Executive Summary
2026 has gotten off to a very dynamic start. While we've seen the highest volume of appointments since beginning this report, we've also seen huge turbulence in the geopolitical landscape, and questions over the state of the market in the rest of the year.
While January, February and March saw huge levels of activity, we are now beginning to hear caution in the market as the conflict in Iran looks set to continue into Q2.
This Quarter's Takeaways
Across Q1, we have now tracked 72 Executive Leadership appointments across Supply Chain, Procurement and Operations globally – representing an ~85% YoY increase versus Q1 2025.
Notably, we have tracked a huge 31 Chief Procurement Officer appointments globally in Q1 with Procurement appointments making up a substantial portion of overall Supply Chain, Operations & Procurement hires tracked - 43% - rather than the average of 18% tracked last year.
Consumer industries continue to lead, comprising 40% of the moves, with Industrials seeing a significant increase to 35%. Pharma & Life Sciences made up 14%, with the remaining 11% split across Technology, Logistics and Others.
Below is a summary of March's moves. Please feel free to reach out, or refer to February & January's report for the full list of 72 movements.
- Giorgio Armani: Klaus Bierbrauer joins as Deputy Managing Director & Chief Industrial & Supply Chain Officer, from Burberry
- TreeHouse Foods: Daniela Vonghia joins as Chief Operations Officer, from her role at Del Monte Foods
- Freshpet: Ana Lopez joins as SVP Supply Chain, from Unilever
- Maker's Pride: Desmond Fernando joins as Chief Procurement Officer, from Lamb Weston
- GE HealthCare: Arun TV joins as Chief Procurement Officer, from Honeywell Aerospace
- GSK: Sally Macaluso joins as Chief Procurement Officer, from GE HealthCare
- Ariston Group: Ilyas Kil joins as Chief Procurement Officer, from Beko Europe
- Cushman & Wakefield: Angela Zou joins as Chief Procurement Officer, from Schneider Electric
- Rolls-Royce: Heather Ostis joins as Chief Procurement Officer (Aerospace, Civil & Defence), from Starbucks
- Selecta: Zora Hadden joins as Chief Procurement Officer, from Coty
- O-I: Darren Lythgoe joins as Chief Procurement Officer, from Essity
- Orkla Foods: Renata Silva joins as Chief Procurement Officer, from Kraft Heinz
- CompuGroup Medical SE & Co. KGaA: Martin Vajdl joins as Chief Procurement Officer, from MULTIPLAI
- Plix: Sanket Baranwal joins as Chief Supply Chain Officer, from Procter & Gamble
- International: Sebastian Leger joins as Chief Procurement Officer, from MAN Truck & Bus
- KOROZO GROUP: Kaan Dikmen joins as Chief Supply Chain Officer, from Eczacıbaşı
- Şişecam: Enis Kökeş joins as Chief Procurement Officer, from Beko Europe
- MyDefence: Tomas Schiønning joins as Chief Operating Officer, from Ambu
- Verizon: Cyril Pourrat joins as SVP Global Sourcing & Supply Chain, from BT
- Thorne: Martin A. Gonzalez Barcha joins as Chief Supply Chain Officer, from Nature’s Sunshine
Regional Snapshot
While volatility remains, momentum has been sustained throughout the full first quarter, even as geopolitical uncertainty has increased significantly following escalating tensions in the Gulf. At this stage, outside of the Gulf itself, we are not seeing a direct impact on hiring demand, however companies are beginning to consider their next steps carefully. The conflict is clearly influencing how organisations are operating; leadership teams are spending more time focused on risk, continuity and supplier exposure, which is beginning to slow decision-making and extend hiring timelines.
Rather than pulling back, organisations are becoming more deliberate. There is a clear shift towards prioritising critical hires that directly impact resilience, cost control and operational stability, with greater scrutiny on both role definition and candidate profile.
North America has led activity across the quarter, with strong demand for both Supply Chain and Procurement leadership. The US remains highly active, supported by a combination of large corporates re-engaging in hiring after restructuring and hiring freezes, and continued momentum from Private Equity-backed businesses building out their operating teams. Canada has followed a similar trend, while Mexico continues to attract investment as a key location for manufacturing and shared services, particularly across procurement and customer operations.
Europe has shown a clear recovery compared to last year, with hiring levels remaining stable throughout the quarter rather than concentrated in short bursts. Activity has been strongest across DACH and Benelux, particularly within industrial and manufacturing-led businesses. We are also seeing continued investment in regional hubs, with Iberia and Eastern Europe benefiting from shared service and centre-of-excellence activity. The UK remains more balanced, with steady hiring at mid to senior levels, while France has seen increased activity compared to 2025.
Asia has seen a more gradual ramp-up in activity than expected. While hiring has started post-Lunar New Year, leaders in Asia are heavily focused on resilience and continuity in the face of the current geopolitical conditions. Demand remains strongest in India and Southeast Asia, particularly for manufacturing, planning and procurement leadership. Singapore and Hong Kong continue to play a central role for regional leadership positions, and have begun to see a significant increases in interest from candidates looking to relocate away from the Gulf.
The GCC has naturally seen a decline in activity. Hiring processes that we are aware of have been paused in some cases, with certain roles cancelled or delayed, and a number of multinational leaders temporarily relocating amidst ongoing security concerns. The region is likely to remain a highly important strategic hub long term, however, given the complexity and rapidly evolving nature of the situation, it is too early to credibly assess how the market will develop from here.
Functional Hiring Trends
As companies begin to increase their hiring activity, we are seeing demand for certain roles create talent bottlenecks and skillsets in high demand.
- Procurement has been central in Q1, with incredibly high levels of Chief Procurement Officer hiring. This has also continued further down the organisation, with ongoing high demand for Procurement Excellence and Procurement Digitisation talent as companies prepare to embark on AI enabled digital roadmaps.
- In addition to top level Procurement leadership, we have seen a high demand for Category Leadership within CapEx, Facilities and Manufacturing, likely linking to trends in manufacturing efficiency and expansion. With the current ongoing crisis, there is also a high demand for Logistics Procurement leadership to manage ballooning costs and flow of goods.
- We have also seen a marked increase in the amount of Indirect Procurement leadership roles coming to market, with a high demand for leaders able to lead at CPO-1 level.
- There remains very strong demand for Plant Director and Plant Director -1 talent, leading to increasing salaries, high relocation bonuses, and increased difficulty in retention. The demand for this talent is skyrocketing, with heavy competition for strong manufacturing leaders with language skills and local knowledge.
- In addition to Plant leadership talent, we have seen an increase in demand for Engineering, Automation and Manufacturing 4.0 leadership as companies continue to invest in optimisation and digitisation of manufacturing across their networks.
- Shared Service Centre functions continue to be in high demand, particularly in India and Mexico.
- Transportation and Trade Compliance roles are back in high demand, with a particular focus on resilience of logistics network and cost control.
- Leaders with M&A experience remain in high demand, driven by continued high levels of Private Equity activity and the high levels of acquisitions and divestments seen by major multinationals.
Outlook for Q2
The market has seen a significant increase in activity Q1 this year, however it is hard to know the full effects of the current situation in the Middle East. While we cautiously expect this momentum to continue into Q2, this could change quickly as the situation escalates and further impacts commodity and share prices.
If you would like to discuss these trends in the context of your own organisation, explore specific regional insights, or have any further questions, please feel free to reach out.
Thank you for reading!
Sam