by Janice Marquardt | Aug 4, 2026 | Supply Chain Career
Summer has always felt like the beginning of my year instead of January. Part of that is all the years of being a student with an academic year starting in late August and ending in May, but there’s just something about summertime that’s full of energy and promise. I...
by Janice Marquardt | Jul 28, 2026 | Supply Chain Career
My first boss in procurement used to tell me, “You can go to lunch with a supplier. But you have to be able to come back from lunch and fire that supplier the same afternoon.” His philosophy on supplier relationships was to keep suppliers a bit at arm’s length, make...
by Janice Marquardt | Jun 30, 2026 | Supply Chain Career
Procurement can be incredibly variable in its workload. Some weeks we’re running flat out with multiple contract signatures, RFPs due, and technical evaluations completing ready for the next step. Some weeks are quieter with RFPs in flight, technical teams going...
by Janice Marquardt | Jun 23, 2026 | Supply Chain Career
I dropped my daughter off for her last year of camp, one of our favorite camp staff with her arm around my beautiful 16-year-old. As I walked back to my car to start the 8-hour drive home, I felt more sad and contemplative than I did when I dropped a small 9-year-old...
by Janice Marquardt | Jun 16, 2026 | Conferences
Sometimes at a conference, a talk just lands. It’s well-articulated, from a reputable source, and delivers the message in such a way that we can hear it. This happened to me twice this conference season (it’s a good year!), and this second time was about AI. The...
