The Sourcing Hero

Ep 128: Large Sports & Entertainment Venue Services Procurement feat. Matt Mehler

Most of us have attended a concert or sporting event at a large venue at some point in our lives. Maybe you saw a hockey game, or a Billy Joel Concert, or a comedian. Regardless, you probably didn’t stop to think about the procurement effort required to bring that event to life and create an exceptional audience experience.
In this episode of The Sourcing Hero podcast, Host Kelly Barner welcomes Matt Mehler. Matt is a procurement professional with 20 years of experience in some pretty unique categories of spend and service locations. He specializes in managing services at large venues such as Madison Square Garden in New York City.
In this interview, Matt talks about the unique service requirements of large sports and entertainment venues:
How sourcing services for a large facility like Madison Square Garden is different than sourcing for hundreds of distributed locations
The categories of services that are unique to large venues and the relationships he built with those providers 
How services spend offers a key opportunity for companies to hit their supplier diversity and sustainability targets

Ep 127: Be a Business Silo Solver feat. Danelle M. Brown

It takes a wide range of skills, experiences, and backgrounds to put a company in a leadership position, and yet most professionals feel most comfortable talking to their peers - people from the same function who share their perspectives, motivations and language. If we can keep our minds open to new ideas and possibilities, however, there is no limit to what we can achieve.
In this episode of The Sourcing Hero podcast, Host Kelly Barner welcomes Danelle M. Brown. Danelle has over two decades worth of experience in design and sustainability, a combination that is highly effective in today’s business climate. Perhaps more interestingly, her graduate degree is in the history of STEM, a specialized program that combined science and technology with liberal arts and the humanities. 
In this interview, Danelle brings together a wide range of topics and teachings to illustrate:
The importance of “silo solving”
Why procurement and supply chain professionals may not have to decode the whole alphabet of sustainability frameworks to have a positive impact
How much it is possible to achieve through continued learning and development

Ep 126: Making Procurement Research Actionable feat. Denis Wolowiecki

According to CAPS Research, two thirds of Chief Procurement Officers and Chief Supply Chain Officers - the top spend management executive in a company - sit two levels below the CEO. This limits procurement’s potential impact, but it also prevents companies from realizing a key source of competitive advantage.
In this episode of The Sourcing Hero podcast, Host Kelly Barner welcomes Denis Wolowiecki. Denis is the Executive Managing Director at CAPS Research. CAPS stands for Center for Advanced Procurement Strategy and is a B2B nonprofit research center affiliated with both Arizona State University and ISM – the Institute for Supply Management.
In this interview, Denis talks about the role that research and collaboration plan in the continued evolution of procurement:
What most procurement executives and teams need from today’s research programs
Why a mastery of procurement fundamentals could not be more critical to success
The greatest challenges procurement organizations face when they attempt to shake off legacy ways of doing things 
Gaps that exist between the public-facing PR efforts around ESG programs and the inward facing execution effort

Ep 125: When Implanted Neuro Chips Are Top of Mind feat. Kris Lance

Elon musk is the founder of Tesla and SpaceX and the owner of Twitter. He is as eccentric as he is wealthy. He also happens to be one of the founders of Neuralink, a neurotechnology company that recently received FDA approval to implant chips into human brains. The stated use case is restoring autonomy to people with physical impairments, but the potential applications are as broad as the ethical questions raised by this new capability.
In this episode of The Sourcing Hero podcast, Host Kelly Barner welcomes back Kris Lance, Senior Director at Una, for a recurring monthly conversation about current news stories. Kris has experience in multiple industries and has his finger on the pulse of the trends and topics that procurement, sourcing, and supply chain professionals need to be aware of.
In this conversation, Kris and Kelly discuss the multiple levels of concerns and considerations associated with such a groundbreaking technology:
How an individual’s risk tolerance plays into the decision to participate in medical innovation
The possibility of regulation should such a treatment be approved for widespread use
The importance of courage - whether in pursuit of a daring goal or in allowing for differences of opinion

