Smarter Sourcing

EP 47 - Mayo Clinic's Jim Francis on Strategy, Commercialization, & Giving Back

Chair of Supply Chain Management Jim Francis [https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-r-jim-francis-8533ab26/], has led Mayo Clinic [https://www.mayoclinic.org/]'s supply chain for 27 years and built something almost no health system has: a commercial operation with eight revenue-generating businesses that now offset 73% of supply chain operating costs. Jim shares the keys to successful healthcare supply chain commercialization, his annual strategic planning discipline, and why he believes the industry still isn't collaborating enough on shared problems. Chapters: 0:00 Introduction 1:06 What "Chair of Supply Chain Management" means at Mayo Clinic 1:53 Teaching and talent development inside Mayo 2:42 Industry generosity and the mentor who shaped Jim's career 6:01 Building and sustaining a strategic plan for 27 years 7:38 The art vs. science of supply chain strategy 8:26 Biggest successes and failures from the strategic planning process 9:46 How Mayo launched its commercial supply chain business 18 years ago 12:43 The three keys to commercial success in healthcare supply chain 13:08 What "taking it out of hide" means and why it works 14:25 Collaboration, SMI, and why the industry isn't doing enough of it 17:05 Patience as a leadership discipline in long-term partnerships 18:32 27 years of team tenure and what sustained loyalty actually requires 20:15 Financial pressures in healthcare today and supply chain's expanding role 22:19 Why supply chain is finally moving upstream 23:37 Digital transformation, AI, and the next three to five years 26:22 Parting thoughts

EP 46 - Stamford Health's Shenelle Padarat-Singh on Clinician Wants vs. What Usage Data Shows

During COVID, Stamford Health [https://www.stamfordhealth.org/] built inventory dashboards that updated multiple times per day to track supplies arriving in bulk quantities at unpredictable intervals from new vendors. This real-time visibility transformed clinical leadership's perception of supply chain from back-office function to operational intelligence center.  Shenelle Padarat-Singh [https://www.linkedin.com/in/shenelle-p-94b49424b/], Director of Strategic Sourcing, explains how her transition from managing supply chain information systems to leading sourcing operations revealed why the data team's seemingly "annoying" requests for complete item details matter: one missing packaging specification triggers errors in receiving, throws off inventory counts, breaks purchase order-to-invoice matching, and ultimately creates finance reconciliation issues. On supplier relationships, she's direct about why quarterly business reviews and weekly check-ins with key vendors create the communication channels that make same-day approvals and 8am Saturday deliveries possible when a Friday 6pm OR request hits.   Topics discussed: * Building COVID inventory dashboards with multiple daily updates to track unpredictable bulk deliveries from new vendor sources * Understanding how incomplete item data cascades through receiving, inventory counts, purchase order matching, and finance reconciliation processes * Implementing 360-degree product transition frameworks that evaluate usage patterns, clinical needs, reimbursement rates, and standardization opportunities * Conducting quarterly business reviews with key suppliers to establish communication channels for urgent same-day procurement requests * Presenting supply chain analytics in formats meaningful to clinical audiences to gain stakeholder support for product transitions * Managing tariff impacts through supplier negotiations that identify alternatives and offset cost increases with savings opportunities * Navigating healthcare supply chain acquisition integrations across different geographic locations, systems, and operational standardization requirements * Developing career resilience for healthcare supply chain by mastering ambiguity and mid-task priority shifts during operational interruptions

EP 45 - Keurig Dr Pepper's Juliana Saretta on Post-merger Integration through Listening, Not Leverage

Procurement's biggest misconception isn't about the work itself; it's about believing your role stops at cost savings. Juliana Saretta [https://www.linkedin.com/in/juliana-saretta-442152/], Former VP of US Sourcing at Keurig Dr Pepper [https://www.keurigdrpepper.com/], spent 30 years proving that procurement touches every part of the enterprise: growth strategy, cash flow management, brand integrity, and now climate solutions. She shares how when Mott's Applesauce needs to maintain brand integrity around goodness for families, procurement not only sources apples, it also manages relationships with 150 multi-generational farming families in upstate New York who supply 95% of the volume. Juliana also touches on her post-merger integration playbook, which starts with something most leaders skip: generous, attentive listening across both legacy organizations to unearth where the real problems and opportunities sit. She warns against the seductive trap of focusing solely on the allure of cost synergies from combined spend, emphasizing that teams perform best when they're engaged around a purpose beyond just delivering savings. For AI and procurement's future, she argues the critical skill isn't technical fluency but learning aptitude and curiosity, since the technology itself will look completely different in a few months. Topics discussed: * Expanding procurement's strategic impact beyond cost savings to influence growth, bottom line, cash flow, and climate solutions * Managing category management across multi-brand portfolios by tailoring strategies to specific brand requirements and positioning * Sourcing Mott's Applesauce from 150 multi-generational farming families in upstate New York representing 95% of total apple volume * Leading post-merger integration through attentive listening across legacy organizations rather than focusing solely on cost synergy  * Proactively diversifying appliance manufacturing to prepare for tariff policy expansion * Structuring global versus regional procurement models  * Building future-ready procurement teams by prioritizing learning aptitude and curiosity over specific AI technical fluency or tool mastery * Recognizing career limitations when resources don't match ambitions and identifying non-negotiable conditions for professional success

