Eric Smokler Email Address

Director, Network Cost Control

Axis Capital

As a Global IT Procurement Leader, I deliver multimillion-dollar savings and efficiencies with a change management, strategic and an internal customer-centric approach to the entire procurement lifecycle for Fortune 1000 Global and renown organizations. Strong legacy in cost-effectively managing budgets up to $960M across multi-industry leaders in finance, investment, and telecom verticals. As a trusted advisor to C-level suite, I consistently contribute to margin improvement through domestic and international supplier management, sourcing, global contract negotiations, cost benefit analysis, and strong relationship building. A forward thinking, problem solver skilled at mitigating risk while navigating international laws and regulations, delivering outstanding project support and service. I have Security Clearance: FBI, Top Secret. I’ve optimized results by… ♦ Creating IT Procurement group that streamlined purchasing, achieving $40M savings in 7 years for Axis. ♦ Slashing line item annual costs by ~60% at Axis, in one instance saving $6M. Developed RFPs/RFQs for global MPLS arrangement for 27 global locations. ♦ Developing hardware/software purchase strategy, procuring 30% more products for same price, with global pricing from HP, NetApp, Riverbed, Symantec and Dell. ♦ Leading negotiations producing savings of $100M+ for Blackstone leveraging footprint of extensive portfolio of companies and consolidating Microsoft licenses. ♦ Assisting FBI in co-authoring reimbursement rules for the 1997 Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act of 1994, a law that allocated $500M to pay telecom and carriers to develop a wiretapping feature in the digital age. Additional Competencies: ♦ Procurement, Sourcing ♦ Capital & Expense Budget ♦ Project Support ♦ IT Maintenance ♦ Compliance, Risk Mitigation ♦ Supplier Relations ♦ Invoice Validation ♦ Contract Negotiations ♦ Forecasting ♦ Outsourcing ♦ Expense Control ♦ Inventory Control ♦ RFP | RFQ | SOX