Executive Summary
After a cautious end to Q1, May appears to reinforce the positive signs in the market that April saw emerge. Despite the uncertainty of the Gulf conflict seeming to continue, companies appear to be settling into the new reality of the market, and many hiring projects appear to be pushing ahead, albeit with high levels of caution.
May was dominated by Chief Supply Chain Officer hiring, including within a number of high-profile, major multinational organisations. Chief Procurement Officer hiring continues to be seen, but returning to slightly lower levels, and while Private Equity are still driving a large amount of hiring, appointments to major listed organisations such as Target, Hershey's, Edgewell and Medtronic are showing returning hiring confidence in the larger multinationals.
This Month’s Takeaways
May saw another strong month of executive movement across the Supply Chain and Procurement landscape, with a particularly high volume of Chief Supply Chain officer appointments.
Retail, Consumer and Life Sciences businesses remain the most active, with a higher-than-usual volume of moves in the Automotive space. PE-backed organisations continued to drive significant demand for operational transformation talent across Europe and North America.
Here’s a snapshot of the latest C-suite moves in May:
- The Hershey Company: Mitch Arends joins as Chief Supply Chain Officer, from his previous role as Chief Integrated Supply Chain Officer of Utz Brands
- Target: Jeff England joins as EVP & Chief Global Supply Chain and Logistics Officer, from QXO
- Edgewell Personal Care: Anthony Freve joins as Chief Supply Chain Officer from his role in Perrigo
- Medtronic: Rogerio Branco joins as Chief Operations & Supply Chain Officer, from Eaton
- Pret A Manger: Stefan Porter joins as Chief Supply Chain Officer, from Azzurri Group
- Vertiv: Frieda He joins as Chief Procurement Officer, from Polestar
- Solabia Group: Yann Le Roy joins as Chief Operations Officer, from Danone
- Rubix Foods: Christian Etique joins as SVP Supply Chain, from Proximo Spirits
- IDAK Food Group: Iñaki Balduz joins as Group COO, from Schoeller Allibert
- Alliander: Anita Arts steps in as Chief Procurement Officer a.i., from Unilabs
- Atmus Filtration Technologies: Kevin Carpenter joins as SVP & Chief Supply Chain Officer, from The Toro Company
- Unigen Corporation: Greg E. joins as Chief Supply Chain Officer, from Celestica
- Partner in Pet Food (PPF): Robert Pekar joins as COO, from Mars
- Global Industrial Company: Jude Buquid joins as Chief Supply Chain Officer, from Sonepar USA
- Gestamp: Marcus Bjorn joins as Chief Procurement Officer, from INEOS Automotive
- Agilent Technologies: Matthew Rootberg joins as Chief Procurement Officer, from Baxter
Regional Snapshot
While volatility remains clear in the market, May did see a return to hiring for many organisations who had looked to hiring freezes. While geopolitical uncertainty in the Gulf is seemingly far from resolved, organisations have in many cases resolved to push ahead with critical Supply Chain leadership irregardless; in such a market, a robust, resilient Supply Chain and Procurement organisation is essential.
Hiring remains highly cautious, and as market conditions change (geopolitical and economic) the cautious hiring we have seen so far could be paused or cancelled.
North America has continued to lead hiring volumes through May, with large listed corporates re-engaging in higher numbers. Private Equity-backed businesses remain highly active – creating a dual dynamic in which PE firms are drawing talent away from listed companies, which in turn triggers further replacement hiring. Canada has followed a broadly similar trajectory. Mexico continues to attract manufacturing and shared services investment, with procurement and customer operations roles particularly in demand.
Europe has retained some momentum, although does still appear to be fairly low in terms of absolute volumes. Activity continues in DACH and Benelux, and Switzerland has seen a notable cluster of activity, particularly in Life Sciences and Consumer spaces. Centre-of-Excellence hiring continues to support investment in Iberia and Eastern Europe. The UK has seen a surprising increase in activity, counter to challenging economic reports, and France has seen increased movement. Overall, Europe is moving, but hiring is characterised by greater deliberateness and high levels of caution, with low total volumes of hiring when compared to previous years.