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Message from the
CEO
Good news, friends! The awakening we need is happening! Procurement and supply chain professionals, along with the sustainability staff, budget holders, and suppliers they work with, are increasingly recognizing the uniquely powerful role that professionally-managed purchasing plays in shaping the sustainability of our world. Every day, more professionals are taking action to transform their organization's purchasing processes into a powerful force for good. I say that having had the privilege over that last month of traveling to meet with global procurement and supply chain movers and shakers gathered at conferences in Europe and on the east, west, and gulf coasts of the United States.
One of the most gratifying parts of my travels was meeting with so many of SPLC's 200 members along the way, many of whom had inspiring stories to tell about the action they are taking. Attending the trade show at the National Minority Supplier Development Conference in Austin last week, it took all day for Sarah O'Brien and I to drop-in and hear the latest news from the 28 SPLC members that had booths there, such as Accenture. (Welcome to Jan Accornero, the newest member of Accenture's growing sustainable purchasing team!) Sarah and I left Austin thinking deeply about how we can better aggregate and share all the great work that all of you are doing. Stay tuned!
Because our 2019 Summit will be in Portland in May (20-22nd), I want to evidence the inspiring work that our members are doing by sharing a story from my meeting with Multnomah County's Chief Procurement Officer, Brian Smith, and his team. After identifying that the diverse workforce goals they've been putting in their construction contracts were being undermined by unhealthy workplace cultures on construction sites, the County is piloting a new requirement in its construction contracts: mandatory Green Dot Violence Prevention certification for all construction contractors and workers. It's a ground-breaking collaboration with Oregon Tradeswomen and Alteristic, which developed the evidence-based Green Dot certification program to address harassment, bullying, and bystander acceptance of it. I hope the idea spreads because the early results are very encouraging!
As I traveled to conferences, it was also a great privilege to stop in on nearby SPLC members to share inspirational stories and strategic advice with their larger procurement and supply chain team members. I gave a breakfast talk to 80 members of ExxonMobil's internal Global Sustainable Purchasing Advocate Network at their campus outside of Houston, and then met separately with the company's top category managers in the afternoon. Thanks to Nancy Swartout, Liana Alvarez, and Lauren Zimmerman for setting that up. If you would like to have SPLC come present to your team or an audience you'll be convening, please fill out our speaker request form.
Presenting at SPLC's 500-person Sustainable Purchasing Summit next May is one great opportunity to share you and your team's work! The deadline for our Call for Presentations is Nov 9th. Sponsoring and exhibiting is another great way to share your work, so don't wait to secure your spot.
 As always, thanks for reading SPLC UPDATE.
Sam Hummel, CEO & President |
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Please Welcome Sarah O'Brien,
SPLC's New Director of Programs!
 As SPLC's Director of Programs, Sarah is responsible for ensuring that SPLC's many programs empower procurement and supply chain professionals around the globe to successfully implement high-impact sustainable purchasing practices. Sarah is an expert on sustainable purchasing and specifically on the procurement of more sustainable electronics. Prior to joining SPLC she was Director of the multi-stakeholder Clean Electronics Production Network (CEPN) working on the elimination of worker exposure to toxic chemicals in the electronics supply chain. For more than a decade previously, Sarah led global purchaser engagement with the EPEAT sustainable procurement tool for the Green Electronics Council. Earlier, Sarah developed and managed the Environmentally Preferable Purchasing program of the nonprofit Hospitals for a Healthy Environment (now renamed Practice Greenhealth) and served as a Senior Outreach Associate for INFORM’s PBT-free purchasing program, working with states across the country on reducing their procurement of products containing mercury and other persistent toxics. Sarah has a BA from Yale University and a Masters degree in anthropology from Temple University.
“I am excited to be coming back to my roots in the sustainable procurement movement, and to bring my experience with startup and next stage ventures into the mix,” says Sarah. “I look forward to nurturing SPLC’s overall program development with an eye to systems thinking and impact, building on the great work already done by SPLC staff, board and our fantastic membership.”
Please send Sarah a warm welcome at sarah@sustainablepurchasing.org!
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This year’s program will feature several different presentation types:
- Interactive Workshops (60 mins)
- Full Panel Sessions (60 mins)
- Lightning Talks (10-15 mins + 5 mins Q&A)
- Innovation Accelerator Roundtables (10 min presentation + 20 min discussion)
We're looking for presentations on a variety of themes.
The presentation proposal deadline is November 9th!
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Interested in a Sustainable Purchasing Program Development Workshop with your team?
