Head of Procurement
I joined Tenet in January 2015 as a Procurement Consultant, after almost ten years in public sector procurement within the NHS, and this was the point where my career began to broaden further into education procurement. I supported colleges and education clients with a wide range of activity, including spend analysis, tendering, supplier engagement, contract management and savings delivery. I quickly found that I enjoyed the variety of the role and the opportunity to work closely with customers, understand their challenges and provide practical support that made a real difference to their day-to-day operations. This gave me a strong foundation in education procurement and helped shape the practical, customer-focused and solutions-led approach that I still bring to my work today.
In April 2017, I was promoted to Regional Procurement Manager, leading Procurement Consultants across the North of England. Although this was a significant step in my procurement career, I had already gained experience of managing people from the age of 21 in previous roles, so I was able to bring that early leadership experience into the way I supported and guided the team. The role allowed me to move from being responsible for my own delivery to helping others succeed in theirs. I continued to develop my leadership style through coaching, problem-solving and helping colleagues build confidence, while also maintaining strong relationships with clients, suppliers and internal stakeholders. It was during this period that I began to understand how much I enjoyed supporting people to succeed, alongside delivering high-quality procurement services.
When Tenet joined with Crescent Purchasing Consortium in 2020, it marked a significant period of change, both organisationally and personally. I supported the transition of Tenet activity into CPC, helping to maintain continuity for clients and colleagues while aligning processes, protecting service quality and contributing to the wider integration of services. It was a challenging but positive period, and it gave me the opportunity to become more involved in CPC’s wider purpose as a charity, supporting the education sector not just through procurement, but through the broader value CPC delivers to its members.
Since joining Crescent Purchasing Consortium, my career has continued to develop and broaden. As Head of Procurement, I led Managed Services North and the On Demand team through periods of change, rebuilding capacity, strengthening ways of working and supporting colleagues to take ownership of both delivery and development. This has been one of the most rewarding parts of my career, as I have been able to help create a more confident, capable and empowered team environment. I have also contributed to wider CPC priorities, including client engagement, framework support, data cleansing, process improvement and the integration of Tenet placement contracts into CPC, all of which have helped me develop a stronger understanding of operational leadership across the organisation.
More recently, I was successful in securing the role of Head of Procurement Operations. This feels like a natural and exciting next step in my career, bringing together my experience in procurement delivery, operational leadership, people development and service improvement. I am proud of the progress I have made from my first consultant role with Tenet through to this new position, and I see it as an opportunity to help shape the future of procurement services within CPC. I am motivated by the chance to build strong, consistent and high-quality services, empower colleagues to succeed, and ensure our work continues to deliver meaningful value for members and the wider education sector. Above all, I want to use this role to contribute to CPC’s charitable purpose, strengthen the impact of our services and help create a positive legacy for the teams and customers we support.