Paula Varner Email Address

Senior Director

Pharmaceutical Product Development, Inc., a global contract research organization

Sourcing director who delivers value through market knowledge, effective project facilitation and strong negotiation expertise. Organized and diligent with demonstrated success leading cross-functional, geographically-dispersed teams while aggressively delivering on departmental and organizational goals and objectives. Targeted experience developing and implementing procurement policies, re-engineered procedures (based on industry best practices) and disaster recovery requirements. Highlights • Centralized organization design and restructuring • Sourcing process and policy development • Sourcing team building and mentoring • Business partnering • Performance monitoring and improvement • Effective communicator • Strong public speaker • Powerful contract negotiations • Adaptive • Cost reduction and risk mitigation Recent Key Accomplishments • Implemented a revised acquisition policy that enhanced customer service and improved process control and rigor; established a procedure review process to validate adherence • Launched a client awareness program and created a program to train staff on the new policy and associated processes • Heightened organizational awareness of the value of sourcing through the collection and reporting of KPIs to clients and executives • Delivered cost savings and cost avoidance of $12.4M in 2013 and $13.2M in Jan – Nov 2014 (average >20% of spend under management) while also reducing the overall sourcing project cycle time Vendor Experience • Microsoft • Oracle • Symantec • VMware • Informatica • Gartner • HP