 This month, SPLC BENCHMARK Program Manager Kris Spriano hosted a two-hour workshop at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, MA. MIT has been doing great work in sustainable purchasing for years. Their decentralized purchasing team wished to leverage SPLC BENCHMARK to establish a common program language and inspire a more formal, organization-wide sustainable purchasing program.
"[The workshop] helped us all learn about so many current activities underway and identify areas of further learning. And, the workshop identified those activities that can contribute towards a more robust sustainable procurement program. I’m optimistic that it’s also inspired folks to see what’s possible!" - Brian Goldberg, Office of Sustainability, MIT
SPLC appreciates MIT's leadership in providing us with the opportunity to pilot this workshop!
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SPLC Welcomes 5 New Members
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Jobs in Sustainable Purchasing
Nike - Supply Chain Innovation & Sustainability Manager
Location: Beaverton, OR
Responsibilities: As the North America Supply Chain Innovation & Sustainability Manager, you will partner with teams across North America supply chain to drive our innovation and sustainability agenda. You will work with individuals from Logistics, Transportation, Direct-to-Consumer, and Sales as well as the Sustainable Business & Innovation team and other global partners.
Levi Strauss - Analyst, Sustainability
Location: San Francisco, CA
Responsibilities: We are looking for a Sustainability Analyst who will bring clarity, organization and technical environmental knowledge to our team. This very exciting position will play a key role in LS & Co.’s sustainability initiatives, including our aggressive targets for reducing carbon emissions by 2025.
NRG - Senior Sustainability Advisor
Location: Houston, TX
Responsibilities: First, you will be a member of NRG’s growing Sustainable Energy Advisory as one of its consultants. Second, as a deal team member for the Business Solutions business unit, you will work with an internal deal team to close energy procurement deals. Third, the Senior Sustainability Advisor will support the execution of the NRG Energy’s sustainability strategy as well as research and engage in external thought leadership forums, which may include publishing written content and participating in public engagements.
Portland Metro - Procurement Analyst
Location: Portland, OR
Sustainability Responsibilities: Ability to fulfill Metro's employee values of public service, excellence, teamwork, respect, innovation and sustainability
BlackRock - Associate, Procurement & Sourcing
Location: New York, NY
Sustainability Responsibilities: Support the Category Manager to enhance the network of key internal stakeholders within BlackRock to ensure the value of engaging SVM is understood within this category area – such as championing the benefits of best-in-class strategic sourcing principles and practices and the importance of appropriate supplier relationships to ensure sustainability.
Impossible Foods - Associate Sourcing Manager, Innovation Sourcing
Location: Redwood City, CA
Responsibilities: You will: Identify and manage food technology and ingredient categories that are relevant to Impossible to support its future growth; Collaborate with R&D and other key stakeholders to develop and implement strategic business plans and roadmaps with respect to ingredients and new food technology platforms.
Have a sustainable purchasing-related job announcement you'd like to advertise to SPLC's readership? Let us know. |
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News You Can Use
The Green Electronics Council Launches a New Server Product Category in EPEAT
The launch of the new server category on the EPEAT Registry allows purchasers to search, compare, and select server products according to their life cycle environmental and social impacts. Products that are featured in the EPEAT Server category must meet at least 23 required environmental and social performance criteria. Check it out in the Servers section of the EPEAT Registry.
Province of British Columbia's leading labor policy
A new, landmark agreement for key public-sector infrastructure projects in B.C. will deliver good-paying jobs, better training and apprenticeships, and more trades opportunities for Indigenous peoples, women and youth around the province.
Academic Research Paper on Purchasing for the Circular Economy
Titled, "Exploiting the Potential of Public Procurement: Opportunities for Circular Economy," this paper was published in the Journal for Industrial Ecology and includes work from Swedish, Danish, and Finnish researchers.
Take the GreenBiz Survey on how global companies promote energy efficiency
GreenBiz is conducting a research project to help determine how global companies purchase energy, promote energy efficiency and operate more sustainably. This web survey will provide a set of best practices on how large companies execute on energy and sustainability initatives including developing a business case, securing funding and strategically using data. The survey is relatively brief and should take only 5-10 minutes to complete. Feel free to forward the survey link to members of your energy, sustainability, procurement or finance teams. Please be assured that the survey data collected is completely confidential.
SPLC Member Climate Earth launches Green Concrete Concrete Calculator
The free Green Concrete Selector gives users access to embodied carbon data for 20,000 concrete mixes from across the U.S. from innovative low carbon producers. With instant access to current mix designs for any strength, architects and engineers can see the range of embodied carbon possible and specify lower carbon mixes with confidence.
Have a news item you'd like to pass along to SPLC's readership? Let us know. |
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Upcoming Conferences
SPLC staff and members will be attending and presenting at these conferences. Let us know if you'll be there too!
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