Board of Advisors

A multi-cultural, bi-lingual, seasoned procurement professional with extensive experience in developing sourcing strategies, negotiating software, hardware, professional service contracts with suppliers with spend ranging from few to millions of dollars annually. Have experience in negotiating contracts with suppliers in the US and overseas. Extensive expertise in Information Systems including strategic planning, budgeting and financial management. Known as strong mentor with ability to motivate and cultivate exceptional management talent. Expertise is in areas including software license management, supplier performance, outsourcing/offshoring management, license management during Merger & Acquisitions. Proven ability to direct high-profile international teams while successfully managing up to $200M annual budget.

Single point of contact for managing software, hardware and data services procurement for North America Gas & Power.

• Facilitate software acquisition for NAGP as per BP Master contracts
• Work with the business to delineate scope of software/hardware required
• Keep track of spend for suppliers
• Negotiate contracts with suppliers
• Assure business unit is spending its IT budget effectively

Assist BP Corporation in migrating Software Operations to Infosys BPO in Bangalore.  

• Reviewed scope of contracts to be managed by the offshore team in India.
• Advised Infosys BPO on the type of professional staff required to manage this function from offshore
• Assisted the offshore team by keeping the software operations function up and running while India team is put in place. This entailed negotiating software contracts with suppliers, ordering software licenses as per the BP contracts, Negotiating Service Level Agreements etc. Saved over $1M by negotiating contracts and cost avoidance.
• Spent one month in India in training the offshore team in Procurement processes like negotiating Master Software License Agreements, Professional Services Agreements, Non-Disclosure Agreements, sending RFx’s to suppliers, License Ordering etc.
• Advise BP Software Operations Manager in the progress of off shoring this service.
• Assist the offshore team lead by allocating customer requests to offshore team members.

Assist BP Corporation in migrating Software Operations to Infosys BPO in Bangalore.

• Review contracts for Terms and Conditions.
• Confirm whether the contract can be novated to Innovene or it requires renegotiation.
• If novation is possible, obtain supplier concurrence.
• If contract needs to be renegotiated: confirm with the Business owners on number of licensees required or requirements for professional services and negotiate the contract using Innovene legal paper.
• If contract is no more required, cancel contract and inform both BP and the Supplier.

• Led team to analyze software license usage resulting in savings of $3.5M in first year.
• Restructured department by outsourcing Software Operations to Fujitsu saving $1M over two years.
• Directed team in development of Information Technology software strategy that aligned with operations goals and allowed company to reduce expenses.
• Participated in business process redesign during spin-off assuring that software licensing was in compliance with legal contracts.

BP AMERICA, HOUSTON, TX Manager Products Procurement and sourcing

2000 – 2003

Established and communicated vision and strategic direction for indirect products: software, hardware, flexible staffing, and compliance with Domain Name registration.

• Motivated and drove high performance teams in UK, Houston and Tulsa specializing in developing sourcing strategies, negotiating contracts and managing software licenses which delivered $50M savings in three years.
• Initiated pilot that managed flexible staffing using web based tools like eLance, IQN Navigator that resulted in reduction of temporary staffing expenses.
• Participated in due diligence for international suppliers that provided project support and related services resulting in negotiating contracts with four high-profile suppliers.
• Provided direction to corporate staff on engagement of international partners which resulted in providing tools for bidding, project analysis, and achieving most competitive pricing structure.

Provided leadership and guidance on managing key strategic suppliers and obtaining on-site support from technical staff.

• Negotiated enterprise wide agreement with Landmark Graphics including software, on-site support and training resulting in savings in excess of $4M over two years.
• Served as Project Manager which rolled out Landmark software to sites worldwide including Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Egypt, Canada, UK, Norway, China and U.S. that resulted in contract compliance and “best practices” for usage.
• Negotiated an enterprise software License agreement with Geoquest (Schlumberger subsidiary) resulting in saving of $650K.
• Developed and implemented processes that captured customer feedback, software problems, bugs and enhancements that provided “state of the art” technology for exploration and oil production.
• Formed industry wide user-group (with Exxon, Conoco and Mobil) which provided consistent and immediate feedback to supplier.
• Gathered and presented supplier metrics, quarterly to BP and Landmark executives, resulting in improved understanding of business objectives and strategic alignment.

Managed Regional computer related activities in data management, database administration, application and systems.

• Proposed and obtained approval to migrate from IBM mainframe and transfer all applications and data management for region to a client/server environment resulting in projected savings of millions of dollars.
• Managed team of technical specialists in overseeing computer servers, providing database support, and supporting technical applications which optimized technology for end-users.

Supervised Exploration Data Analysis Group that provided computing support to all of Geological Research. Responsibility also included planning, developing, implementing and scheduling research in partnership with internal customers.

• Evaluated Artificial Intelligence and its use within corporation with Yale University, Rutgers University and IBM that resulted in development of pilot project capturing subject matter expertise.
• Initiated use of 3-D graphics that visualized images, resulting in more efficient and quicker decisions.
• Deployed voice actuated system for paleontologists that captured sample data reducing labor hours and costs.
• Traveled to overseas Universities and began joint research on Basin Modeling, which Amoco competitive advantage over its competitors in oil exploration.

Transferred to London England to establish a Computer Systems Group, hire local staff, provide training and negotiate contracts with local suppliers to provide data and services.

• Developed the strategic plan for implementing computer systems and obtained senior management approval on its implementation. This resulted in bringing the Amoco Europe operations more aligned with their counterparts in United States.
• Negotiated contracts with the local suppliers in UK and Ireland to provide data for the European operations resulting in more timely availability of data for business personnel.
• Traveled to Norway, Netherlands and European countries to familiarize them with the strategic directions in Computer Systems. This created alignment between the business units and reduced the need for disparate systems at their locations.

Director and Vice-Chairman, Red Crown Federal Credit Union (5 years)
Treasurer Indo-American Charity Foundation (3 years)
United Way volunteer