Lifting the Economy Through Suppliers
Jose Turkienicz, UPS Chief Procurement Officer and President, Real Estate and Risk Management, is a supply chain expert and the leader of the Supplier Diversity program at UPS. He discusses his strategy to further the inclusion of Latino small and medium businesses in suppliers.
Please begin by sharing with us some of your background, your roots?
I was born in Brazil from Eastern European roots. My paternal grandparents left Poland for Brazil in the early stages of World War II. Both sides of the family arrived in Brazil with no money and unable to speak the language. They all worked tirelessly to build a new home and educate their children. I believe my values and work ethics is imprinted in me from them. I grew up watching my father and my uncle in their business and helping every time I had a break from school or after class since middle school. They were partners on a furniture business with manufacturing and retail.
I graduated from business school and I got married. Shortly after our honeymoon, I received a call from a headhunter on a search for Mars Europe Petfood division. They were looking for someone who could speak Portuguese and Spanish and be responsible for their animal protein sourcing from Latin America. I thought it was quite an interesting opportunity for two or three years to learn big business. I stayed at Mars for 15 years working for Mars Europe, Latin America and North America as well as having responsibilities in Asia in a variety of roles and across petfood, food and chocolate. I found myself. I realized I could add more value working for a big company than having my own small business. That I could probably make a bigger difference than on my own. After my second promotion at Mars, my first boss took over from me as I moved to another assignment. Transitioning my role at the time to him was one of the most rewarding feelings I have ever had. After 15 years, I reluctantly left Mars to join Campbell Soup on what was a second to none global opportunity that was offered to me. I was sold when I met Doug Conant, Campbell CEO at the time. After Campbell, I worked at Aramark and two and a half years ago I joined UPS where I lead Global Procurement, Real Estate and Risk Management. I feel extremely privileged and blessed for all the opportunities I have been given and for the people that helped me along the way.
How did you arrive to the position you are currently in?
I received a call from a head hunter 10 months before I joined UPS. He told me he was starting a confidential search for a Fortune 50 company that he could not disclose the name yet, but that “my name was written for it” and asked me if I would consider a change. I had a big laugh and asked him to how many others he had said the same thing. We agreed he would give me another call when he could disclose more. Three months later he called back. I actually had forgotten about it. He told me that the search was now active and that he was able to confidentially disclose the company’s name. It was UPS. I had a lot of respect for the company already and asked him to elaborate as he mentioned they wanted to hire a Chief Procurement Officer to transform and elevate the function globally to become best in class and a strategic competitive advantage.
I was intrigued. I had thought that was already the case but the more I learned the more fascinated I became about the opportunity, and the value that I could help unleash. Part of that value was a total revamp on how UPS approached supplier diversity. Things got a bit complicated at this point. I was quite happy at my current company and I felt there was much more I could still do for them. Because of my daughter and son, it wasn’t the best time to move the family either. Everything was great personally and professionally and I hesitated in continue exploring but I was intrigued. I accepted an invitation to come to Atlanta to meet a couple of people. When I left, I knew I was in trouble. I met great people at a great company with so many opportunities to explore. We discussed for a few more months and it became clear to me that I could help. I felt very good about the team I had helped develop at my previous company and thought if I left they would continue the journey well while I could move to help UPS in their journey. We agreed to a longer transition than average as I wanted to make sure the team was solid with all its deliverables before I left my previous company. In addition to Global Procurement I became responsible for Real Estate and Risk Management at UPS.
Talk about some of the work you have done as Chief Procurement Officer in favor of Latino small businesses?
UPS has had a strong supplier diversity program in place since 1992, long before I joined the organization. In fact, UPS’s commitment to diversity and inclusion is one of the reasons I was excited to join the company. When I arrived, we conducted a thorough review of how UPS was performing, and then built a new three year supplier diversity strategy. Our first area of focus was internal. We needed to ensure that our sourcing processes, technology, and metrics were optimized, and I wanted to broaden engagement in supplier diversity across the organization. With a new director appointed to lead the strategy, and additional staff allocated to the team, we were positioned to execute. Since we began, UPS spend with Latino-owned businesses has increased 32% to nearly $94M/year. We are not finished. There is certainly more work to be done, but it is encouraging to see the positive gains so far.
Our partnerships with the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and the National Minority Supplier Development Council, help connect us to potential suppliers. Together we help those suppliers grow. This is a critical part of the process and it is important enough to me that I carved out time to join the National Minority Supplier Development Council board of directors.
What are your goals in terms of advancing these opportunities for Latinos businesses?
Although we have had some success bringing more Latino businesses into our supply chain, the pace of change is still too slow. The cultural and systemic barriers to inclusion are real and cannot be wished away, or simply ignored. UPS has a platform to demonstrate the business value of supplier diversity, and I want us to continue to use it to help broaden the network of corporations committed to economic growth through economic inclusion. We also need to find ways to encourage the growth of Latino businesses in profitable, B2B industries. Through our continued sponsorships and partnerships with organizations like the NMSDC and USHCC, we are helping Latino business owners and entrepreneurs learn about the network of supplier diversity professionals, business development agencies, and certifying bodies that can help them develop and connect them to new opportunities with corporations like UPS. +