Crown Commercial Service plays an important role helping the UK public sector save money when buying common goods and services. Paul has been with CCS for more than 13 years, and leads the Crown Commercial Service Devolved Administrations and Crown Dependencies Team. Prior to that Paul held commercial roles in organisations such as the Ministry of Defence and Scottish Procurement & Property Directorate and has worked in the profession for more than 30 years.

Kobirul joined the Home Office as commercial lead via the Government Commercial Organisation in August 2020, working with key business functions to manage a large portfolio of spend and contracts. This includes managing strategic supplier and critical contracts to ensure business case outcomes are achieved, and developing innovative commercial strategies whilst ensuring procurement activity delivers tangible outcomes, value for money and more efficient and lean services, whilst considering social value and sustainability. Previously he worked as a senior commercial business partner at the Security Industry Authority, a non-departmental public body.

Darren leads a team of twenty-three procurement staff responsible for all procurement activity at Durham County Council. In 2016 Darren was awarded the Cabinet Office’s first ever award for Social Value Leadership for an Organisation. He is Chair of the Local Government Association’s National Advisory Group for Local Government Procurement and is the Chair of the National Social Value Taskforce.

Jane is a Professor in Procurement for the Logistics and Operations Management (LOM) section of Cardiff Business School, Cardiff University. Jane’s subject areas for research and teaching include innovation and social public procurement, supply chain management, and collaboration. Jane is the strategic lead for Procurement Labs in a WEFO funded project, Infuse (Innovation of Future Public Services). Jane is Programme Director for the UK Government funded 'Help to Grow Management' programme delivered at Cardiff Buisness School aimed at supporting SMEs with business growth. Additional Roles: Member of IRSPP (international research study on public procurement) Branch Chair of the Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply (CIPS) South Wales Associate Director (MICW) of Institute for Collaborative Working (ICW), Cymru

Linda O’Hare is Assistant Director – Procurement, at Business Services Organisation (BSO), Procurement and Logistics Service (PaLS), in Northern Ireland (NI). PaLS is the sole provider of professional procurement and logistics services to all Health and Social Care (HSC) organisations in NI. BSO PaLS manages £1.3bn of expenditure per annum, has circa 420 staff, with procurement offices and warehouses situated across NI. BSO PaLS manages procurements and contracts across all categories of goods and services - clinical, non-clinical, social care and ICT. Linda has 23 years Public Procurement experience, in the Health Services in both Ireland and NI. Prior to this she headed up the purchasing department in the 5-star Merrion Hotel in Dublin, and in her early career held a number of management roles in the hospitality industry. In her spare time, Linda takes long walks in the countryside, spends time with family and friends and likes to travel extensively.

Responsible for the Strategic Procurement of the Translink Group`s Bus, Coach, Glider and Rail Fleets, and the supporting Engineering Maintenance requirements. Translink is the integrated public transport provider for Northern Ireland With a passion for procurement, Mark has over 41 years of Procurement and Supply Chain experience across both private and public sector organisations, having held senior positions at Wrightbus Ltd, PwC LLP, Transport for London (TfL), NI Civil Service and for the last 13 years with Translink. Mark is the Regional Chair of the Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply (CIPS) and is one of a handful of Chartered Fellows of the Institute currently working in Northern Ireland. He is a member of the Institute of Directors and is currently studying for an MSc in Strategic Procurement Management at the University of South Wales. And was the recipient of the `Individual Achievement Award` for the transformation of public transport procurement at the 2022 Northern Ireland Go Awards.

