FedEx

Sue Spence, Vice President, Global Sourcing & Procurement at FedEx Corporation, on driving the organisation's procurement transformation.

Which is just one reason why we expect Spence to continue to drive the shape of procurement in the foreseeable future. “The transactional, repeatable work that we did 30 years ago will and should be automated and as touchless as possible,” she says. “I love the debate and will switch sides of the debate to hear how they will defend their positions; I want them to be confident and anticipate as many questions as possible. “In order to drive such a large transformation, you need to understand what you are getting into and do not underestimate the level of energy it will take,” says Spence. Speaking at Procurement & Supply Chain LIVE London in October, Spence had the audience riveted both in her keynote session and the closing panel discussion. “In business generally, I attribute that to working for my first 29 years in a very male-oriented environment that was also engineering focused. But don’t be fooled for a second – Spence appreciates the gravitas of the award, and her position as a role model both within procurement and in general. She had multiple roles of traditional procurement, strategic sourcing as well as managing continuous improvement for both the assembly and maintenance and repair operations at Pratt & Whitney – experience that has proved invaluable in her FedEx role. This is where Spence – and the sourcing and procurement team she has shaped – really shows her value. Spence brought that methodology to FedEx, which proved an extra challenge as she was an ’outsider’, but also gave her the distance from the company to see a clearer route forward. “My approach to designing the future state of sourcing and procurement at FedEx was to first define what world-class looked like for our function. “One of my favourite phrases is ‘begin with the end in mind’,” she says.