Rob Kurland Email & Phone Number

Beverly Hills, California, Us

I lead the Global Procurement team for Live Nation Entertainment, the world's leading live entertainment company and one of the world's busiest e-commerce sites - ticketmaster.com. Our team provides sourcing and procurement services across a wide range of categories, including Technology, FF&E, F&B, Shipping & Logistics, Facility Operations, Travel, and more, for our ticketing, concerts, venues, and festivals businesses.

Woodland Hills, Ca, Us

I jointly drove efforts to evolve 5-year old, center-led organization beyond transaction processing roots to add collaborative strategic sourcing and interests-based negotiation capabilities through client outreach, introduction of new systems and results-oriented processes, and team coaching/training.I led a 20-person team responsible for $800M in annual spend; I implemented a new organizational structure and engagement model to increase collaboration and responsiveness to client demand, while facilitating workload balancing and skills building to enable more effective competitive sourcing.Through crafting and executing innovative sourcing strategies for critical professional services, technology, and new business development efforts, in partnership with cross-functional client teams, I enabled our project teams to generate measurable value while boosting client engagement. I introduced accelerated sourcing processes, such as streamlined RFP processes, concurrent negotiations, and reverse auctions, to increase competition and help overcome historic stakeholder reluctance to engage the sourcing team. I oversaw efforts to increase procedural consistency for lower-value transactions, advising on ways to reduce non-value-added customization and free bandwidth to expand sourcing efforts.

Burbank, Ca, Us

I influenced decision-making and deal execution across wide range of high-profile initiatives involving some of Disney’s highest-spend suppliers, leading a team that delivered $300M in hard savings and cost avoidance benefits from 250+ projects across multiple direct and indirect categories.I championed innovative ways to generate incremental business value from supplier relationships.o Negotiated flexible software deployment terms allowing staggered rollout to global population, amplifying negotiated discounts to deliver 51% total cost reduction.o Initiated auctioning for remastering services that cut costs 40%, while providing underutilized suppliers equal opportunity to compete.o Devised industry-first fixed fee and incentive model for residuals payment outsourcing, forecast to deliver 8% lower costs despite increasing volume and complexity.I partnered with Disney's technology leadership during multiple generations of IT managed services negotiations with $300M+ annual spend, including introduction of new suppliers and expansion of multi-sourced environment to maintain competitive leverage.I collaborated with Walt Disney Studios executives during transition of theatrical distribution from physical 35mm film prints to digital files via hard drives and satellite.o Guided executives through balanced scorecard evaluation of film labs to overcome resistance to change and justify shift from entrenched incumbent, improving quality and lowering costs 11%. o Restructured domestic and international digital cinema distribution pricing to lower costs by 48% and provide greater visibility to aid in budgeting and forecasting.As leader of the first category-focused Sourcing Center of Excellence, my team secured incremental value from top professional services firms through targeted Supplier Relationship Management activities, development and implementation of new enterprise-wide policy and best practice-based tools, and hands-on support for critical projects.

I was invited to present to the Supply Chain Thought Leaders Roundtable, a group of about 40 of the world’s leading academics from institutions in the US (e.g., Harvard, Stanford, MIT, Wharton, Berkeley, UCLA), Europe and Asia, that meets annually to discuss current themes in supply chains, broadly defined, including global supply chains, sourcing, technology, sustainability, etc. I spoke on the topic of overcoming challenges in establishing mutually beneficial outsourcing relationships under different scenarios, and participated in an interactive Q&A with roundtable members.

