Mark Ashton

• Provide Strategic Direction: Lead the development and implementation of cost effective
procurement strategies to ensure that balance control with Dojos entrepreneurial nature.
• Global Sourcing Strategy: Develop and implement a global sourcing strategy focused on
cost-efficiency and business alignment.
• Drive Optimisation: Identify optimisation opportunities through thorough review of current
relationships and agreements.
• Stakeholder & Cross Functional Collaboration: Work cross-functionally to ensure
compliance with sourcing strategy as well as address business needs and drive cost-effective
procurement.
• Process Development: Oversee the enhancement of sourcing processes, contract
management, and supplier relationships.
• Champion the Team: Support and grow a talented team; advocating where necessary and
providing guidance that will enable the team to achieve their best
• Utilise Technology: Implement technology solutions to streamline processes, enable
scalability and enhance cost efficiency.

• Management of all vendors within the Hopin group including SaaS, Software, Hardware, HR,
Consultancy, Finance Systems
• Annual review of all spend across the organisation, currently at $100m.
• Delivery and Integration for the procurement sourcing tool (Zip)
• Deliver, partner and manage internal stakeholder requirements including security, legal, and
diversity programs
• Track and report key functional metrics to reduce expenses and improve effectiveness
• Review specifications, analyse market and select potential suppliers based off definitive
scope and requirements.
• Lead Hopins RFP process, analyse cost, develop strategic business terms and liaise with
core teams to ensure visibility
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to select suppliers for new products, lease vs. buy
decisions and optimize supplier base
• Manage vendors/suppliers through KPIs and scorecards as necessary

• Management of all tech spend including SaaS, Cloud, HW, Marketing technology,
professional services and contingent workforce
• Deliver, partner and manage internal stakeholder requirements including security, legal, and
diversity programs
• Track and report key functional metrics to reduce expenses and improve effectiveness
• Review specifications, analyse market and select potential suppliers based off definitive
scope and requirements.
• Lead Hopins RFP process, analyse cost, develop strategic business terms and liaise with
core teams to ensure visibility
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to select suppliers for new products, lease vs. buy
decisions and optimize supplier base
• Manage vendors/suppliers through KPIs and scorecards as necessary

• Management of spend in excess of USD$100m annually across 50+ offices worldwide
including but not limited to mobile telecoms, ISP and value added reseller spend to include
laptops, peripherals, software and hardware.
• Consolidation of the current vendor base
• Ensure all spend is managed under a suitable commercial contract
• Commercial and contractual negotiations with global vendors across, North America, Europe,
Middle East and APAC.
• Commercial management and vendor governance of major vendors within my remit. Including
Cisco, Vodafone, AT&T, BT Group, Lenovo, HP, Insight, CDW.

• Management of Circa $1B.5Bn AUD spend within the indirect space including Technology, IT,
Creative agency, media buying, retail, devices, content and FM and management of Circa
$500M AUD spend within the network space
• Build and drive and implement the strategy for a move to LTE and 4G technology ensuring all
tech is future proof and cloud capable.
• Major Vendors include Huawei, Apple, Samsung, Cisco Ingram Micro, WPP (STW), Tech M
• Management of 3 category managers across various tech and indirect portfolios
• Work across the indirect spend area of Retail/Sales, HR, digital and Marketing to deliver the
sales targets and profit margins required.

Achievements:
• Successful deliver of LTE core and subsequent 4G mobile core, initially with Cisco, then
through running a major sourcing event transitioning over to an Ericsson system. Spend was
circa $50m AUD.
• Delivered 200+ retail store fit outs and openings, working closely with the sales and supply
chain teams to work with 3rd party vendors to deliver the right outcome for the sales team to
succeed. Timely and quality in delivery under contractual terms.
• Moved from Vodafones creative agency to a local Australian agency who understood the
market positioning of VHA better, delivering a better marketing platform to increase sub base.
• Delivered a transformation project within the supply chain function through Lean, Six-Sigma
green belt project. This led to a vendor base reduction from 5, 000 vendors to 550 in the space
of 12 months.
• Implementation of a new Oracle ERP system which aligned all spend and contracts under
one system to easily map spend, trends and strategies to vendors.
• Worked with the digital team to introduce Netflix on the VHA Red Plans increasing sub base
and obtaining exclusivity for 12 months.

• Management of Circa $1 Bn AUD spend within the network category
• Running of major RFPs and developed the first, non-tender strategic sourcing initiative within
Optus that drove the network upgrade from 3G to 4G/LTE, saving in excess of $30M
• Major Vendors include Huawei, NSN, Ericsson, Cisco, Leightons, LeBlanc
Achievements:
• As the Procurement lead on complex projects within the Mobile and Converged Networks,
support, IT platforms, software upgrades business areas I delivered savings in excess of
$200 million.
• Procurement lead on the largest upgrade sourcing initiative in Optus history, with a target
completion date of early 2013. Estimated spend with 2 strategic vendors of $1 Bn to
incorporate equipment, services, deployment, software, support, legal, installation and
commissioning, logistics, field services, transmission, covering both Capex and Opex spend.
Delivering in excess of $50m AUD in savings
• I was a key member of a working group to introduce a formal vendor governance framework
into Optus.
• I have been actively involved in the recent transformation of the Optus procurement function
through the facilitation of stakeholder meetings; I have conducted impact assessments,
carried out data validation and acted as an interface between the business stakeholders and
the project office.

• Management of Circa £50M annually across 2 major highways contracts
• Management of all contracts within this spend
• Commercial negotiations of existing contracts
• Major Vendors include: Hanson, Tarmac, LeFarge.
• Management of 8 staff, including procurement analyst and depot managers
• Management of overall supply chain, stock levels and H&S for 6 depots
Achievements:
• Lead in the transition from a SAP based system to a Causeway accounting and stock
management system, allowing more streamlined and better management of goods and also a
consistent approach for both contracts.
• Combined spend profiling of both TFL and TFB to allow a greater leverage of spend. This
resulted in cost savings across both business units of £2M on materials, £200K of plant and
vehicle hire, £50K on PPE, £45K on office supplies and IT.
• Review of suppliers and introduction of a supplier evaluation template that allowed a 50%
reduction in the supplier base while ensuring the quality of suppliers remained high.
• Managing 8 staff across 2 business areas I consistently delivered to plan and exceeded
savings targets. Due to the different purchasing practises previously used in the different
business units, I had to decide on which areas benefitted our consolidated way of working
and how best to implement these and manage the staff through this transition.
• Development of vendor governance and pre-qualification system for vendors, this enables the
business units to engage with suppliers in a timely fashion with the knowledge that the
product was fit for purpose. The vendor governance procedure allowed the business unit to
voice any concerns it may have had over supply or quality directly to the supplier, this allowed
the supplier to address those concerns first hand.

• Management of Circa £30M across the Oxfordshire Highways contract
• Management of stock levels across 4 depots
• Management of 4 staff, depot managers
• Working with Bids team on RFP submissions to LA and HA