Executive Summary
After a cautious March, April shows positive signs that the uncertainty of the Gulf conflict may be easing, with the market once again returning to strength.
While late March and early April were marked by high profile hiring freezes and paused searches, we are seeing companies return to the market. Ultimately, strong Supply Chain leadership is a critical element in navigating complex geopolitical crises!
Chief Procurement Officer hiring continues to be a defining trend of 2026 so far, alongside continued Private Equity-driven demand for operational leaders capable of delivering transformation at pace. At the same time, some multinational corporates are reactivating succession plans and replacing long-tenured leadership as confidence slowly returns to the market.
This Month’s Takeaways
April saw another strong month of executive movement across the Supply Chain and Procurement landscape, with a particularly high volume of Chief Procurement Officer appointments.
Consumer and Life Sciences businesses were especially active, with particularly high levels of activity in the QSR and Medical Devices industries, while PE-backed organisations continued to drive significant demand for operational transformation talent.
Here’s a snapshot of the latest C-suite moves:
🏠 SharkNinja: Jane Liang joins as Global Chief Supply Chain Officer, from Diageo
🌳 TreeHouse Foods: Jonathan Ingram joins as Chief Procurement & Supply Chain Officer, from Winland Foods
🏭 Masco Corporation : Steven Nikolopoulos joins as Chief Procurement Officer, from Newell Brands
🏥 Vital Healthcare: Elise McManus joins as Chief Operating Officer, from Convatec
💉Convatec : Peter Jarvis joins as Chief Operating Officer, from Vantive
☕ Dutch Bros Coffee: Katie Radtke joins as Chief Supply Chain Officer, from Restaurant Supply Chain Solutions
☕ Starbucks: Karoline Dygas joins as Chief Procurement Officer, from Nordstrom
🧪 Arclin: Jeff Fleck joins as Chief Operating Officer, from Quaker Houghton
🔬 Olympus Corporation: David M. Shan joins as Executive Officer, Chief Manufacturing and Supply Chain Officer, from BD
🥐 Sara Lee Frozen Bakery: Matt Savage joins as Chief Supply Chain Officer, from Seviroli Foods
💊 Opella: Panos Anastasiou joins as Chief Procurement Officer, from McCain Foods
🎤 Shure: Phil McPhee joins as Chief Supply Chain Officer, from Tymphany
📰 Koenig & Bauer: Dominik Horsch joins as Chief Procurement Officer, from Voith Hydro
🍺 Reyes Beverage Group: Laurens van de Rotte joins as Chief Supply Chain Officer, from Heineken
🦽 Permobil: Ana Lopez, MBA joins as Chief Operating Officer, from Unilever
Regional Snapshot
While volatility remains, momentum has returned somewhat following a muted March. While geopolitical uncertainty in the Gulf is far from resolved, tensions have somewhat eased, allowing organisations to regain confidence and re-engage critical hiring processes. We are once again seeing companies return to market, particularly for senior Supply Chain, Procurement and Operations leadership roles viewed as essential to navigating ongoing disruption and maintaining operational resilience.
Hiring is still highly cautious with significant scrutiny and layers of checks and approvals. There is a clear shift towards prioritising critical leadership hires that directly impact operational resilience, transformation execution and long-term supply chain stability.
North America has seen a high level of activity in April. With a high demand for Supply Chain, Procurement and Manufacturing leadership across the US, many large corporates are continuing to re-engage in hiring after restructuring and hiring freezes of 2025. Continued momentum from Private Equity-backed businesses building out their operating teams continues to see larger listed organisations losing talent to PE-backed companies, driving further hiring in the larger corporates. 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 continued to remain busy, although we have seen some hiring caution. Activity has been strongest across DACH and Benelux, particularly within industrial and manufacturing-led businesses. Switzlerand has also seen a flurry of activity with some key appointments in the Life Sciences space. Centre-of-Excellence hiring continues to be a priority for many organisations, with investment in regional hubs, in Iberia and Eastern Europe. The UK has also seen an increase in activtiy, as has France, ahead of a likely quiet May.
Asia has seen more caution as a result of growing impacts driven by the Strait of Hormuz shutdown. There have been a number of hiring freezes and pauses noted by major multinationals and regional players, however we are still seeing hiring in key locations. Demand remains strongest in Southeast Asia, particularly for manufacturing, planning and procurement leadership. Singapore and Hong Kong continue to play a central role for regional leadership positions, and India has also seen a high level of activity for shared service centre roles and senior leadership roles.
The GCC has seen a slight increase in activity, however there are still high levels of uncertainty around the state of the market and the immediate future of hiring in the region. Hiring processes that we are aware of have been paused, with certain roles cancelled or delayed. However, there are some companies returning to hire, and a level of normalcy returning to the region.
Functional Hiring Trends
In the wake of market circumstances, there has been some change in functional hiring trends. In particular, mission-critical roles are being prioritised, with strategic transformation roles often paused or "placed on the backburner". This is quickly changing, but the key roles in demand that we see currently are:
- Plant Directors and Plant Director-1 talent once again remain in critically short supply, driving salary inflation, higher relocation packages, and increased retention challenges. Competition is particularly intense for leaders with strong manufacturing credentials, language skills and local market knowledge.
- HSE and Quality leadership are in demand - even during hiring freezes and slowdowns, these critical roles must be brought in, and these functions remain relatively busy irregardless of market circumstances.
- Procurement leadership remains firmly in the spotlight, with exceptionally high levels of CPO hiring across Q1, continuing into April. We are seeing high levels of demand for Indirect Procurement leaders, in particularly within Capex and MRO and Logistics categories.
- Transformation and M&A-experienced leaders continue to be highly attractive, fuelled by sustained Private Equity activity across multiple sectors.
We expect to see demand return for Strategy, Digital and Transformation leaders across end-to-end Supply Chain and Digitisation programmes in May, but these roles are some of the first to be paused during any hiring slowdown.
Outlook for May
As geopolitical uncertainty becomes more common, these predictions become harder and harder to make accurately!
May generally is a very busy month, with April often being "bonus season" and many moves happening in May. All market indications point towards May being a busy month, with Q2 seeing a continued increase in activity, as companies cautiously lift hiring freezes that were in place for 4-6 weeks during the conflict.
However, this optimism is highly cautious, and can be impacted by geopolitical or financial market factors very quickly.
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!