www.dcvelocity.com JULY 2015 DC VELOCITY 43
coordinating all aspects of the procurement process,
including sourcing strategy, bids, due diligence, negotiations, and contracting.
Q You’ve spent a lot of time volunteering in profes- sional organizations such as CSCMP. Why is that
important to you?
A Going to conferences such as CSCMP provides me with both educational and networking experiences, and that is something I feel I continue to
need. I have done a lot of networking with other professionals, whether as a mentor or being mentored.
The educational aspects are also very important at
any stage in a career, as I feel I need to be continually
learning. It’s also important to volunteer with those
organizations—to give back to them from what I have
learned.
Q You were instrumental in establishing the Young Professionals Committee at CSCMP. How did
that come about, and why?
A That started with the board’s wanting to have more young professionals involved in the orga-
nization and at the time, there was no representative
of that age group on the board. I was invited to join
the board and was asked to investigate what CSCMP
could do for our demographic.
Several of us then got together and researched other
organizations to see what they did for young professionals, but we found there was not a lot out there. So,
we formed the first Young Professionals Committee,
surveyed our peers, and subsequently established
the mentorship program and the Emerging Leader
Award. We also launched social media geared to that
age group. We worked hard to make CSCMP relevant to young professionals and look forward to that
continuing.
Q Based on what you have learned, what advice would you give to someone just starting out in
the supply chain management profession?
A I have helped to coordinate the student experi- ence at CSCMP. I tell them to remain engaged
with a professional organization. Besides the educational aspects, it gives you a network of people to get
to know. Being in the right place and knowing the
right people to rely on can be very important to your
career.
