Today’s supply chain challenges span nearly every industry and impact the public and private sector alike. Citizens have seen the result of supply chain issues in their daily lives since the pandemic disrupted processes more than three years ago. As a result, global supply chains are under intense pressure, and leading executives are working through that to keep government going.
Supply chain executives oversee their company’s supply chain practices, consolidate buying and streamline purchasing. And they innovate processes with platforms and tools to make operations more efficient. For WashingtonExec’s Top Supply Chain Execs to Watch in 2023, we identified the leaders in GovCon helping federal customers with supply chain risk management, managing procurement processes, centralizing supply chain systems, ensuring technology is getting to where it needs to go, and helping the nation work through unprecedented supply chain challenges.
Amanda Christian
Senior Vice President of Subcontracts, CACI
For over two decades, Amanda Christian has brought transformative change to organizations by improving efficiencies, and this past year was no different. Her focus on strategy, leading cross-functional teams and fostering an environment centered around a bias for action helped establish an enterprisewide shared service center for procurement and, more recently, implemented a supply chain capability that leverages advanced technologies.
Under Christian’s leadership, CACI has introduced a new enterprisewide material requirements planning platform that enables process improvements, increases the transparency of the supply chain and creates more informed decisions during program planning and execution. She also championed and deployed the use of robotic process automation bots to address information flow and has plans to further deploy AI/ML solutions to advance subcontracts and purchasing to increase speed and accuracy, while reducing cost.
“I am passionate about using technology, analytics and continuous process improvements to be a strategic enabler for the business,” she said. “These new tools and resources will help to drive growth and deliver results while enhancing security. With more automation, my team can focus more on addressing complex, ever-changing procurement compliance and regulations.”
Why Watch
Christian’s philosophy is centered on growth for her employees and the business. She cultivates a supportive atmosphere within her teams where members are not only empowered to tackle complex problems, but also take ownership and maintain a strong sense of accountability driven by a proactive mindset.
During its fiscal year 2024, CACI is focused on diversifying the entire supply base, while building strong partnerships to enhance capabilities and meet customers’ needs.
“Amanda’s leadership is a testament to the power of facing challenges head-on and maintaining a bias for action,” said Jackie Harding, CACI executive vice president of business operations. “Her approach not only sparks progress, but also fuels our collective drive to make things happen.”
Billy Harlin
Vice President of Global Supply Chain Management, Amentum
Billy Harlin recently led Amentum’s global supply chain organization through the integration of three major defense industry service companies into one harmonized core as Amentum grew to 44,000 employees across 85 countries on all seven continents.
“My team overcame a multitude of adversities while successfully executing a strategy to synchronize a dispersed supply chain organization, harmonizing hundreds of procedures and legacy processes and multiple business systems, and ultimately fostering the new One Amentum culture,” Billy said.
“Kudos to my expanded teams’ excellent performance, including $2.5 billion in awards, initiation of an enterprise fleet management program, adoption of logistics digitation, enhanced metrics and reduction in total cost of ownership, all while combatting global supply chain challenges.”
Amentum Chief Financial Officer Travis Johnson said he is excited to see where Billy takes Amentum’s global supply chain organization in the future.
“Billy is an innovative leader who has successfully navigated our growing company through major integrations while optimizing our supply chain capabilities in support of customers on no-fail missions of national security,” Johnson said.
Why Watch
In 2023, Billy’s team will focus on building strategic value to enhance business growth, elevating supply chain offerings through innovation and building strategy on risk and resiliency management. Amentum is driving a technology transformation within the company, and Billy sees purpose-driven technology partnerships as a vital element of the supply chain transformation roadmap. His team is also incorporating artificial intelligence and machine learning into sourcing practices to realize increased efficiencies, which allow for maturing Amentum’s partner ecosystem while delivering outstanding business value and building sustainability.
“A leading supply chain organization is underpinned by the cross-functional teams we intersect with every day,” Billy said. “But it’s as much of a contact sport as it is a team sport – we must drive accountability towards our collective objectives of growth and expanded profitability.”
Greg Maxwell
Vice President of Operations Strategy & Global Supply Chain, Northrop Grumman
Greg Maxwell’s team of supply chain professionals managed Northrop Grumman’s large and complex supply chain through unprecedented challenges over the past three years – inflation, long material lead times, electronics and raw material shortages, the “great resignation,” impacts of COVID-19, transportation bottlenecks and the external environment, to name a few.
“Through perseverance, discipline and expanding our supply chain best practices, we are positioning our supply chain to be a differentiator that is able to plan ahead and act fast to mitigate risks and adapt to changes in the market based on what we learned from COVID,” Maxwell said.
