September has confirmed the rebound we saw emerging in August. Hiring activity across Supply Chain and Procurement is now firmly back on the agenda, with a significant uptick in both advertised roles and confidential searches. After the summer lull, particularly in Europe, we’ve seen a concentrated burst of activity in September, while North America and Asia continue to build momentum.
That said, scrutiny remains high. Hiring cycles are longer, decision-making involves multiple layers of sign-off, and the bar for senior appointments continues to rise. The theme is not volume hiring but rather strategic, business-critical leadership roles that drive transformation, resilience, efficiency and impact.
This Month's Takeaways
We've seen a particularly high volume of movement at Chief Procurement Officer level in September, reflecting the investment companies are making in digital Procurement transformation and leadership, as well as high levels of activity from Consumer Goods companies, with significant changes for major multinationals at C Suite this month.
Outside of Supply Chain, Q3 has seen a huge volume of CEO movements in major FMCG businesses; the impact of which for Supply Chain and Procurement leaders I will explore further in my Quarterly Update.
Executive Moves
It’s been a very active September for senior Supply Chain and Procurement leadership changes, particularly across Consumer Goods:
- O-I: Donato Giorgio joins as Chief Supply Chain Officer, from his role leading Supply Chain at Essity
- Bacardi: Nicole Zukowski promoted to Chief Supply Chain Officer, while Dave Ingram transitions to Chief People & Business Transformation Officer
- Grocery Outlet: Scott Fremont joins as Chief Supply Chain Officer, from his previous role at Target
- Tyson Foods: Devin Cole steps into the role of Chief Operating Officer, following the departure of the previous CSCO due to a breach of conduct
- Borealis: Frederik Spiekermann joins as Chief Procurement Officer
- Performance Beauty Group: Kavien Martin joins as Chief Supply Chain & Manufacturing Officer
- TRATON GROUP / MAN Truck & Bus SE: Karl Bernqvist appointed Chief Purchasing Officer, succeeding Murat Aksel
- GE HealthCare: Vanish Dabra joins as Chief Procurement Officer – Imaging
- Tokmanni: Nina Anttila joins as Chief Supply Chain Office
- Verkkokauppa.com: Anne-Mari Paapio joins as Chief Supply Chain Officer
- Otto Group: Martin Umland appointed Group Vice President of Supply Chain
- SIG plc: Darin Evans joins as Chief Procurement Officer
- Cloetta: Andy Row joins as Chief Operating Officer/CSCO, from his role at Müller Milk & Ingredients
- Ornua: Jason Musk joins as Chief Operating Officer
- Cascades: Fabrice Blanc joins as Chief Procurement Officer
- tonies®: Tim Lange joins as Chief Operating Officer
- Springer Nature: Paul Davis joins as Chief Procurement Officer
Another exceptionally busy month, with September rivaling July and August for the highest number of senior appointments this year, and Q3 seeing incredibly high levels of activity, providing an optimistic outlook for C-1 and C-2 roles in Q4.
Regional Snapshot:
- North America's rebound continues, with maintained levels of momentum in September. Senior Executives remain in demand, with companies continuing to come to market to hire senior Supply Chain leadership to ensure a resilient, agile Supply Chain in the face of uncertainty.
- Europe has picked up dramatically, with a high volume of moves in September and substantial increase in roles, both advertised and confidential, following the summer period. European companies, similarly to those in North America, are returning to the table to hire, and we expect to see a high volume of activity in Q4.
- Asia Pacific remains a highly active market, with substantial hiring in the face of regional diversification and strategic reconfiguration. I expect we will continue to see high volumes of activity at C-1 and C-2 level, and high demands for strong Supply Chain, Manufacturing and Procurement leadership, particularly local and language-speaking talent.
- The GCC continues to remain active, with a high demand for top Supply Chain and Operations talent as the region continues to develop and grow.
Functional Trends:
While demand for top-level supply chain leadership continues to rise, September saw a subtantial number of Chief Procurement Officer moves, and with the high volume of Chief Supply Chain and COO movements in Q3, we expect to see a large increase in the C-1 and C-2 levels.
Procurement Leadership is highly in demand, particularly those who can lead and execute digital transformations and strategic iniatives to increase resilience and divserification. With the increase in CPO appointments comes a demand for VP and Senior Director level talent, and I expect we will see Procurement get significantly busier in Q4.
Integrated Supply Chain and Manufacturing leadership remains a high priortiy, with a demand for leaders who can blend Supply Chain and Manufacturing leadership, both at C Suite, and VP level. The ability to walk the shop floor of a manufacturing plant, as well as the floor of the boardroom is increasingly important for many companies.
Technology & Data Leadership remains a critical aspect of many companies transformations as they either near conclusions on digitisation programmes, or invest in new emerging technologies. There is increasing appetite for supply chain technology and data talent with experience in digitisation, analytics, ML/AI, and IBP transformation.
Conclusions & October Outlook
As we move into October, I remain optimistic about the state of the market. The high volume of C Suite movement seen in Q3 is indicative of a return to confidence in hiring, and with C Suite movement, comes changes in C-1 Leadership teams and below.
Thank you for reading!