies involved in buying and contracting. Barbara has advised pharmaceutical company Sanofi Pasteur on vaccine procurement, spoken to the OECD on e-procurement, worked in Uganda on procurement issues and worked intensively with large and small UK local governments on their procurement strategy. She brings a comprehensive understanding of procurement policy and management, with the skills to implement change programmes.
One of Barbara’s goals is to ensure the procurement profession is well provided with educated graduates who have excellent knowledge of procurement and the enthusiasm to ensure procurement is at the ‘top table’ in every major organisational decision.
Paula Alkema
Director of Commercial Services
New Zealand Transport Agency
Catherine Beard
Head of Export NZ & Manufacturers NZ
Business New Zealand Group
Catherine Beard is Executive Director of Export NZ and ManufacturingNZ, divisions of BusinessNZ, New Zealand’s largest business advocacy group, representing thousands of businesses of all sizes.
Catherine Beard works with government and other key decision makers on issues of concern to exporters and manufacturers. Catherine is on a Procurement Business Reference Group for the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment, representing the views of business with the aim of making it easier for suppliers to work with Government.
Catherine has worked as advocate for industries in the agricultural and insurance sectors, and on climate change issues for the energy intensive sector.
Catherine is a member of the Board of global standards organisation GS1 and is director of a business designing and manufacturing children’s nursery furniture, for which two products won national design awards.
Mike Blanchard
Deputy Chief Executive, Operations Directorate
Tertiary Education Commission
Mike is currently Deputy Chief Executive Operations (COO) for the Tertiary Education commission in New Zealand. His Team deliveres the Funding, Investement and Monitoring of providers within the Teriary Education sector. He is an experienced senior executive manager and leader holding strategic leadership roles with P&L responsibility at an early age. Hew has substantive experience and knowledge ranging from People, Commercial, Legal and Contract management, Governance & Risk, Engineering, Customer Services, Marketing, Project and Product management; a Managing Director growing a start-up businesses that reported to chairman and board to extensive senior executive management experience in multiple large complex organisations as divisional manager of in country multi-national customer centric companies.
His key skills include substantial experience in creation and execution of strategy through change management and reform (transformation) building sustainable high achieving People centric organisations in Engineering, Sales, Marketing, Customer Delivery / Service and Procurement and Commercial functions. As a (FCIPS), he has a passion and deep understanding of procurement. Worked for organisations as the procurement lead in both Australia and New Zealand driving culture changes through people capbility development in a holistic approach.
He was a procurement practioner through his previoues roles as CPO of Sydney Trains and Transpower New Zealand and is am passionate about people.From the age of 24 he has led teams in various sizes and countries around the world comrpising; U.K, Norway, Sweden, New Zealand and Australia and as an IRB Rugby Coach and and Executive Business Coach help individuals meet their goals and asperations.
Caroline Boot
Director, Clever Buying
Associate of Connexis ITO
Since 1998, Caroline has been heavily engaged in improving tendering practices, for both clients and suppliers across the Asia-Pacific region and beyond.
She is a qualified assessor and key contributor to the new NZQA Level Six Procurement Qualification for certified tender evaluators.
In 2010, she developed and implemented ‘Clever Buying’, a practical and inspirational two-day training course that’s been successfully delivered to over 600 procurement practitioners in NZ public sector organisations.
Caroline is an award-winning writer and speaker, who’s passionate about helping organisations to sharpen their procurement tools and processes to deliver better value for money.
Chris Browne
Chief Procurement Officer
World Bank
Christopher M. Browne is the Chief Procurement Officer at the World Bank, where he leads procurement covering more than $42 billion in 172 countries, and an ambitious program to reform the Bank's procurement policy and procedures. Before joining the World Bank in 2012, he was Director of the Commercial Solutions Branch in the Ministry of Economic Development of New Zealand, delivering a reform that produced $360 million in true cost out savings to date and has transformed the reputation of the function, built capability and is readying for expansion. As Emergency Procurement Manager, he led New Zealand's procurement response to the Christchurch Earthquake, developing and implementing a $3 billion emergency construction and repair project that was tendered and negotiated in less than 8 days. He was Chief Advisor to the Ministry's procurement reform from 2009 to 2011 and Procurement Strategy Manager in the United Kingdom's Environment Agency from 2000 to 2008.
