Supply Management - A Dead End Career or a Launch pad to a multi-faceted future?

Supply management and contracting professionals are viewed as possessing a unique skill set but are not well understood. Is it a niche set of skills or can these skills be ported into a variety of other career opportunities? Join in the discussion with our expert, Jill Bossi, as we investigate how our unique set of skills can open the doors to new career horizons.\r
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Our Expert\r
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Jill Bossi, C.P.M. is currently running for the United States Senate from the State of South Carolina to fill the remainder of the term vacated by Jim DeMint when he left to run The Heritage Foundation. Jill's campaign runs through November 4, 2014 and if successful, she will take the Senate seat immediately to fill the unexpired term of the special election. \r
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Ms. Bossi has over thirty years of experience in supply management within corporate America having worked in a variety of industries and corporations. Just prior to running for office, Ms. Bossi had the honor to serve The American Red Cross as Vice President and Chief Procurement Officer. She was responsible for managing all Supply Chain, Real Estate and Travel related services for the Red Cross. Jill joined the American Red Cross in October, 2009 and immediately set to work redesigning the entire supply chain, implementing new policies and procedures, and streamlining the purchase of goods and services by the organization across the Red Cross' entire. These changes resulted in millions of dollars in savings for the Red Cross; enabling better stewardship of donor dollars. She also implemented a world class supplier diversity program and helped to establish their growing supplier management program. Partnering with Ariba, Jill and her team implemented a new procure to pay system across the American Red Cross footprint used for disasters, for blood drives and for day to day operations. This has issued in a new era of online ordering and supply chain management for the Red Cross and the nonprofit sector. Her team is now enabling access to disaster inventories across the entire country through an app based technology provided by Emergency Visions which will enable faster and more efficient response during times of disaster and providing access to Red Cross employees and volunteers alike.\r
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Prior to the Red Cross, Ms. Bossi was the Senior Vice President and Sourcing Executive for Global Commercial Banking and Global Wealth Management at Bank of America. Just prior to leaving Bank of America Ms. Bossi worked on the team that helped transition Merrill Lynch operations into the Bank of America operations. During her career, Ms. Bossi has also served as Vice President of Strategic Sourcing for Experian North America, one of the three largest credit reporting agencies in the U.S., as Director of G&A Procurement for Verizon Wireless after having joined during the initial formation of the company through the merger. Ms. Bossi has also held senior supply management roles with companies as diverse as Packard Bell NEC, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Lorimar Studios and Metro Goldwyn Mayer Studios. She holds a BS in Business Management and has been published in many supply chain journals publications. Ms. Bossi is a sought after national, regional, and local conference speaker. She is a member of the Institute for Supply Management, serves as a contributor for the ISM's Report On Business®, on the ISM Women's Executive Supply Management Steering Committee and the ISM Committee for Sustainability and Social Responsibility. Ms. Bossi has also served on the boards of the National Minority Supplier Diversity Council and the Women's Business Enterprise Network.