Mission Systems Sector Vice President of Operations Scott Crudele said Maxwell and the entire Northrop Grumman supply chain team is modernizing the company’s processes, tools and infrastructure to drive affordability, speed and resiliency.
“This will ensure we can deliver capabilities our customers need to respond to the complex and growing threat environment,” he said.
Why Watch
In 2023, Maxwell’s team is focused on strengthening the company’s supply chain base by partnering with suppliers to assess supply chain risks such as single sources, critical materials, supplier financial health and the external environment. The team members are also incorporating mitigation plans into their business acquisition process and connecting supply chain operations into the digital ecosystem where they design, build, test and collaborate with partners from what Maxwell describes as “a single source of truth, accelerating operations and increasing quality and speed of delivery to our customers.”
Finally, the team is seeking feedback from suppliers through a supplier advisory council and annual supplier survey to help them become the customer of choice for supply chain partners.
“I have been working in supply chain management for more than 20 years, and I have come to realize that supply chain management is a bit like the offensive line of a football team: if we do our jobs well, our team succeeds and Northrop Grumman delivers on our commitments in support of our customers’ missions, though our specific contributions may not be explicitly noticed,” Maxwell said. “However, if something goes wrong with supply chain management, the problem quickly becomes visible. The supply chain management function is a critical, if sometimes unseen, member of our broader team.”
Joseph Niehaus
Senior Vice President of Logistics Solutions, LMI
Joseph Niehaus is a seasoned supply chain professional who recently led an LMI effort that helped reduce supply chain risk and optimized operational resilience for the Office of the Chief Digital and Artificial Intelligence Officer.
Niehaus’s team helped CDAO develop the Parts Replacement Impact Model, achieving important milestones in the development of the Supply Chain Risk Evaluation Environment ⏤ CDAO’s solution for decision-ready supply chain resiliency analytics for the F-35 program. The program integrates data and analytic visualization environments to help identify, prioritize and create models around supply chain risks. CDAO and LMI established a comprehensive supply chain risk management capability for the F-35 by aligning supply chain risk identification, modeling and simulation, and decision support.
“Providing leaders with innovative logistics solutions at the pace of need is critical to enabling success in today’s increasingly contested environments,” said Christen Smith, LMI president of service lines and solutions. “Joe’s commitment to this calling makes it a pleasure to partner with him in supporting this mission.”
Why Watch
In 2023, Niehaus’ team will continue helping LMI’s customer base develop and implement innovative solutions for complex and impactful logistics and supply chain challenges. The team members will continue focusing on helping customers build supply chain resilience and delivering innovative supply chain solutions across the Defense Department and the federal market with increasing agility for accelerated decision-making at the pace of need.
“Our team offers exceptional value,” Niehaus said. “By fielding capabilities faster, advancing the pace of progress, and optimizing performance, we enable our customers to thrive while adapting to evolving mission needs. It’s exciting to watch such passionate professionals deliver high quality work and solve complex problems for our customers.”
Julia Donley
Vice President of Global Supply Chain, Booz Allen Hamilton
Booz Allen has made great strides in securing its supply chain over the past year, and Julia Donley said this has truly been a firmwide achievement.
Donley and her team work closely with the Enterprise Technology Services & Solutions team to ensure they’re closely watching the latest cyber threats and looking for ways to strengthen capabilities like continuous monitoring.
They’re also actively working to launch additional continuous monitoring solutions that help them to more quickly track down details about potentially compromised technology and provide insights into their supplier security posture.
“ETSS works in lockstep with Julia and the global supply chain team, and it’s been an incredibly productive partnership,” said Booz Allen Chief Information Security Officer Amanda Cody. “Booz Allen can’t support its federal government clients’ vital missions without a resilient supply chain, and it’s our teams’ joint mission to govern and protect it.”
Why Watch
Donley’s team is hyperfocused on monitoring the ecosystems of the businesses it works with worldwide, so it can spot anomalies and get ahead of threats. It could involve cyber vulnerabilities in a software product recently bought or an upstream issue with a supplier that might affect Booz Allen’s operational resiliency. For both their client work and their own internal operations, it is more important than ever to connect the dots and understand what’s going on.
“Change is always a constant when it comes to the supply chain and procurement: You’ve got new regulations that affect both prime contractors like Booz Allen and the hundreds of small businesses with which we work, and you have innovative technologies like AI that we need to make sure is being used responsibly,” Donley said.
“Then there’s Booz Allen’s continued shift into offering differentiated technology solutions, which affects everything from our contracts and pricing to what we offer our clients and how we build our workforce. Navigating all this change is complicated and challenging, but that’s what makes my role and work exciting.”
Kent Crabtree
Vice President of Procurement and Vendor Management, Maximus
With nearly two decades of experience in procurement, Kent Crabtree has become a leader in the supply chain space, uniquely understanding the challenges and identifying the solutions.
