DC Velocity - September 2017

BY TOBY GOOLEY, SENIOR EDITOR

THE DC VELOCITY Q&A

thoughtleaders

LAUREL JUNK, CHIEF SUPPLY CHAIN AND PROCUREment officer at Kaiser Permanente, presides over a sprawling, bicoastal supply chain. Founded in 1945, the healthcare provider and not-for-profit healthcare plan serves nearly 12 million members across the country, encompassing 38 hospitals, more than 660 medical offices, and more than 200,000 employees.

For years, supply chain decisions, technology, and operations were managed regionally or locally, a situation that continued as Kaiser Permanente acquired healthcare providers beyond its home state of California. Junk (pronounced “Yunk”) saw a need for a first-class supply chain organization that would turn a highly decentralized operation into a cohesive, centralized whole. The goal was not just to reduce costs and improve efficiency, but also to help Kaiser Permanente provide better care to patients. That challenging and ambitious initiative, started almost five years ago, has exceeded its promised deliverables by a wide margin.

In this brief excerpt from a longer, in-depth interview, Toby Gooley, editor of Supply Chain Quarterly and senior editor at DC VELOCITY, speaks with Junk about her career path and about Kaiser Permanente’s supply chain transformation. You can find the full interview at www.supplychainquarterly.com.

QHow did you initially get involved in supply chain management? AI liked math and had a great math teacher in high school, and I’ve always liked technology, so I studied computer science as an undergrad at the University of Minnesota. In my first job, I worked for Eli Lilly & Eventually, I got a general manager position for an acquisi-

Kaiser Permanente’s Laurel Junk is leading the transformation of the healthcare giant’s supply chain from a highly decentralized operation to a cohesive, centralized whole.

INTERVIEW WITH LAUREL JUNK

The great coordinator

This story first appeared in the Quarter 2/2017

edition of CSCMP’s Supply Chain Quarterly, a journal of thought leadership for the supply chain management profession and a sister publication to

AGiLE Business Media’s DC VELOCITY. Readers can obtain a subscription by joining the Council of Supply Chain Management Professionals (whose membership dues include The Quarterly’s subscription fee). Subscriptions are also available to nonmembers for $34.95 (digital) or $89 a year (print). For more information, visit www.SupplyChainQuarterly.com.