Chris Browne is acknowledged as an international expert in sustainable procurement and was Advisor to the United Nations Marrakesh Task Force on Sustainable Public Procurement from 2006 to 2011. Recognized as Leader in Procurement, Chris Browne was named Procurement Professional of the Year 2011/12 by the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply Australasia (CIPSA). The New Zealand Government Procurement Reform Programme, led by him, won three CIPSA awards in 2010.
Sebastian Chua
Head of Procurement
Singapore Ministry of Health
Sebastian Chua has accumulated 20 over years of procurement experience within the Indirect Procurement & Project Sourcing domains and held several regional and country positions in Asia Pacific.
Sebastian started his procurement career with Hewlett Packard as their Country Manager for India, Singapore, Thailand & Philippines before he took on the portfolio as the Regional Procurement Manager. Sebastian then moved on to join Microsoft & Alcatel Lucent as Head of Procurement to transform their procurement organization in Asia Pacific region.
In 2014, Sebastian Chua took on a new challenge to accept the opportunity to transform the public procurement practices at Health Promotion Board (HPB), a statutory board under the Ministry of Health. He reports to CEO, HPB in his current role as Head of Procurement.
His Procurement Paper at HPB "Transformative THINKING. Transformative DOING" was shortlisted for publication at The Journal of Public Procurement (JoPP) in the USA. He was also nominated for numerous awards at the World Procurement Congress (UK), ProcureCon EPIC Awards (USA), CPO Award by The Faculty (Australia) in recognition of his procurement leadership.
Sebastian is an industry speaker for the MBAs at the NUS Business School, The Logistics Institute – Asia Pacific and Nanyang Business School.
Tod Cooper
General Manager
MDA Corporation and NZ CIPS Committee Chair
Tod is the CIPS National Chair and Chief Procurement Officer for W2, a shared services function established by Whitireia and WelTec tertiary institutions under a Strategic Partnership. Tod has been involved in commercial and operational leadership and advisory roles for the past 20 years, with the two most recent roles having a significant strategic procurement transformation focus.
Prior to his current role Tod has held senior positions across both public and private sector in both sales, procurement and business leadership and development, cementing himself as a key trusted advisor. It is fair to say Tod has seen the good, the bad, and the ugly from the perspectives of both a procurement practitioner and a supplier. Tod’s career began in in the mid 90’s with a sales and marketing role within a private defence contractor, a role which would eventually lead to an 8-year diplomatic career including a diplomatic posting with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Passionate about what a modern procurement function can offer a business in terms of practical and strategic business advice and support. Tod considers himself a procurement “champion”.
Sarah Cotgreave
Divisional Manager, Procurement
New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade
Sarah began her career in UK defence contracting. She then negotiated and managed national contracts for energy generation and distribution before working in global media at Reuters as a procurement manager. Sarah went on to lead regional or global Procurement teams in financial services organisations such as Salomon Smith Barney, GE Life and Barclays International. From 2004-7 Sarah worked in the UK central procurement agency and the government’s Transformation Team rolling out e-procurement, e-government and shared services across the public sector.
After working in the UK, Sarah provided consulting and training to governments and businesses in Asia and Pacific before working at the Asian Development Bank increasing the capacity of staff and partner governments in procurement, PPPs and project management. At the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Sarah has led commercial management of corporate procurement and for the New Zealand Aid Programme.