Crabtree joined Maximus in 2016 and this past year, was promoted to vice president. During his time at Maximus, he has been one of the leaders for the development and implementation of global sourcing strategies for all IT categories across the company.
“One thing I emphasized in my new role was procurement’s value to our business stakeholders and pushing a ‘One Maximus’ focus for all of our vendor-related procurement,” he said.
Under his leadership, the company increased spend under management by 350% while improving its visibility of spend. In particular, Crabtree led the use of Spend Analytics that further deliver value as well as establishing controls and governance.
Why Watch
Entering his second year in the role as vice president, Crabtree’s next focus is to continue bolstering stakeholder engagement and combining separate systems into one Business Spend Management platform. The goal is to develop a single system to streamline processes, improve compliance, governance and decreased risk.
“This will be a one stop shop for all vendor-related spend which will include contract lifecycle management, procure to pay, and risk management,” Crabtree said. “I echo this statement to my team weekly. Focus on core procurement services and drive value every day for your stakeholders and the business. If we don’t drive value, then we are not needed.”
Marty Alverson
Vice President & Chief Procurement Officer, SAIC
Marty Alverson’s biggest recent achievement is leading a team that helped align SAIC’s procurement organization to the business needs. That team’s work has provided a better line of sight to supply chain data that will empower leaders to make increasingly data-driven decisions. This also led to funding approval for system enhancements that will be easier to use for the procurement team and business partners.
Why Watch
Looking ahead, Alverson and his team are focused on operational excellence in a few areas, including:
- Supply chain data that impacts financial performance for SAIC business partners, and
- Development of a more refined category management and supplier relationship management strategy that will provide better supplier performance and deeper discounts with supply chain partners.
Nisa Moore
Business Area Vice President of Diplomacy, GDIT
Nisa Moore is proud of the incorporation of innovation into the nation’s vital supply chains. Her team has worked to enable the government to procure, manage and distribute resources where needed most.
“I am humbled every day that our work has such a significant impact in ensuring life and safety at every U.S. embassy, post and consulate worldwide,” she said.
Moore was recently named to the board of directors for the Association of Supply Chain Management.
“It’s a great honor to advance cross-industry supply chain best practices and organizational transformation in this new role,” she said.
John Ludecke, GDIT vice president and general manager of federal civilian agencies, said: “Every day, Nisa demonstrates what it means to be a leader. As a trusted partner to our customers, she provides supply chain and management expertise to helm one of the largest worldwide supply chain programs for the federal government.”
“She is dedicated to the mission, supporting and growing her team and empowering women in technology, and advancing adoption of technology and innovation,” Ludecke continued. “Her passion for supply chain and people comes through in everything she does, and I’m proud of her invaluable leadership to her team and to GDIT.”
Why Watch
Moore and her team are focused on the intersection of global supply chain with IT, advancing innovation and investment in research and development. GDIT’s digital accelerators are a prime example of how her team is working to accelerate digital transformations and incorporating commercial best practices in areas including 5G, AI, cyber, cloud and application development.
Moore is also strategically aligning people, processes and technology. By intentionally selecting hires and streamlining processes, they are providing the most talent and agility to the mission while driving creativity and enhancing productivity.
“I have a true passion for supply chain and to GDIT,” Moore said. “The support and collaboration from my team motivates me to continue striving for excellence and continually leaning in to providing the best solutions to our customers.”
Paul Ott
Federal Supply Chain & Operations Practice Lead, Accenture Federal Services
Paul Ott and his team are proud of the work they do alongside clients to deliver mission outcomes. This year, they extended into the industrial sector and mission space; applied digital technologies to recruit, train and retain the talent needed in the industrial workforce; and modernized supply chain and maintenance systems to improve outcomes and user experience.
They also used edge technologies to develop and deploy a common operating picture in multiple environments.
“Paul is a dynamic leader who delivers the kind of results that make him a trusted advisor to our clients,” said Keith Runtz, senior managing director and Accenture Federal Services’ defense portfolio lead. “He has pushed our Supply Chain & Operations Practice into new spaces, expanded our ecosystem relationships, and always prioritizes the engagement and development of our people.”
Why Watch
Ott and his team are laser focused on working with clients to extract supply chain value from the digital core. As clients modernize their systems, this includes the use of generative AI and large language models to accelerate business transformation.
Additionally, they believe there is even more potential for smart devices ⏤ which can be securely connected through the industrial Internet of Things ⏤ to capture real-time visibility from the field and synchronize E2E supply chain operations.
“My 11th grade literature teacher would tell our class, ‘No paper is ever finished, but every paper is always due,'” Ott shared. “To me, that quote suggests developing a sense of urgency, putting in your best effort, and overcoming the desire for perfection with the confidence to act.”
