Communication is a complex craft. It involves speaking clearly and with a consistent message, actively listening to see how the message is received, and - the ultimate test - if we are communicating to persuade, watching to see if that message has the desired motivating effect. In this episode of The Sourcing Hero podcast, Host Kelly Barner welcomes Liz Milan. Liz is a former procurement executive and adjunct at the University of Portland Pamplin Business School where she teaches a course on Neg...
Jul 02, 2025•21 min•Ep. 223
Procurement thinks sales is always trying to sell them something that isn’t what they want, is over priced, or won’t live up to the hype. Sales thinks procurement is deliberately trying to throw a wrench in a long proposal process, only cares about price, and has no feelings at all. What if they are both wrong? In this episode of The Sourcing Hero podcast, Host Kelly Barner welcomes Mike Lander. Mike is the CEO of Piscari, a coaching firm that helps sell-side teams improve their negotiating skil...
Jul 01, 2025•32 min•Ep. 221
"It ain't about how hard you get hit, it's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward." - Rocky Balboa Supply chain professionals know how to take a hit. In most cases, they are strong enough to get back up time and time again. How quickly they are back on their feet each time is an indication of resilience, an essential quality that can be improved through reflection, examination, and analysis. In this episode of The Sourcing Hero podcast, Host Kelly Barner welcomes Sunder Balakrish...
Jun 25, 2025•24 min•Ep. 222
It is common for business strategy discussions to start with a definition of ‘Why?’ This makes it easier for leadership teams to formalize and articulate the reasons behind a set of decisions, and to share that vision with the rest of the company. As hard as it is to define a shared ‘Why?’ pairing that with an effective ‘How?’ may be even harder. In this episode of The Sourcing Hero podcast, Host Kelly Barner welcomes Tara Milburn. Tara is the President and CEO at Ethical Swag, a Certified B Cor...
Jun 11, 2025•26 min•Ep. 220
The discussion about how much technical category knowledge procurement should have is ongoing - and the right answer depends a lot on the company in question. When close collaboration is needed between procurement, R&D, and suppliers, technical expertise is a must, but so are humility and curiosity. In this episode of The Sourcing Hero podcast, Host Kelly Barner welcomes Chuck Shehadi. Chuck is the COO at Solugen, a chemical manufacturing company based in Houston, Texas. When it comes to the...
Jun 04, 2025•21 min•Ep. 219
On April 28, 2025, most of Spain, Portugal, and the south of France lost power for a day. Everything instantly ground to a halt: transportation, airports, ATMs, hospitals, cell phones, traffic lights, etc., and while this was a rare event for an area roughly the size of the state of Texas, it was catastrophic for everyone affected. In this episode of The Sourcing Hero podcast, Host Kelly Barner welcomes back Kris Lance, Vice President and Senior Director at Una, for a monthly conversation about ...
May 28, 2025•25 min•Ep. 218
For most procurement professionals, the only contact they have with finance is when their savings projections are being audited or approved for internal communication. Those are hardly the circumstances under which collaborative relationships form - but that doesn’t have to be the extent of their contact. In this episode of The Sourcing Hero podcast, Host Kelly Barner welcomes Mark Gilham. Mark is the Vice President and Head of the Enable Advisory practice. Most of his past positions have been s...
May 21, 2025•26 min•Ep. 217
Procurement is the kind of job where success is largely fueled by the strength of your relationships. Having trust and respect between procurement and the business, as well as between procurement and suppliers, can often make or break an effort. But it all starts with the team dynamic that exists within procurement. In this episode of The Sourcing Hero podcast, Host Kelly Barner welcomes Dr. Cindie Burkett. Cindie is the Vice President of Procurement for Specialty Dental Brands where she is busy...
May 14, 2025•23 min•Ep. 216
Procurement has come a long way over the last few decades, but the fact that they always want to achieve more shouldn’t lead them to discount or overlook how good they have it today. Whether that means the quality of supplier relationships, the speed of spend analytics, or the regard they enjoy from stakeholders, there is a lot to be grateful for. In this episode of The Sourcing Hero podcast, Host Kelly Barner welcomes John Latham. John has a really interesting mix of experience - deep category ...
May 07, 2025•20 min•Ep. 214
Activewear company Under Armour unveiled a line of regenerative sportswear at Milan Fashion Week in 2025. This is their first collaboration with recent acquisition Unless Collective, a producer of zero-plastic, plant-based fashion. The effort to remove non-degradable textiles from landfills is admirable, but will it work? In this episode of The Sourcing Hero podcast, Host Kelly Barner welcomes back Kris Lance, Vice President and Senior Director at Una, for a monthly conversation about current ne...
