Ian Midgley | Briefing
is chief supply chain officer at Unilever, the world’s second biggest producer of food products. He joined the company in 1977 as a production management trainee and has since held a wide variety of posts, including setting up global sourcing, leading its corporate manufacturing and engineering group, and being senior vice-president of supply chain for its home and personal care division.
Rob Handfield | Tactics
is the Bank of America university distinguished professor of supply chain management at North Carolina State University in Raleigh and director of the Supply Chain Resource Cooperative. He is the author of several books and has acted as a consultant to more than 25 Fortune 500 companies, including Boston Scientific, BP, Chevron, Federal Express, GlaxoSmithKline and Nortel Networks.
Dick Russill | Procurement’s role
is a consultant, speaker and writer, and the author of CPO Agenda’s regular “Executive coach” column. He is perhaps best known as the creator of the “centre-led action network” (Clan) organisational concept, which has been widely used by procurement leaders. Dick specialises in supply, cost and relationship management and works with firms to help improve their performance and profitability.
Rainer Schulz | Case study
is chief operating officer of Rehau, a €2 billion global plastics company, and the group executive board member responsible for its purchasing, production and technology functions. He joined the firm in 2001 as head of materials management and logistics, having previously worked at BMW Rolls-Royce, a joint venture making aircraft engines. Rainer is based at its purchasing headquarters in Switzerland.
Barbara Lavernos | Interview
is head of global purchasing at the cosmetics giant L’Oréal, based in Paris. She joined the company from university in 1991 as a packaging buyer and went on to run a factory making shampoo and shower gel, before taking over the CPO job in September 2004. Barbara is responsible for a team of 450 buyers around the world, and is a new member of CPO Agenda’s editorial advisory board.
Martin Lockström | China sourcing
is director of Supply Management Institute China, based in Shanghai. The centre runs executive education programmes for buyers and is an offshoot of SMI’s base at the European Business School in Wiesbaden, Germany. Martin, who is Swedish, took up the position in September 2006 after completing a doctoral thesis on low-cost country sourcing at SMI and lecturing at Shanghai’s Tongji University.