EP 44 - Stanford Medicine's Amanda Chawla on the People-First Framework behind a 10-Year Transformation

Amanda Chawla [https://www.linkedin.com/in/amandachawla1/], SVP - Chief Supply Chain & Post Acute Care Officer at Stanford Health Care [https://stanfordhealthcare.org/], inherited a supply chain where half the organization was outsourced, basic functions like category management and master data management didn't exist, and clinical staff were calling daily about missing products. Nearly a decade later, Stanford's supply chain has earned department of the year recognition and top marks in Gartner's rankings. Amanda walks through the framework she used to get there and why she still considers the transformation unfinished. Amanda also breaks down the four-committee governance structure she built around non-labor spend: indirect, medical, pharmaceutical, and a capital committee currently in development. Each is co-chaired by the business with supply chain as a supporting arm, and every senior VP and C-suite executive has a representative on a subcommittee. Amanda makes a case for redefining the chief supply chain officer role, arguing it should function more like a chief spend management officer. She connects that vision to how she built her team, including why she looked outside healthcare to write job descriptions and how she modeled a clinical dyad structure inside a non-clinical function.   Topics discussed: * Building supply chain infrastructure from scratch including category management, master data management, and insourcing outsourced functions * Applying a people-first transformation framework across leadership structure, technology, culture, infrastructure, and business processes * Converting a non-labor spend program into an executive-level governance model embedded in organizational operating plans * Structuring co-chaired spend committees across indirect, medical, pharmaceutical, and capital categories with C-suite subcommittees * Redefining the chief supply chain officer as a chief spend management officer responsible for organization-wide financial strategy * Modeling a clinical dyad structure inside a non-clinical supply chain function to align business partners and drive accountability * Using quarterly business reviews with internal customers like HR and marketing to build trust and expand supply chain's strategic mandate * Adopting a data-first, technology-as-enabler approach that links every metric to operational pillars and decision-making cadences

EP 43 - Utz Brands' Ron Schnur on Outpacing Competitors with Risk-Taking and Supplier Partnerships

Utz Brands [https://www.utzsnacks.com/]’ Senior VP/CPO Ron Schnur [https://www.linkedin.com/in/ronald-schnur-cpsm-29820b2/]'s M&A integration framework strategy challenges the standard playbook: across six acquisitions, his team at his previous company, White Wave, diagnosed each deal separately. Some received immediate full integration, others got a soft touch for a few months to protect supplier innovation pipelines that created category advantages. The critical question wasn't spend consolidation potential, but whether forcing integration would damage the supplier relationships driving growth. This "leave the nickel on the table" philosophy prioritizes speed-to-market and supplier innovation over immediate cost savings.  At Utz, where the company faces competitors several times its size, Ron applies lessons from his roles at companies that had to "punch above their weight class" through risk-taking rather than scale. For hiring, he screens for curiosity and perseverance over technical capabilities, asking probing questions about how candidates work through challenging situations rather than testing Excel proficiency. Universities should handle hard skills; what matters is the ability to challenge first answers and grind through complex supply market problems.   Topics discussed: * Building curiosity and perseverance over technical skills when hiring supply chain professionals for complex problem-solving roles * Applying differentiated M&A integration playbooks at White Wave Foods across six acquisitions to protect supplier innovation pipelines * Implementing "leave the nickel on the table" philosophy that prioritizes supplier innovation and speed-to-market over immediate cost savings * Competing as smaller companies against industry giants by taking calculated risks and building strategic supplier partnerships * Leveraging AI for rapid supply market intelligence gathering compared to traditional three-month global supplier assessment cycles * Developing enterprise-wide mindset that values total business impact over purchase price variance and acquisition cost optimization * Evaluating ROI on emerging technologies through targeted investments in customer-facing versus supply-facing AI applications