EP 59 - Ferrara's Kristen Coar On Aligning Procurement To What Your CEO Actually Wants

Kristen Coar, Vice President of Global Procurement at Ferrara, stopped measuring savings on the direct side. Her procurement organization targets on-time delivery, supply chain flexibility, and market-beating pricing, aligned to what her CEO and CFO actually prioritize. Kristen tells John why most procurement organizations rush to digitize before their foundational data is ready, how a Navy career shaped her servant-leadership approach, and why she applies a "snake oil" filter to AI procurement vendors promising the world. Topics discussed: - Why Ferrara measures procurement value differently for direct vs. indirect - Aligning sourcing strategy to what senior stakeholders actually prioritize - Running centralized global strategy with local procurement teams - Stakeholder buy-in through pairing trust-building with top-down policy - Why digitizing before fixing master data governance wastes resources - Using energy hedging as a baseline risk management practice - Filtering AI procurement tools through a "snake oil" detector - How GLP-1 drugs are reducing demand across the sugar industry Get in touch with Kristen Coar:   LinkedIn  Get in touch with your host, John Pavia:  LinkedIn  Listen to more episodes:  Listen on Smarter Sourcing Listen on Apple Listen on Spotify Watch on YouTube