Niraj Thakkar Email & Phone Number

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

· Responsible for developing and enhancing the procurement center of excellence at the Toronto Parking Authority, a City of Toronto agency.· Built strong internal relationships and provided expertise to develop innovative procurement strategies and solutions to drive best value. · Ensured compliance with public sector policies and protocols by establishing processes to monitor, track and control entire spend across the organization.· Led vendor contract negotiations to align vendor performance metrics and contracts with internal strategic objectives to drive favorable outcomes and reduce business risk. · Worked as a corporate liaison on all procurement matters and provided presentations / briefings to the executive team.· Established procurement best practices across the organization as well as streamlined policies, processes and guidelines through templates, training and effective controls. · Recommended updates to organizational procurement policies and delegation of authority with the objective of improving procurement efficiency and improving project delivery without compromising accountability. · Identified and pursued opportunities to achieve cost savings through spend analytics, effective negotiations and strategic procurement. · Created and Conducted training and ongoing communications to leadership and staff on policies, processes and procurement best practices.· Pursued collaboration opportunities with City of Toronto and other public sector agencies to increase buying leverage.

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

• Owned hardware and professional services spend at Cineplex Digital Media (CDM).• Managed RFx events for current and future opportunities, including an RFP for a consolidated field services partner that would provide a combination of warehousing, installation and on-site after sales services. • Developed and executed key sourcing strategies and buying channels for major purchase categories in collaboration with business partners and stakeholders.• Led strategic supplier relationships to drive operational efficiencies and cost savings.• Optimally established and managed CDM vendor contracts, vendor performance and commercial parts of the vendor relationship.• Built strong relationships with internal business partners including operational leaders and finance partners.• Introduced and implemented an asset management system which is integrated with vendor systems to automate internal processes and assist with warranty registrations & claims on defective assets within warranty period.• Established an effective forecasting process to improve availability, inventory turnover as well as reduce obsolescence.• Established and maintained a process for self-serve purchase orders – catalog items that could be purchased by operations teams without engaging procurement.• Performance management of direct reports

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

• Optimally managed CDM vendor contracts and commercial parts of the vendor relationship. This included managing and improving vendor performance, monitoring and mitigating vendor risks.• Run RFP, RFQ for current & future opportunities• Ensured orders are processed and received in a timely manner and coordinated with project teams to expedite orders as required.• Introduced inventory management systems in alignment with industry standards.

Toronto, Canada Area

• Coordinated production and installation activities to achieve project deadlines while maximizing productivity.• Led process improvement initiatives to achieve operations excellence and increase profitability.• Managed inventory and forecasts to meet demand expectations and avoid shortages.• Procured all raw materials in a timely manner and optimized shipping costs.• Lead contact for more than 150 dealers for technical and commercial queries.• Ensured timely order deliveries by collaborating with different cross-functional teams.

Mumbai Area, India

• Led cross functional teams to develop a new range of products with 50% lower material costs by redefining specifications and developing strategic relationships with vendors.• Led cost-reduction initiative for custom part development; competitively sourced and qualified local vendors to reduce costs of certain components by 45%, with minimal impact on customer satisfaction.• Had ongoing responsibilities across categories for vendor identification and qualification based on competencies, quality of products, effectiveness of service and negotiated rates and terms and conditions of business.• Re-evaluated cost-value drivers with technical, commercial and supplier teams to realign specifications and deliver cost reduction of up to 20% for certain product lines.• Redesigned processes to align with product strategy and reduced overheads by 50%.• Set up a market intelligence capability working with a selected pool of vendors to develop understanding of supplier costs, which significantly improved effectiveness of the product / procurement teams in vendor negotiations.• Ensured optimal raw material levels by developing robust inventory planning and tracking mechanisms and building a forecasting tool to drive accurate forecasts of material required for each project.• Developed and implemented systems to ensure adherence to established processes and benefit sustainability.

Mumbai

• Increased response capacity to sales inquiries by 300% by introducing an enhanced estimation and sales process. Redesigned client communications, simplified the process for certain products, built Excel utility, and streamlined communications.• Reduced project cycle time from 16 weeks to 8 weeks through reducing defects, improving coordination between teams and increasing transparency in the organization.• Reduced manufacturing defect rate by over 40%, through improving quality of specifications and information flow.

Cambridge, United Kingdom

• Developed a business model and market entry strategy for new technology using Microsoft Surface platform to support archiving practices of families.• Created value proposition by combining software with hardware, which overcame selling issues related to software sold independently.• Analyzed market opportunities and developed an effective value scheme.

• Performed due diligence for over 40 companies in the renewable energy sector, catering to the bottom-of-the-pyramid with innovative business models and key success factors.• Prepared reports for business and academic use, one of which was published in the center newsletter.

• Led teams to execute industrial automation system projects worth an average of $1.5M for research, cement, power, and steel industries across India.• Translated client process requirements into functional code on Programmable Logic Controllers (PLC) for safe, effective and efficient control of manufacturing processes.• Rated ‘Top Performer’ for contribution as team leader and system developer in completing a challenging project in 70% of expected time for the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) new solid propellant plant. • Worked with teams of 4 to 50 members, depending on project complexity, and travelled across country to execute projects at site level.

Mba, Innovation And Entrepreneurship

Activities and Societies: • Vice President - Entrepreneurship Club. • Innovation Entrepreneurship and Design project: Developed a business.

Bachelor Of Engineering, Electronics

Activities and Societies: • Developed an Automated Target System (ATS) for air-rifle shooting competitions (patent pending). • Event.

Education record