Jonathan Dutton
Director
JD Consultancy
Jonathon Dutton was the founding Managing Director of CIPS Australasia for over eight years up until February 2013. He was responsible for all aspects of CIPS activities as the global peak body for professional procurement & supply management in the region. He represented the profession and its standards to the highest levels of business and government. As a former qualified procurement manager himself, as well as sales manager turned marketing director, Jonathan can easily draw on experiences from both sides of the negotiating table. Jonathan has worked in senior positions for British Airways, QANTAS, Regus & CHUBB, and is a fellow of four institutes covering procurement, marketing, management and the royal society of arts. He is also a graduate diploma member of the institute of company directors, and has a degree in economics with accountancy and business law.
Jonathan is married with two young children and lives in Melbourne, and can be reached easily through LINKED IN or his website.
Sam Fowler
Senior Strategic Procurement Manager
Ministry of Education
Sam Fowler is the Ministry’s Category Leader for Construction and was the Project Director for their third Public Private Partnership. Before arriving in New Zealand at the end of 2013, Sam was Head of Regeneration – Capital Projects for the London Borough of Southwark, leading project delivery across the Borough’s regeneration activities and was Project Director for their Building Schools for the Future programme.
Jean-Louis Haie
Head Australian Delegation
ISO20400 Sustainable Procurement Project
Jean-Louis is the co-founder and Managing Director of Action Sustainability and Planet Procurement. He is a passionate sustainable supply chain and social procurement advisor and trainer with 10 years of international experience in Europe, Australia and Hong Kong. For the past 4 years, Jean-Louis has been leading Australia on the project of ISO20400, the first international guidance standard on sustainable procurement, which was published on 20 April 2017.
Rob Halsall
Head of Procurement
Westpac NZ
Over 20 years domestic and international strategic procurement experience within Automotive Chemicals, Aerospace, Telecommunications, Tertiary and Financial Services organisations. Providing leadership in business strategy, commercial project delivery and end-to-end procurement services. This includes category management, strategic sourcing and integrated supply chain management
Sara Hay
Head of Financial Transactions
Auckland Council
Sara was awarded the 2016 New Zealand Procurement Leader of the Year by the Procurement Excellence Forum for her role as General Manager of Procurement at Auckland Council. Sara is now the Head of Financial Transactions at Council which is the largest council in Australasia, with a $3 billion annual budget, $29 billion of ratepayer equity, and approximately 8,000 staff. Prior to this role Sara was the General Manager of Commercial Services at the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment (MBIE) in New Zealand. MBIE is the agency responsible for New Zealand’s economic development and comprises a broad range of functions including immigration, infrastructure and resource management, science, skills and innovation, labour and commercial environments and market services. Before this Sara has had 14 years’ experience in both public and private sector procurement and commercial roles including heading the Corporate Procurement and Property function at the Accident Compensation Corporation and running the Wellington Regional branch of New Era IT, a company that provides complete ICT solutions to the education sector.
Philip Healy
General Manager, Facilities and Asset Management
Counties Manukau Health
Mr Healy has a proven academic and professional background with deep competences across multiple professional fields and is professionally respected at an international level. Prior to returning to New Zealand Mr Healy obtained approximately twenty years’ experience as an interim Global or Region Director, Executive Manager or Head of Function, undertaking substantive organisational reforms for a diverse array of globally recognised large international, multi-national blue chip organisations or governmental institutions. A Chartered Fellow of the Procurement and Supply Chain Institute, he is also a Chartered Fellow of the Institute of Management a Chartered Arbitrator and Royal Chartered Surveyor Board Member. Mr Healy currently resides on the Oceania and Global Board(s) and/or Professional Groups for of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyor’s and previously as a Regional Director for BP, held a seat on the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply Chain Management Global Leadership Council.
Mr Healy has led multiple multibillion dollar national and major infrastructure capital programmes, delivered transformational institutional reforms, overseen notable business re-engineering initiatives, gaining extensive experience of international best practices. Procurement related examples include, Regional Directorship BP, Vice President Credit Suisse Transformation Manager (Properties and Asset Management) Barclays Global, Global Infrastructure Director, Cable and Wireless, Organisational Development Manager(ASTAD) Qatar Petroleum.
