The eighth annual Aberdeen Group Chief Procurement Officer (CPO) Summit will be taking place this week at the Seaport Hotel in Boston. This year’s event will be the backdrop for some of the world’s leading procurement executives and innovators to come together to discuss key trends, issues, and opportunities within the industry.
The summit will kick off with a keynote presentation by Patrice Knight, IBM’s senior vice president of procurement. Knight will discuss the modern CPO’s role as a “corporate champion”. She’ll also share strategies she has leveraged for IBM, including how CPOs can effectively mitigate supplier risks and the critical role analytics can play in that effort, as well as in spend and supplier intelligence.
As 2013 approaches, CPOs are confronted with continued and growing risk, cost pressures and globalization of the supply base, among many other challenges. There is much to be learned from our peers in procurement so I hope you’ll have a chance to attend Aberdeen’s CPO event, hear Patrice Knight’s keynote and stop by the IBM Booth.
For those who can’t attend, we’ll share some of the core insights from Knight’s presentation after the event.
About Doug Macdonald
Doug Macdonald, Product Marketing Leader at IBM, has more than 25 years of management experience at leading consulting and technology firms.
Macdonald leads the global product marketing program for IBM Emptoris, a suite of supply and contract management solutions which are employed by more than 350 Fortune 1000 and Global 2000 companies. Under Macdonald’s leadership, IBM Emptoris solutions have been consistently recognized by independent research firms as innovative and market-leading solutions. He previously managed product marketing at Emptoris, prior to its acquisition by IBM.
Prior to Emptoris and IBM, Macdonald was PLM Solution Director at SAP, where he led the repositioning of SAP’s PLM solution as a critical enabler of product innovation and product development, emphasizing the link between PLM and ERP and SCM capabilities. Macdonald was also a technology marketing consultant at NPDI Consulting, developing strategic marketing programs for emerging growth technology companies with cloud-based enterprise business applications.
Earlier in his career, Macdonald was European PLM Business Development Director for PTC, a PLM and CAD technology company, and European Marketing Director at Aspect Development, which was acquired by i2 Technologies. Macdonald began his career at Coopers & Lybrand as a senior consultant in the manufacturing practice, followed by various product marketing roles at Sherpa Corporation, now a part of Siemens PLM.
Macdonald his degree in mechanical engineering from Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, Scotland.