Theresa Campobasso
Senior Vice President of Strategy, Exiger Government Solutions
Theresa Campobasso is continuing to leverage her extensive expertise to educate public and private sector customers on how to move beyond a basic compliance-based approach to supply chain risk management and instead adopt a threat-based, risk-informed program to increase transparency, security and resilience while managing costs.
She also implemented measures to improve and enhance internal processes, staff professional development and collaborative partnerships with complementary supply chain risk management solutions. Additionally, Campobasso worked to expand Exiger’s unique supply chain risk management approach to partner government organizations across Europe and Asia.
“Theresa is a leader who effortlessly combines excellence in customer engagement and expertise in the mission,” said Brandon Daniels, Exiger Government Solutions CEO. “She understands that supply chain risk management is a new domain for many of our customers and focuses on education throughout the journey while ensuring we meet program requirements. It makes us better and our clients better.”
Why Watch
In 2023, Campobasso is spearheading additional efforts to transform the way organizations think about supply chain risk management. Exiger provides the largest, most comprehensive corporate and supply chain dataset in the world, and establishes transparency and visibility across a broad, comprehensive set of risk categories to ensure customers have the best supply chain insights to drive actionable decisions on risk mitigation and management.
Developing new strategies to bring Exiger’s end-to-end SCM platform powered by cutting-edge artificial intelligence with item-level analytics, multitier supply chain mapping, and real-time entity-level risk management enables organizations to quickly establish and maintain transparency and trust in their sub-tier supplier networks.
Tony Celeste
Executive Director & General Manager of Public Sector, Ingram Micro Public Sector
Tony Celeste’s biggest recent achievement was leading Ingram Micro’s go-to-market transformation within the public sector, which has been a significant milestone in his career.
His team successfully launched a wholly owned subsidiary dedicated to securing mission-focused technology solutions for the federal, state and local government and education markets.
This endeavor has resulted in consistent year-over-year growth within the public sector business. These achievements have bolstered the company’s competitiveness and enhanced the experience for its ecosystem.
“Under Tony’s leadership, our company’s focus on the public sector has expanded and experienced steady business transformation and growth,” said Craig Birmingham, vice president of U.S. sales at Ingram Micro. “We are committed to powering the world’s technology brands and enabling our channel partners with the mission-focused solutions and services needed within the public sector.”
Why Watch
Celeste and his team are laser-focused on supply chain security and resilience while continuing to deliver innovative mission-enabling technology solutions to the market. They’re excited about the impact of Ingram Micro’s digital experience platform Ingram Micro Xvantage, which is transforming the technology solutions supply chain from transactions to interactions.
Their mission is to create and capture more value for the company’s channel partners, end-user customers and IT manufacturer partners. Ingram Micro Xvantage represents an innovative way to unlock business potential, discover new opportunities and reshape how its partners and customers view their ecosystem.
“I’m deeply honored to be recognized as one of the ‘Top Supply Chain Execs to Watch in 2023,'” Celeste said. “Ingram Micro is redefining IT distribution, and ushering in a new level of supply chain excellence, with our digital experience platform, Ingram Micro Xvantage, and I’m thrilled to see the growing and positive impact this innovative platform brings to the market and specifically the public sector.”
Bob Gemmill
Senior Vice President & Chief Procurement Officer, Leidos
Bob Gemmill and his team recently executed a transformational strategy propelling the organization from a strong sourcing organization to one delivering full spectrum supply chain capabilities contributing to new business wins, cash optimization and supply chain resiliency.
This transformation provides capabilities necessary to address the evolving demands of the Leidos portfolio of solutions.
“Bob’s vision and leadership has brought about a remarkable transformation in our end-to end supply chain capabilities resulting in measurable positive impacts for the business,” said Vicki Schmanske, executive vice president and chief operations officer at Leidos. “His approach to aligning with business priorities and intelligently harnessing new technology empower Bob’s team to be a key differentiator for Leidos and our customer missions.”
Why Watch
In 2023, Gemmill and his team partnered with the CIO and CFO teams to design new technology solutions that will enhance cybersecurity, efficiencies and cash flow along the entirety of the source-to-pay continuum. Thanks to a collaborative cross-functional approach, Leidos’ supply chain-related technology investments are on budget and on schedule, with the first of multiple deployments occurring in November. From a people perspective, these investments enable supply chain professionals within Leidos to move further up the value stack for the business.
“There has never been a more exciting time for supply chain,” Gemmill said. “Global macro events over the past four years have thrust supply chain into the spotlight with visibility up through the CEO and board of directors. The companies that are winning today and in the future are those with differentiated supply chain capabilities contributing to technical and financial performance.”
