Judges

Fabienne Lesbros

CPO
The Co-Operative Group

I have been the Chief Procurement Officer for the Coop Group (Retail, General Insurance, and Funeral Care) since 2015. Prior to the Co-op, I was the CPO for Britvic Soft Drinks Ltd for 6 years.

I have worked across a diverse range of industries within procurement for over 20 years. I worked for GlaxoSmithKline for 10 years, in different Procurement roles, having joined the company in 2001 and progressing through senior procurement positions, including global category roles in Pharma & Consumer Healthcare. My last role at GSK was Procurement Strategy Director.

My career also includes senior leadership roles in the Electronics industry and the construction & transport sector, (Channel Tunnel project).

I have been a non-executive board member of the Corporate Institute of Procurement & Supply (CIPS) for the last 4 years. I am also a trustee for the TCG Southern Trustees Limited.

I am passionate about adding value to organisations through innovation & change. I am passionate about introducing digitalisation as well as introducing automation & robotics at the Coop.

Benedict Lannoye

CPO
Bombardier

Born in Belgium, Benedict completed a masters in electro-mechanical engineering at the University of Ghent, and added an additional degree in business administration at the University of Louvain La Neuve. He started his professional career in 1989 at Bombardier Transportation in the site of Bruges.

Benedict has been able to grow his experience and capability in procurement and supply chain through different roles and different locations in site procurement, strategic sourcing, procurement processes and tools, regional operational procurement, after market procurement and supply chain. Finally, since 2016 he has had the responsibility of CPO for BT procurement and supply chain.

Robert Semethy

C-Level Leader: Operations
Erste Group Bank AG

Robert Semethy joined Erste Group Bank AG as CPO and Managing Director of Procurement Services GmbH (Erste Group Procurement or EGP) in 2008. EGP is a wholly owned subsidiary of Erste Group Bank AG, a leading financial institution in Central and Eastern Europe. EGP provides best-in-class supply management with under 110 employees to 80 entities across 10 countries. EGP manages the external spend of over EUR 1 billion through the use of sophisticated business intelligence; proactive category management; strong supplier management; and a highly skilled, motivated, and service oriented workforce.

In his twenty-year career prior to EGP, Mr. Semethy served in various roles of increasing responsibility in operations and supply chain management in a variety of industries (mining, heavy industry, EMS, and semi-conductor capital equipment) while living in Austria, Hungary, Romania, Mexico, and the USA. Mr. Semethy is a native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA where he earned his Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Pittsburgh Swanson School of Engineering in 1989 while winning four Varsity Letters in Men’s Swimming and his Master of Business Administration with a concentration in Operations Management from the University of Pittsburgh Katz Graduate School of Business in 1991. Mr. Semethy holds US Patent (5,401,120) for a Pumbable Mine Seal along with a number of professional certifications in engineering, supply management, supply chain management, and leadership. Mr. Semethy currently lives in Vienna, Austria and Budapest, Hungary with his wife, Xenia, and his daughter, Yvonne.

Cristina Lara

Deputy Head of the Procurement Service
CERN (European Organization for Nuclear Research)

Cristina has over 23 years of experience in procurement at CERN. During her professional career at CERN she has been led the organisation’s procurement activities in a wide range of fields including information technology products, components for the particle and photon detectors, and industrial services.

Cristina is also responsible for the quality assurance of the Procurement Service. She has successfully implemented major improvement projects such as new organisation-wide Procurement codes, an eProcurement platform, a series of eLearning modules, and a face-to-face training programme on procurement for non-procurement professionals at CERN. This year, she is overseeing the move to a “paper-free” Procurement Service.

Emma Scott MCIPS

Representation Manager
Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply (CIPS)

Emma studied BA Business Studies and Social Sciences at Nottingham Trent University and gained her MCIPS in 2003.

Emma worked in procurement for 10 years before joining CIPS specialising in procurement to pay process and system implementation managing a suite of end-to-end e-procurement tools and their surrounding processes.

Now Representation Manager at CIPS Emma is responsible for content development, supporting Supply Management magazine, CIPS campaigns and content for the global awards and conference portfolio. Emma has been leading on campaigns such as modern slavery, women in procurement leadership and the profession of choice project to encourage young people into a career in procurement.

Duncan Brock FCIPS

Group Director
Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply (CIPS)

Duncan Brock is a member of the leadership team of CIPS. His main role is to ensure that CIPS provides its corporate and public sector customers globally with products and services that help them develop and improve their procurement and supply team’s capability. In addition, he is responsible for increasing the number of offices and partners that CIPS has globally, with a particular focus this year on the USA.

Duncan has over 30 years procurement experience as a change driver working with senior executives and procurement leadership teams in the design and mobilisation of business-wide procurement processes & delivering improved business benefits. He’s had a specific interest throughout his career on implementing category management and developing the skills and capabilities of procurement teams.

His procurement experience comes from working for Ford, Mars, Black & Decker, NTL (now Virgin Media) and RSA. As a senior consultant he worked for QP Group and Future Purchasing with clients such as Diageo, Barclays & Nestlé. Duncan regularly chairs & presents at procurement and supply conferences and forums, and is a spokesperson for CIPS for media interviews.

Contact details:
Mobile: +44 (0)7961 125519
Office: +44(0) 1780 761470
Email: duncan.brock@cips.org