Mr Healy has recently taken up a wide ranging General Management role with Counties Manukua Health Board (CMDHB), which involves leading the procurement function and engaging in the Health Alliance Procurement Transformation, regional delivery involvement in Health Board, Regional Long Term Investment Planning (Asset Management ) framework (RLTIP) under Treasuries Investor Confidence Rating( ICR). CMDHB is deemed an investment intensive Government Agency and currently one of only four Government Agencies in New Zealand to achieve an A Grade ICR.
Paul Howard
Director Commercial Services
New Zealand Department of Defence
Paul started work for the UK Civil Service in 1982 and spent the early part of his career administering benefits in the Benefits Agency. He also worked for the Child Support Agency before moving into more project orientated roles.
In 1995, Paul joined the procurement organisation of the Benefits Agency and worked on a national catering outsourcing initiative before delivering a transformational change programme for the procurement function.
Since then, Paul has led many large strategic procurements, programmes and projects securing efficiencies of over $200m in total including delivering the award winning UK Schools Recruitment Service, the 1st World War One Commemoration event in Belgium and the TFM contract for NZ Immigration’s brand new refugee resettlement centre which is due to open in July 2016.
Paul has also been a key advocate of the use of eProcurement systems and was a key player in the development and use of eAuctions and eSourcing systems across the whole of the UK public Sector. Paul has worked for HM Revenue & Customs, OGC, UK Police, UK Department for Education and was Head of Procurement for the UK Department for Culture Media and Sport before emmigrating to New Zealand in early 2015.
Paul was awarded CIPS Fellowship in early 2013 and is committed to both his own development and development of the procurement and supply community.
Paul became Director, Commercial Services for the New Zealand Defence Force in November 2015 and leads a team of over 100 people providing centralised commercial services across the NZDF.
Mark Lamb
General Manager Asia Pacific
CIPS
Mark is an executive manager who thrives when working in a team environment. His goal is to apply the expertise of CIPS along with his own passion for excellence in order to professionalise their people and systems and as a result, improve and grow their organisations.
He has worked across various industries for more than 25 years in various management roles, both locally and globally, with a range of experiences in different environments including procurement. Originally in banking, he transitioned to more broadly based financial services focusing initially on insurance and risk management. He has held a number of strategy and consulting roles, especially in relation to key areas such as leadership and team building, with proven business, strategy and operation skills. Much of his consulting was focused on the areas of professionalism - quality improvement and change management – both internally and externally. He has assisted many organisations to transition into new strategies and methodologies.
Many years of management consulting experience with a professional consulting services firm taught him key analytical skills as well as the importance of applied research. He also learnt the importance of developing teams through leadership, interpersonal and people management skills. In addition, working as a management consultant taught him how to develop strategies for companies by identifying and capitalising on competitive advantage.
Mark has extensive experience in the distribution methodologies across different channels, including traditional and emerging distribution systems. His roles have covered most areas of organisational management, including: marketing and distribution including human resources, recruitment, selection, training and procurement. He has been responsible for operations in Australia and also across Asia Pacific. He has conducted strategic and operational consulting, training audits, development and implementation of training programs and systems, management performance workshops, sales operations and training system blueprint development, training effectiveness evaluations and developmental needs analysis.
He has global experience and expertise in training and has conducted open and in-house training courses around the world. In his management roles, he has had responsibility for training and has implemented best practice methodologies in many companies. Mark is a highly rated lecturer, trainer and facilitator and is experienced in behavioral change management. Mark has spent many years in senior management roles of some of the largest institutions, both in Australia and Internationally - successfully growing company operations.
Richard McKenzie-Browne
Technical Director – Procurement
MB Associates Ltd
Richard is an accomplished professional with 25 years of strategic, commercial and procurement leadership experience of infrastructure and facilities management projects. He has extensive programme leadership roles in procurement strategy definition and execution, options analysis. business case development, strategic sourcing, tendering and bidding and negotiation, whole of life costing, operational and facilities contract management.
