Recent Clients
Transforming Services
London Borough Richmond upon Thames - Assistant Director
As our interim Head of Procurement, Alex was tasked with making our structure work (a team of 28) and selling the team to the Heads of Service, whilst managing and delivering major procurements.
Before we hired Alex, we had one prior interim and there was originally a permanent employee in that post too. What sets Alex apart from his peers is that Alex has the skills to embed new ways of doing things and new working models – he doesn’t just manage the purchasing and commissioning teams that are around him, but he also engages extremely well with the service teams. He knows what needs to be achieved, and is focused, but at the same time he is diplomatic and really invests in productive relationships.
He is the most proficient procurement professional that I have encountered – he is commercially aware, brought new ideas, worked well with Members, and is very adept at handling complex procurement negotiations. He supported us in the recruitment of a permanent head of procurement, and although he is not cheap, the value that he added was so recognised by the Chief Executive and the Senior Management Team that it was decided to retain him to complete aspects of work that he had kicked-off, and mentor the incoming Head of Service.
Delivering Procurements
Virgin Trains – Head of Procurement
Alex has worked for me at Virgin Trains as an interim Procurement Manager for 4 months. He inherited a very complicated and ambiguous situation that was the result of numerous personnel changes in his spend Categories prior to his joining. His calm, logical and reasoned approach in prioritising the work that needed to be done across numerous projects was impressive.
He set about making some excellent stakeholder relationships extremely quickly, especially impressive given a number of relationships were in a bad place given the disruption before he joined.
He is also willing to add value from his extensive procurement experience at a strategic level advising me on Procurement processes and tools in a proactive and reasoned manner.
I have received a number of unsolicited highly positive pieces of feedback on his work and attitude which has definitely helped improve the reputation of Procurement within Virgin Trains.
Delivering Procurements
Herefordshire Council - Head of Commercial Services
I had the pleasure of working with Alex at Herefordshire Council where he successfully led on our Public Health procurement programme. He is a dependable, innovative, solutions focused procurement professional who brings new thinking to his projects. He is commercially astute and has excellent market awareness. Alex quickly developed strong relationships with his stakeholders and was highly respected by all who worked with him.
I would wholly recommend his services to all.
Making Savings
Powys County Council - Chief Executive Officer
As a solid professional and well known to Powys County Council, Alex, via his company PROCOM, was engaged directly to provide senior level procurement and commercial support on a number of key work streams. The key focus was on the delivery of short-term cashable savings where he led on a series of negotiations and SRM activities with a range of suppliers. Alex ensured that tailored strategies were developed and executed with service manager buy-in, and he ultimately delivered £1.1 million savings with 18 suppliers across a number of service areas. The absence of any significant noise, and subsequent continuity of supply, suggests that he was successful in challenging suppliers to deliver the desired efficiencies, whilst ensuring that local SME’s were not adversely impacted and remained sustainable.
Whilst Alex was with us, he was also the key interface with PwC in the creation of a tailored target operating model for a council-wide procurement transformation, co-authored a revised Commissioning and Procurement Strategy, and developed a realistic business case for the potential implementation of an eTrading Marketplace solution which showed it wasn't the right approach for Powys at that time. Alex also provided senior level support to the Council’s procurement team and the wider organisation whilst the Head of Procurement and Business was on secondment.
I wouldn't hesitate in recommending his services to any organisation that needs high calibre interim procurement and commercial support.
He is flexible, astute and delivers.