Apr 30, 2025•20 min•Ep. 215
What would it feel like if all of the tasks, meetings, obligations, and pressures of work were suddenly… gone? Would it be a relief or would the stress associated with making the decision to step away from work be so strong that it ruined your newfound freedom? In this episode of The Sourcing Hero podcast, Host Kelly Barner welcomes Vytas Sliesoraitis. Vytas is a career procurement professional with experience at companies like Intel, Google, Epic Games, and Gilead Sciences. That said, it is the...
Apr 23, 2025•22 min•Ep. 210
A career is a heck of a thing to manage - especially when it is your own. You change with each phase of growth and new experience, and your job prospects change as well. The better you know yourself and what makes you happy - yes, HAPPY - at work, the more successful you will be in your next endeavor. In this episode of The Sourcing Hero podcast, Host Kelly Barner welcomes Gale Daikoku. In addition to having deep experience in the procurement space and the global influencer marketing space, Gale...
Apr 16, 2025•25 min•Ep. 213
While procurement often thinks about purchase price as equal to cost, some purchases come with a longer term cost to own and maintain. Being able to understand the concept of total cost of ownership (TCO) and factor that into sourcing and award decisions will ultimately determine whether procurement’s negotiated savings reach the bottom line or evaporate into costs for waste, downtime, and maintenance. In this episode of The Sourcing Hero podcast, Host Kelly Barner welcomes Louis Bastone. Louis ...
Apr 09, 2025•20 min•Ep. 212
Could how you think - about yourself - change the way you experience the world around you? We all have past experiences that we carry with us, often for life. Those experiences and how we process them not only become a part of who we are, they influence how we process later events and circumstances. In this episode of The Sourcing Hero podcast, Host Kelly Barner welcomes Ryan Christensen. Ryan is a professional hypnotist specializing in peak mental focus and performance. After 23 years of experi...
Apr 08, 2025•33 min•Ep. 209
Hard boiled. Over medium. Scrambled. Poached. Deviled. There are lots of ways to enjoy eggs, one of the most popular and least expensive sources of healthy protein available, but lately there has been only one way to describe them: expensive. In this episode of The Sourcing Hero podcast, Host Kelly Barner welcomes back Kris Lance, Vice President and Senior Director at Una, for a monthly conversation about current news stories. Kris has experience in multiple industries and has his finger on the ...
Mar 26, 2025•23 min•Ep. 211
We all know that a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, but it is easy to forget how intimidating those first few feet can be. Whether procurement is focused on strengthening their core skills or pushing for larger scale impact, it is essential for everyone to be aligned in their thinking, to leverage their strengths, and to know where the journey is expected to end. In this episode of The Sourcing Hero podcast, Host Kelly Barner welcomes Priya Kumari. Priya is a manager at Kea...
Mar 19, 2025•22 min•Ep. 208
Most procurement professionals will acknowledge that supplier relationship management (SRM) is a core part of value creation and risk management, but how many organizations are effectively carrying SRM out at scale to the benefit of their company and their suppliers? Not as many as would like to be successful at supplier relationship management. In this episode of The Sourcing Hero podcast, Host Kelly Barner welcomes Celia SGAR. Celia is the co-founder of Vendor Score IT, a solution based on the...
Mar 12, 2025•24 min•Ep. 207
Imagine a group of people is having lunch on the deck of a ship, and that ship is sailing into a storm. Along comes a waiter with a tray of drinks, and that waiter is riding… a monocycle. Even as the seas start to rise and the wind blows, the tray can’t be allowed to fall. That waiter… is procurement. In this episode of The Sourcing Hero podcast, Host Kelly Barner welcomes Richard Beaumont. Richard is the Founder of Eruditic, a professional training and coaching organization, and the co-host of ...
Mar 05, 2025•23 min•Ep. 206
One minute you’re going about your business, and the next minute all of the news headlines are focused on the Arctic Circle. What may initially seem like overblown geopolitical drama and hyperbole quickly comes into sharp focus with just a bit of reading: especially where ocean trade routes are concerned. In this episode of The Sourcing Hero podcast, Host Kelly Barner welcomes back Kris Lance, Vice President and Senior Director at Una, for a monthly conversation about current news stories. Kris ...
Feb 26, 2025•23 min•Ep. 205
Regardless of the industry you work in, deciding which third parties to work with requires strategic trade-offs, such as choosing between cost, quality, and lead time. Procurement and sourcing professionals play a critical role helping decision makers discuss and rank those variables and then use them to select and contract with suppliers. In this episode of The Sourcing Hero podcast, Host Kelly Barner welcomes Eric Westerduin. Eric is the Founder and Chief Problem Solver at GO Get Made, a globa...
