Head Gardener

Operations, Inventory, Procurement and Supply Chain Management at the premier Apple Reseller in the Four Corners area. Located in downtown Durango, Colorado.

• Responsible for leading global commodity teams in defining and developing comprehensive and scalable sourcing strategies for Embedded Computing systems based on Intel microprocessor/x-86 architecture and technolgoy roadmap.. Focus on high-level assemblies such as servers, network switches and telecommunications equipment (data center, back haul, etc.) with global OEMs.• Set up Commodity teams as the key focal point for decision-making, quality/cost tracking and complexity management with OEMs.• Managed key suppliers through development of strong relationships through to the Executive Level.• Lead cost negotiations based on volumes to meet or beat market pricing. Consistently meet Q/Q goals of 2 – 3 % cost down. Attained ~9% annualized and pre-negotiated savings for 2013.• Provide key support in all New Product Introduction phases in a cost-conscious, quality-driven manner, guiding Engineering to Preferred Suppliers as necessary.• Aligned key suppliers with Juniper’s technology roadmap.• Develop logistics and flexibility models globally to address and streamline material acquisition processes through SMI/VMI, hubbing and other strategies.

This was a contract with Blue Shield to provide support on the roll-out of a new system to support all Blue Shield members with their medical files. The job involved workforce management, IT contracting, consultant agreements, hardware sourcing etc. to support this major software release and new data center at Blue Shield.

Analyzed, improved, and documented shipping and receiving, logistics and traffic, and inventory control processes.Led cross-functional teams in vendor qualification assessments, including: researching new business segments, RFP development, vendor ranking analysis and final selections. Coordinated the transfer of manufacturing to offshore facilities as the phase of production moved to volume demand.Key Accomplishments:Developed a number of best practices and scalable processes for the supply chain, including purchase order administration, inventory control, and logistics initiatives to support growth of company.Led program to offshore low-level assembly of manufacturing to China and Mexico, cultivating relationships with quality suppliers willing to work in lower volume manufacturing, negotiating contracts.Instrumental in bringing three new products to market by providing a full range of logistics and procurement/supply chain services.

Managed Key Supplier Relations with commodities such as OEM/ODM, Power Supplies, Optical Transceivers and Metal Fabrication for a mid-sized Network Switching company completing against Cisco.

In this position with a small, tightly held private company, my most important challenge was establishing a strong team and increasing the scope and importance of Supply Chain Management in a fast-growing company specializing in advanced mechanical engineering projects for companies like Lucent Technologies, Applied Materials and Boeing.Extensive OEM (robotics and advanced machine control), advanced machining and tooling, disk drive, computer systems and advanced telecommunications systems procurement experience was required for this position. I also managed software procurement and outsourced documentation and print production.

Managed a team of Supply Chain professionals including Commodity Managers and Supplier Quality Engineers focusing on Electro-Mechanical assemblies, Disk Drives, Power Supplies, Chassis, Cables, Backplanes, etc. Managed Box-Build for Standard Products.