We say a huge thank you and farewell to joint Director of Procurement Karen Bowman, as she retires from the University. Our Joint Director of Procurement, Karen Bowman, will be retiring from the University at the end of July this year. From the first of August 2020 George Sked will take up the position of Interim Director of Procurement with a direct reporting line to Lee Hamill. We can’t let Karen go without a little look at her time at the University. Karen is only the second Director of Procurement since the University was founded in 1583, taking up post in November 1998, flex-retiring in 2015 and now retiring fully in 2020. When she joined the UoE Procurement function in 1998, it was a purchase ordering unit with only one professional staff member. She made a business case to replace this with a professional service, which has evolved over the years to a procurement team of 30. Sustainable Procurement Karen paved the way for sustainable procurement and oversaw the University’s journey to become the first Fair Trade University in Scotland. She also volunteered in helping similar City-wide initiatives with Scotland later becoming the second Fair Trade Nation. We won’t list the numerous awards that the Procurement team have won over the years, but it’s fair to say the University’s procurement is highly rated. Through an external assessment the team achieved ‘Superior’ procurement capability assessment rating in 2009, gaining a further 10% in 2019. In the last 3 years alone, Karen, George and team have delivered in excess of £45m of benefits and cost avoidance to the University. Our University Printing Services are also part of the team and the only area to win a Gold Sustainability Award every year since the assessment by our students began. Karen has taken an active wider role in influencing the profession, the sector and government as a former Board member of global Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply and the UK Procurement-HE, and serves on the Scottish Government Public Procurement Policy Group. Karen also advised the Scottish Parliament Committee on its new 2016 regulations and she has presented at both UK and International conferences, including a peer-reviewed paper on sustainable procurement. And of course, we were all incredibly proud to see Karen receive the inaugural Conference on University Procurement (COUP) Lifetime Achievement Award in 2019. a huge thank you to my teams and colleagues (and suppliers) who have made the ‘procurement journey’ so educational, challenging and full of opportunities to inspire, change and add value. May University procurement and Team Finance be mindful of the use of our purchasing power not just to meet our own needs, but to influence the world and future generations. Karen Bowman We are incredibly proud to have worked with Karen over the years and wish her the best in her retirement, where she will be cultivating her allotment and growing organic vegetables – perhaps you can come into the office when we’re back with any spare produce Karen! This article was published on 2024-07-01
