Ep 46: The Role of Creativity in Category Management feat. Gary Levitan

Everyone wants to be at the intersection of ‘right place and right time’ - procurement included. Our guest in this episode was able to hit that intersection in two ways. His company went public in a time when everyone was forced to find creative new working arrangements, and he was tasked with rebuilding their procurement organization just as ideas about category management and procurement’s relationship with the business were becoming more nuanced.

In this episode of The Sourcing Hero podcast, Host Kelly Barner welcomes Gary Levitan. Gary is the Global Head of Procurement, Sourcing, & Supply Chain at WeWork, a flexible workspace company that went public in October. He has over 15 years experience in procurement, and during that time he has worked to ensure that various stakeholder groups within the business are able to meet or exceed their objectives through contracts and supplier relationships.

In this conversation, Gary shares his theory about the best way to build out procurement organizations through people and process:

• What is it like to be a Chief Procurement Officer through a high-visibility IPO?
• What does creative category management look like?
• What are the potential downsides of procurement having more category expertise than their point of contact in the business?