Ep 124: The Latest Trends in Contingent Workforce Management feat. Julia Braun

Contingent workforce is certainly not a new category of spend for procurement to manage, but it is a category that has gone through substantial changes over the last few years. Every major trend in talent, from The Great Resignation to layoffs and hiring freezes to quiet quitting, affects how companies balance and blend their sources of talent.
In this episode of The Sourcing Hero podcast, Host Kelly Barner welcomes Julia Braun. Julia has over 25 years of experience across all indirect spend categories, managed and outsourced services, with a focus on negotiations for software, cloud services, and professional services. Today she is the Director of Enterprise Procurement for Highspot.
In this interview, Julia shares her perspective on the macro trends, best practices, and tech advancements that are affecting contingent workforce management:
How the category is being affected by larger labor trends like hiring freezes and layoffs
Whether managing this spend is an opportunity to bring procurement into closer collaboration with Human Resources
How contingent workforce allows procurement to advance multiple DEI initiatives
The prevailing trends around tech in the sourcing and management of contingent workforce spend

Ep 123: Healing Healthcare Supply Chains feat. Luká Yancopoulos

Many supply chains deal with pain points. Unlike other industries, however, healthcare deals with sourcing and procurement pain points that bring actual pain. In an industry where securing lower costs does not offer the same incentive as it does for others, it takes a different approach to help decision makers see the risks and rewards before them.
In this episode of The Sourcing Hero podcast, Host Kelly Barner welcomes Luká Yancopoulos. During the pandemic, Luká and William Danon started Pandemic Relief Supply, a venture that delivered $20 million worth of health care supplies to frontline workers. They received the 2022 UPenn President’s Engagement, Innovation, and Sustainability award for their efforts. That venture is now Grapevine, a system that addresses miscommunications between suppliers and buyers in the healthcare industry.
In this interview, Luká shares the backstory of the company he founded without meaning to, based on a desire to be a force for good during the most difficult days of the pandemic:
Why 40% of healthcare industry spending is wasted due to supply chain inefficiencies and manual human errors
How improved transparency can reduce costs and improve buyer-supplier relationships
His experiences working with skeptics compared to newer, more nimble companies that welcome change

Ep. 122: Helping Women in Supply Chain Set Audacious Goals feat. Nicole Glenn

Despite the broad, supportive corporate messaging around diversity and inclusion, the real work takes place on an individual level - one person at a time. As every person becomes comfortable enough to find their voice and use it, our workplaces and professional communities will continue to grow in diversity, with representation among people from every walk of life.
In this episode of The Sourcing Hero podcast, Host Kelly Barner welcomes Nicole Glenn. Nicole is the Founder and CEO of Candor Expedite and a passionate supporter of women working in supply chain and logistics. She is part of the Ladies Leadership Coalition, a podcast for women in business by women business owners.
In this interview, Nicole talks about the ‘why’ at the heart of the Ladies Leadership Coalition and how she walks the walk in her own company:
The messages that women need to hear as they pursue their professional ambitions, whether as business owners or corporate leaders
The changes she has seen in workplace inclusiveness over the last few years and the work that remains to be done
Why everyone needs to learn to be more audacious, opening their minds to what they want in addition to what they offer others

Ep 121: Agriculture as a Political Hot Topic feat. Kris Lance

In an article published in the May 20, 2023 Boston Herald, Bill Wirtz, Senior Policy Analyst at the Consumer Choice Center, wrote, “As the politics of farming affects the livelihoods of each American, it transforms agricultural policy into an electoral issue.”
From farm to table and hand to mouth, few topics have the potential to be as contentious as the food supply. Whether your focus is energy consumption, environmentalism, labor conditions, or Federal regulation, agriculture touches them all.
In this episode of The Sourcing Hero podcast, Host Kelly Barner welcomes back Kris Lance, Senior Director at Una, for a recurring monthly conversation about current news stories. Kris has experience in multiple industries and has his finger on the pulse of the trends and topics that procurement, sourcing, and supply chain professionals need to be aware of.
In this conversation, Kris and Kelly revisit the topic of agricultural regulation and its impact on the economy and food supply, at home and around the world:
Why it may take a lot more than money to help farmers transition to ‘green’ ways of operating
How to balance the competing concerns of risk, regulation, and resilience associated with the food supply
Perspectives being introduced by advocates such as Eva Vlaardingerbroek about our overall readiness for the green transition