He has led the procurement and capital programme management, operational management and commercial negotiation for 50+ large scale capital intensive Design, Build Operate (DBO) programmes, 35 of which were PPP schemes. He has extensive client and stakeholder change management experience, strategic planning, business planning, contract management and project financing skills.
A risk management public speaker and author of various trade and journal articles. Richard has international capital procurement and facilities management experience in England, Hungary, Slovakia, Canada, Greece, Holland, Germany, Sweden, Cyprus, New Zealand.
Richard is an MBA qualified management accountant and a Member of the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply (MCIPS). He is a PRINCE2 qualified practitioner and also Member of the Association of Project Managers. Richard has provided strategic procurement advice and leadership to a series of major public and private sector clients in various domestic and international sectors including Higher Education, Waste Management, Schools, Hospitals, Defence, Emergency Services, Civil Engineering and Recreation.
Specialities: Strategic procurement, whole of life procurement, contract management, change management, negotiation, performance improvement, risk management, outsourcing, procurement training
Honey Meares
Enterprise Alignment
Honey is a highly experienced procurement professional with over 15 years of strategic procurement and supply chain experience across a range of industries, including energy, oil and gas, manufacturing, FMCG, healthcare and retail. She has held senior procurement positions within reputable organisations in New Zealand, most recently Mercury, Genesis Energy and BOC, and has been instrumental in shaping and executing strategy, driving procurement excellence and leading improvement initiatives to advance function maturity.
With a passion and energy that permeates all aspects of her career and personal life, Honey is a solution-focused, goal-oriented, enterprise thinker who is dedicated to supporting organisations to apply best practice with pragmatism and agility to enable the achievement of their objectives. Valuing collaboration and adopting a stakeholder-centric approach, she is a true champion of procurement as a core strategic resource, recognising the function’s unique position to advance business strategy and to facilitate the creation of sustained competitive advantage.
Honey was part of the team at Genesis Energy named overall winners of the 2015 CIPS Australasia Supply Management awards for their demonstration of outstanding cross-functional teamwork. Her diverse career experience is underpinned by a range of academic qualifications, including an undergraduate degree in Political Science, a Masters of Public Health and a postgraduate certificate in Supply Chain Management. She will complete a Masters of Business Administration through the University of Southern Queensland in 2017.
Alastair Merrill
Vice Principal (Governance & Planning)
University of St Andrews (Scotland)
Alastair was the Scottish Government’s Commercial Director and Chief Procurement Officer from 2009-15, leading a major reform programme to transform public procurement across Scotland. He is the architect of the internationally acclaimed “Scottish Model of Procurement”, and an acknowledged expert on the use of e-commerce and sustainable procurement policies to deliver economic growth and social value. Through the development of award winning initiatives such as the Procurement Journey and Procurement Capability Assessment toolkits, and the “Procurement People of Tomorrow” training scheme, he set new standards for developing performance and growing capability. In 2015, he was recognised by “Government Opportunities” magazine with an award for “outstanding contribution to public procurement”.
Alastair has over 30 years’ experience working in a wide range of public sector, international, diplomatic and operational settings to deliver business transformation, strategy development and sound commercial governance. Much sought after as a troubleshooter, Alastair is a skilled negotiator, and qualified mediator, with particular experience working in politico-military, policing, higher education, procurement and commercial environments.
Alastair is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply, a member of the Institute of Directors, a member of the Governing Body of the Scottish Institute of Policing Research, and an accredited assessor with the UK College of Policing. He graduated in 2015 from the Major Projects Leadership Academy at Said Business School, Oxford.
Alastair has been Vice Principal for Governance & Planning at the University of St Andrews since early 2015. Through his consultancy, Merrill Solutions Ltd, he provides strategic advice on project assurance, corporate governance, and procurement reform to a range of international institutions and governmental, commercial and public sector clients.
