Every member of our team has at least 15 years of experience in strategic sourcing and procurement leadership. We have led multiple strategic commodity and supply chain teams that have driven results in cost reduction, cross-functional category management, supplier performance management, logistics and new market planning, and process/system implementation. Members of our team have consulted with several companies, including those restructuring their global operations. As Practitioners, we have held strategic positions at GE, PepsiCo, Lucent Technologies, Accor Group, American Standard, Amerisource Bergen, Vivarte, Yum! Brands, i2 Technologies, Asea Brown Boveri, HP, EDS, and FedEx Office.
Our areas of expertise include corporate sourcing strategy development, knowledge development and training, supplier qualification and selection, supply chain optimization, logistics, legal issues, contract structuring and negotiations, and tax/customs management. We have a truly global team, with resources in multiple US cities, Singapore, China, and across Europe. Our team has language proficiency in Mandarin Chinese, Spanish, Portuguese, French and German. We have conducted numerous courses focused on sourcing strategy, procurement skill-set development, manufacturing optimization, and supply chain excellence within corporate environments, as well as M.I.T., Rutgers University, and Lucent’s Technical Training Center.
Angela Easterwood has over 17 years of experience in strategic sourcing and supply management, with a proven track record in category strategy development, collaborative business process redesign, supplier identification and assessment, total cost analysis, and the implementation of Policies and Procedures to support procurement transformation. Angela has developed category supply strategies for a wide range of product and service groups (across both direct materials and complex services), and specializes in aligning cross-functional business requirements into sustainable category and spend management strategies. She has held leadership roles at PepsiCo, Yum! Brands, i2 Technologies, EDS, and FedEx Kinko’s Office and Print Services. Angela has an MBA in Finance from Southern Methodist University and a BA in Economics from Bucknell University. Angela has developed and taught professional level strategic sourcing and supply chain management skills courses in the US and Asia, and is on Faculty at the University of Tennessee’s Center For Executive Education Strategic Sourcing program.
Elizabeth Zucker has nearly 20 years of driving strategic supply management results. A collaborative servant leader, she brings a wealth of knowledge gained from her roles at companies as diverse as KFC and Pizza Hut, Lexmark Printers and Cigna Insurance. She has developed and implemented strategic sourcing initiatives across all aspects of the spend spectrum, from direct commodities materials to strategic services contracts, and has worked on both international and domestic assignments. A proven thought leader, Elizabeth has published articles in Inside Supply Management and eSide magazines, and has been a featured speaker at ISM Dallas, the International Trade Center of Dallas and Entrust’s Security Solutions for the Supply Chain series. She earned her MBA at Georgetown University and her BA at Wellesley College.
Michele Coquis has over 25 years of experience in the IT, Professional Services, and Telecommunications industries as a consultant and also at Director levels of Fortune 200 companies. As a Category Director of a $2.3B global labor and professional services spend, her responsibilities included strategy development, sourcing, category management, contracting, supplier management, and operation of one of the largest technical, professional services, administrative, and call center buys in the industry. Subsequent experience in large scale workforce planning, competency development and analytics enables Michèle to advise clients on optimizing all components of their workforce. During her career, Michèle has performed roles in the US, Europe, and South America supporting clients in industrial manufacturing, government, military, chemicals, financial, health care, communications, and retail industries. Michèle is a Certified Vested Deal Architect and is bilingual in English and Spanish.
Nick Seiersen has over 20 years consulting experience, helping clients across Europe and the Americas squeeze assets and costs out of their operations and commercial relationships, as well as helping build capabilities to grow the businesses. He has led initiatives to drive greater value from logistics operations, from procurement arrangements, and from contracting strategies. At AT Kearney, KPMG, and BearingPoint, he has worked extensively with public and private sector organizations, across heavy industries and consumer facing companies. He has an enviable track record in delivering consulting and IT projects on time and with the desired results. Nick has also led the International supply chain operations of KGHM, the 7th largest copper miner. Widely published in the professional press, his book “The Right Deal With The Right Supplier” was published in 2017. He has taught Executive courses at leading universities in France, Switzerland and Canada. He is an IACCM certified Expert in Supplier Relationship Management and Commercial and Contract Management, and an ECCMA certified Master Data Quality Manager.
Bruce Allen has over 20 years of experience in supply chain management and strategic sourcing and for the last 15 years has been delivering high value advisory services to dozens of clients throughout North America. An acknowledged expert in supply chain optimization, sourcing, logistics and Vested (outcome based, collaborative contracting) methodology, Bruce has led a wide range of projects in the areas of procurement, supply chain implementation, outsource contracting, transportation strategy, and logistics optimization. Bruce brings a valuable blend of operational knowledge and financial acumen to client challenges and excels at delivering high value, practical solutions.
Prior to consulting, Bruce held senior finance, operational and supply chain positions at PepsiCo Inc. and YUM Brands. At YUM, Bruce managed the Canadian supply chain operations for over 750 restaurants. With PepsiCo he had P&L responsibility for PFS Canada, PepsiCo’s food service distribution division, and helped establish food service distribution operations in Australia, Mexico and Puerto Rico. Bruce is a CPA with an Honors Business Administration degree from the Ivey School of Business and is a Certified Vested Deal Architect.
In addition to our strong bench strength, The Forefront Group has established alliances with several leaders in the international supply management space. Our alliances serve to augment our impact across the full spectrum of our Clients’ business needs, to include supply chain and logistics planning as well as supply chain and planning software and tool implementation.
We are a Certified Vested Center of Excellence, and provide guidance and tools for the development of the Seven Core Sourcing Business Models, including supplier relationship management and collaborative contracting.