Armonk, New York, Ny, Us

I joined IBM Global Services as a result of IBM's acquisition of PwC's consulting arm, continuing to lead projects for Disney's Strategic Sourcing & Procurement team that ultimately contributed $110M+ in hard savings and costs avoidance, before transitioning to lead engagements for other clients.Representative Projects:• Devised innovative returns processing and inventory management approach to overcome systemic limitations in availability of key data. Conceived and conducted analysis of holding and remanufacturing costs, which justified disposal of 25M+ units of DVD/VHS inventory and generated $11M+ tax savings. Devised decision-making methodology to ensure excess returns would not be processed, reducing handling by up to 85%, eliminating obsolete inventory, and slashing storage requirements by more than 60%.• Created negotiation strategy to convert relationship between a studio and its distributor from cost plus to a hybrid incorporating cost plus, fee-based, and performance-based components, which delivered $4M savings via supplier’s reductions in operating costs and guaranteed margin. • Led covert analysis of impact of subsidiary’s decision to execute a standalone agreement for manufacturing and distribution services. Forecast transition and five-year costs and compared to parent’s existing agreements, which contributed to the decision to breach the subsidiary’s contract, and estimated a range of the supplier’s lost profit to set a target settlement.

As an unpaid member of the Board of Directors for an acclaimed non-profit professional theatre, arts education, and community outreach organization that has been bringing theatre, music, dance and visual art to the Exposition Park region of Los Angeles since 1997, I led efforts to establish a long-term financial planning process and partnered with Executive Director, Treasurer, and other Board members on initial implementation. I assisted in improving fund-raising efforts by contributing to the creation of new fund-raising materials and generating ideas to increase individual donations. I volunteered support during community outreach programs, including holiday block parties for the underserved community. I leveraged my theatrical management and production experience to aid in execution of multiple productions.

Gb

Representative Projects:• Co-developed overarching negotiation strategy between a studio’s home entertainment division and its $1B global manufacturing and distribution partner, then adapted strategy to negotiations that generated $110M+ savings. Demonstrated legitimacy and financial impact of alternatives to senior executives and helped define and communicate expectations to suppliers. Identified leverage points to extract lower prices and improved service. Created or modified business terms to simplify and strengthen contracts. Crafted solutions to quantify and monitor on-going value delivery to ensure negotiated obligations were met.• For a Consortium of International Rights Management Agencies, crafted conceptual organizational design – regional offices, shared service facilities, and outsourced support – and drafted initial policies and procedures for creation of new agency to administer global standard numbering scheme for identifying audiovisual works.• Devised conceptual software portfolio to enhance international television sales by enabling better exploitation of full catalog; developed business case to justify implementation of portfolio, and identified opportunities to extend solution to other release windows. • Informed executive decision-making regarding IT investments by articulating the benefits of improving home entertainment supply chain operations throughout the full product lifecycle. Worked with key operations personnel to refine critical issues and tailor an analysis that differentiated between opportunities in forecasting, planning, and operations throughout the life of a title, which ultimately contributed to the client’s decision to invest in a new solution.

Representative Projects:• Modeled potential license fees for On-Demand Television Service in six Middle Eastern countries to determine viability of establishing new joint venture, which led to client postponing plans due to concerns about pricing and buy rates needed to meet goals.• Supervised functional design and development of rights licensing prototype for studio’s $900M international television distribution arm. Teamed with sales force to identify ways to improve product and rights management, availability reporting, negotiation, selling, and delivery, which enabled better catalog leverage, increased efficiency, and greater reporting accuracy.• Guided leaders of $6B public educational institution through development of high-level application strategy to improve performance within resource-constrained environment, and developed presentation to help market it. Recommended changes to increase collaboration and improve organizational effectiveness. Oversaw development of cost/benefit analysis.• Developed recommendations used to alter backstage layout for major theme park expansion, which streamlined operations for high-profile theme park attraction while increasing capacity and ease-of-use within limited geographic footprint.• Project managed design and implementation of time collection and payroll processing system for hourly employees at major studio and theme park company. Conceived and conducted quantitative analysis to correct inaccuracies in vendor’s estimates, proactively identifying need for increased capacity to avoid system bottlenecks that would have crippled payroll processing.

Mba, Management

Bachelor'S Degree, Fine & Applied Arts (Concentration In Stage Management & Arts Administration)