Fiona Nissen
Procurement Excellence Manager
Fletcher Building
After working in sales, hospitality and travel industries, (she occasionally admits to starting working life as a tax auditor!), Fiona decided to make a career change in 2007 and started with NZ Police in their procurement team. Fiona learned foundational procurement skills and commenced studying for her MCIPS through the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply. She led a number of contracts through the syndicated agreement establishment and was also involved in the first All of Government airline tender.
Fiona then worked for Transpower as their Supplier Relationship Manager working with strategic critical (tier1) suppliers who developed their own relationship charter working together while still competing for regional work.
Fiona commenced with Fletcher Building in 2013 as Procurement Excellence Manager, in the newly formed Procurement team.
Fletcher Building Ltd (FB) is one of New Zealand’s biggest publicly listed companies and with a global spend of $7Bn, Fiona’s role is ensuring the procurement activities are governed in alignment to policy, process and efficiently aligned for the entire procurement to pay cycle. Fiona uses her knowledge of working for Government and the AoG concept to develop suitable processes for FB.
In addition to her work, Fiona occasionally tries to catch elusive trout and is actively involved in the CIPS community. Fiona was awarded a Fellowship from CIPS in 2016.
Jazz Singh
General Manager Procurement
Auckland Council
Jazz is a determined, pragmatic individual and a big believer in success. He thrives off helping his team members grow both professionally and personally and admires people who are ambitious.
Born and raised in Fiji, Jazz was a small town boy who moved to Auckland at age 9. He is now a qualified lawyer with private practice experience in a top tier law firm and has held numerous in-house roles in local government.
Jazz joined Auckland Council’s Procurement team as General Manager in June 2016. With his in-depth knowledge of Auckland’s political environment and over 10 years’ experience in the local government sector, he brings a fresh perspective and provides useful insights when leading change in the large and diverse organisation that is Auckland Council.
Stuart Van Rij
Head Coach (Asia Pacific)
Camp Negotiation Systems
Stuart van Rij is Head Coach for Asia Pacific for Camp Negotiations and is part of a team of accredited coaches around the world that utilize the Camp Negotiation Management System. The system has been in place for over 20 years and has been used by hundreds of organizations, including numerous Fortune 500 companies and the FBI Hostage Crisis Negotiation Training Unit. It has helped build agreements in some of the most diverse situations, ranging from multi-million dollar transactions and disputes through to complex sales and high stakes conversations.
Jennie Vickers
Executive Director
New Zealand Defence Industry Association Inc
Jennie is IACCM's Director for Australia and New Zealand. She is responsible for corporate and individual members in the region including membership, learning, certification, research and advisory services. Jennie has a degree in law, is qualified as a lawyer in New Zealand, England and Wales and Australia and has over 25 years legal and business experience in corporate as well as 'Big Law' firms in the UK, NZ and Australia. Jennie has a wealth of experience in contract and commercial management in both sales and procurement. Jennie's commitment to building stable, respectful, long-term contract relationships delivering value to all concerned has been a feature throughout her career.
Michael Worth
Operational Advisory
Grant Thornton New Zealand
Michael began his career as an engineer with the NZ Dairy Board (Fonterra). Over the next fifteen years he worked across a series of different disciplines on a global scale, including new product development, technical/project management, operations, strategy and marketing, and global key account management. He leads the service line that specialises in strategic procurement & supply chain advisory and operational process, productivity and cost improvements. Michael has led some of our largest projects for public and private sector clients. He also conducts strategic procurement reviews and consults on the formation of supplier partnerships and collaborative relationships.
Speaking opportunities are available for GovProcure New Zealand 2017
Present your company, showcase your leadership and demonstrate how you can help the public sector by speaking to this senior gathering of procurement professionals from state and federal departments, government agencies, local governments and other government owned organisations.
Use this unique forum to demonstrate your value to the biggest players in the NZ public sector. Speakers will assert themselves as leading suppliers and solution providers to the sector.
Contact Nischal Aryal on +61 (0)2 8488 9948 or email nischala@questevents.com.au to find out how we can put you in front of a highly engaged and receptive audience.