Feb 19, 2025•25 min•Ep. 204
Polyglot - noun. A person who knows and is able to use several languages. The spoken or written word can divide people as easily as it can unify them - even when they are speaking the same language. Terminology, shorthand, and acronyms may be convenient or efficient, but when they get in the way or fail to communicate the desired meaning, they aren’t doing us any favors. In this episode of The Sourcing Hero podcast, Host Kelly Barner welcomes Bennett Glace. Bennett has held a number of content m...
Feb 12, 2025•20 min•Ep. 203
Depending on your point of view, the idea of transformation is either alluring or terrifying - or maybe a little bit of both? And while procurement teams rarely have the formal skillset to lead transformation projects, they are often tasked with just that. Fortunately, with a bit of planning and some well asked questions, it is possible to keep your transformation on track. In this episode of The Sourcing Hero podcast, Host Kelly Barner welcomes Ron Crabtree. Ron is the CEO of MetaOps and MetaEx...
Feb 05, 2025•25 min•Ep. 202
The vast majority of podcasts fizzle out before they reach 10 episodes, so making it past that point is a real achievement. 100 episodes is seen as a tipping point, both for the host and the audience. But 200? That puts a show above the crowd. In this very special 200th episode of The Sourcing Hero podcast, Host Kelly Barner is joined by Anthony Clervi, Principal Owner at Una, and Kris Lance, Vice President and General Manager at Una, to mark this milestone with an in-studio conversation. Listen...
Jan 29, 2025•34 min•Ep. 201
Companies - and their procurement teams - are always looking for opportunities to differentiate. These opportunities take many forms, but few appeal to leadership, shareholders, customers, and the supplier community as universally as social procurement. Of course, that broad appeal brings systemic challenges with it that procurement will have to be prepared to overcome. In this episode of The Sourcing Hero podcast, Host Kelly Barner welcomes Jaime H. Paiva. Jaime is the Head of Procurement and V...
Jan 22, 2025•28 min•Ep. 200
Procurement is a function whose time has arrived. The question is whether they are ready to make the changes necessary to seize the opportunity and meet business-wide expectations for process and experience at the same time. In this episode of The Sourcing Hero podcast, Host Kelly Barner welcomes Peter Sharoff. Peter has executive-level experience in a number of functional areas, including transformation, integration, finance, and… of course… procurement. As he describes it, he has worked a ‘puz...
Jan 15, 2025•28 min•Ep. 198
Working for a large ‘household name’ company has both advantages and disadvantages. On the plus side are the established processes, time-tested pathways that keep everything rolling. At the same time, these same processes can be a bit restrictive. Fortunately for procurement, striking a balance of structure and creativity can create the perfect environment for innovation at scale. In this episode of The Sourcing Hero podcast, Host Kelly Barner welcomes Karen Betancourt. Karen is the CEO of Vangu...
Jan 08, 2025•24 min•Ep. 195
As listeners know well, the goal of The Sourcing Hero podcast is to capture the epic stories of people who are rising up and beating the odds to create exceptional value within procurement directly from those heroes themselves. Kris Lance is definitely one of those people. Kris is the Vice President and General Manager at Una, and for the last few years, he has occupied a monthly spot on The Sourcing Hero podcast schedule, discussing current news stories, trends, and supply chain issues. In toda...
Jan 01, 2025•15 min•Ep. 199
As we approach the end of the year - not to mention the holiday season - many of us will be taking time to stop and reflect. Was the year gone by what we expected? What hopes, wishes, and aspirations will we step into the new year holding high? In this episode of The Sourcing Hero podcast, Host Kelly Barner welcomes back Kris Lance, Vice President and General Manager at Una, for a monthly conversation about current news stories. Kris has experience in multiple industries and has his finger on th...
Dec 18, 2024•23 min•Ep. 197
The goal of The Sourcing Hero Podcast is to capture the epic stories of people who are rising up and beating the odds to create exceptional value within procurement - directly from those heroes themselves. Over the last 12 months, we’ve heard from some of the most innovative minds in procurement and beyond to explore topics that range from cutting-edge optimization strategies to deeply personal journeys of purpose and passion. In this episode of The Sourcing Hero podcast, Kelly Barner takes a lo...
Dec 11, 2024•19 min•Ep. 196
Lots of organizations want to ‘do good’ through environmental programs, social programs, or both. But scaling those programs and making them truly successful on a commercial level requires a different level of strategic planning - especially when the impact and the opportunity are global. In this episode of The Sourcing Hero podcast, Host Kelly Barner welcomes Michael Amos. Michael is the Managing Director of Waste to Wonder Worldwide, an organization with a unique origin story that has been abl...
Dec 04, 2024•28 min•Ep. 193
