Q&A Profile: Cheryl D’Cruz Young – Managing Director and Practice Leader: Industrial and Supply Chain at Diversified Search

As Managing Director and Practice Leader of Industrial and Supply Chain at Diversified Search, our exclusive AltoPartners alliance partner in the United States, we profile Cheryl D’ Cruz Young as the Supply Chain and Procurement Subject Matter Expert.

Q&A with Cheryl D’Cruz Young: The Evolving Nature of Global Supply Chain & Procurement (SC&P)

What are the top trends impacting organisations currently and how do they impact Executive Search?

The demand for experienced, professional supply chain talent is only increasing which has a direct impact for Executive Search. Increasing complexity and growing globalisation have resulted in significant changes in supply management and present a tremendous value opportunity. The clients we work with appreciate the benefits to be gained in both customer service and profitability through effective development of more sophisticated and integrated supply chains. We have also helped our clients understand the competitive advantage derived from more innovative strategic sourcing and best-practice procurement to minimise risk and maximise shareholder value.

How has Supply Chain & Procurement (SC&P) changed over the last 5 years?

We have seen dramatic changes – SC&P has increased in strategic importance from providing essential cost containment during the world recession to driving competitive advantage in subsequent years across all industry sectors. It is global in reach and the pace of change only continues to accelerate. Our function touches every aspect of a company and we are often pioneers in regionalization, customer integration and driving innovation. In a few sectors, such as High Tech and Consumer, the function has become pretty sophisticated but in too many sectors, such as Healthcare, Lifesciences and Industrial, SC&P is still viewed as a reactive, back-office function. Consequently, we have been very active in understanding the needs of companies within these latter sectors where the Executive Leadership can see the important contribution that talented SC&P leaders could make. We work with them to identify the right talent solutions who can adapt their approach to the culture and needs of the organisation yet deliver change management that generate true, bottom-line value.

What are the main factors contributing to this change?

Supply Chain & Procurement (SC&P) professionals are increasingly viewed as business executives who align the SC&P strategic objectives with their company’s business goals and assist in their delivery. Leading management consultancies such as McKinsey, Boston Consulting Group and A.T. Kearney have been able to demonstrate the value that can be achieved through focusing on this functional area, which has been tremendously helpful in educating the C-Suite. There is also considerable case study information and supporting research through Harvard Business Review, C.A.P.S and other well respected journals that have been able to quantify the bottom-line results that have been achieved through SC&P rigor. What is also evident is that policy and process alone is not sufficient to deliver results; but what is also needed is well executed change management led by Chief Supply Chain and Procurement Officers who understand the opportunity at stake and who can effectively drive their companies towards year on year expense management reductions. This is what became evident to me and the reason I transitioned from working within the SC&P function in industry to Executive Search nine years ago. It is tremendously satisfying when I place a leader for my client who is able to carry out the vision of the C-Suite and directly benefit their company’s bottom-line.

How have you had to adapt your business style to better advise your clients during these times?

I am fortunate to have functional expertise and our firm has a 75% repeat business rate, with many of our existing clients looking for support in building their Supply Chain function. We work with each client to develop bespoke talent solutions; I typically work with my Industry specific Partners who have a thorough understanding of their client’s business and then together we work to place the best functional leader. I bring technical assessment skills and candidate market knowledge of the best available SC&P talent and then together our assessment of cultural fit ensures the optimal talent solution. This is really a winning combination and our clients tell us that they benefit from functional depth as well as business understanding.

What drives you?

I love placing the best available talent for my clients which includes presenting diversity of thought, gender and ethnicity and also providing career development for my candidates to enable them to achieve their aspirations. I believe in solving client business problems and, in doing so, placing the best talent solutions for their needs to enable them to provide enhanced customer service and outperform their competition. I am inspired by the work we do in support of the USA’s up and coming talent development – Diversified Search is an active supporter of STEM through our sister-company STEMConnector and mentoring young female talent through Million Women Mentors equips them for the challenges of the future with the goal of ending pay-inequality. I feel fortunate to be actively involved in the Institute of Supply Management (ISM) in facilitating their annual Diversity Summit, taking a mentoring role with their young, diverse student members and being a regular contributor to their publications.

About Cheryl D’Cruz Young

Cheryl’s ability to articulate the critical strategic nature of the Supply Chain Management function, delivering bottom-line value through a genuine approach to supplier collaboration, facilitated her rapid career progression. She has broad regional and global experience, successfully outsourcing non-core competencies at GlaxoSmithKline, in addition to devising and implementing procurement best practices across the Coca Cola Enterprise businesses in the Benelux, France and the UK. Prior to joining Executive Search, Cheryl was responsible for the CS Americas-wide procurement development strategy, working with her regional counterparts to ensure global capability alignment. During that period she witnessed first-hand the mission critical challenges companies face in talent acquisition, retention and development.