Julie O’Sullivan is the Head of Commercial Procurement Services (CPS) in the Education Authority (EA), a Centre of Procurement Expertise for Education in Northern Ireland. The EA is the largest educational body in the United Kingdom NI’s largest employer. Julie leads an award winning procurement team who support 1145 schools/ 101 youth centres, 800 school meal kitchens and numerous external education partners. Her remit includes the responsibility and management of a £1.7b contract portfolio and an annual procurement expenditure of circa £500m. The service is an important strategic enabler in assisting the EA in delivering its mission ‘To provide a high quality education for every child’. Julie brings to her position 25 years’ experience and a well-established background in Strategic Procurement and Contract Management. A key achievement has been achieving Centre of Procurement Expertise for the EA and she has led significant Transformational and Change Management Projects in the Public Sector. Prior to working in the EA, she worked in Local Government and Private Sector Procurement functions. Julie holds an MSC in Purchasing and Supply Management, a BA (Hons) in Business Services and MCIPS.

Rebecca is a partner and Head of Public Procurement. She also leads the cross-firm Building a Safer Future team at Trowers & Hamlins. Rebecca is a leading national expert in public procurement law, consistently ranked as among the world's leading government contracts lawyers (Who's Who Legal and Chambers and Partners). Rebecca has significant experience in advising clients in the public, private and third sectors on public procurement, subsidy control and building safety strategy issues. She advises clients on procurement strategy and structures, how to conduct flexible and compliant procurement procedures and compile objective and transparent evaluation models and guidance. With particular interests in value-led procurement, social value and building safety, Rebecca is a member of the Working Group 11 for Procurement Competency, part of the Competency Steering Group (CSG), set up by the Industry Response Group (IRG) to tackle competency failings identified in the Hackitt Review, Building a Safer Future and sits on DLUHC's Procurement Advisory Group. Rebecca also represents Trowers & Hamlins on the Social Value in Housing Taskforce, led by HACT, which focuses on the further development of robust measurement and management of social value outcomes. Rebecca also sits on the Advisory Council of Radioactive Waste Management, the public sector organisation established by government responsible for planning and delivering geological disposal of higher activity radioactive waste in the UK. Rebecca is ranked in Band 1 and named as a 'Top Ranked and Leader in the Field for Public Procurement (UK-wide)' by the Chambers and Partners' Guide to the Legal Profession 2022. She is also recognised as a Global Leader in the "Who's Who Legal Guide to Government Contracts 2021".

Mark joined the National Health Service in 1978 and worked for the Mid Glamorgan Health Authority Supplies Department, later moving to WHTSO (which became the Welsh Health Common Services Authority). In 1980, he joined the North West Regional Health Authority as a purchaser at Trafford Park Hospital. Following a move back to Wales as Head of Purchasing in East Dyfed Health Authority, he returned to WHCSA as Director of Materials Management with the creation of the Procurement Group in Wales. In 1996, he served as Director of Welsh Health Supplies following the market testing of the Contracting and Supply Chain services. In 2011, Mark was appointed as the Director of the Procurement Division of the NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership. The Division has over 500 staff across locations the length and breadth of Wales covering Sourcing, Supply Chain, Accounts Payable, Purchasing and Capital. Mark also has the responsibility for the Health Courier Service, following its transfer into NWSSP from Welsh Ambulance Service. Mark retired from this post in 2019 to take up the role of Programme Director focusing initially on Brexit and latterly the COVID Pandemic. In 2012, Mark was honoured for a lifetime of outstanding achievement at the National Government Opportunities (GO) Excellence in Public Procurement Awards. He was recognised for his part in driving forward public procurement and making a real difference within the profession over an extended period of time and in 2017 he was awarded with a MBE. Mark is Chair of Trustees for the HCSA and also a Trustee of the Wales Quality Centre.

Paul began his career in public sector housing working for Newark and Sherwood Homes in Nottinghamshire, where he spent 8 years, starting as a temporary finance admin officer before working his way up to procurement manager. Having managed tenant insurance, leaseholder properties, customer service, careline services and procurement he moved into the framework sector with Consortium Procurement in 2019. Today he works for national framework provider LHC, specialising in Construction, as the Regional Procurement Manager. Paul is passionate about procurement and helping to change the way procurement is done to open the public sector to the very best suppliers available.

Grahame joined BiP Solutions in 2003 as Production Director with responsibility for the multi-disciplined media and production department, including Content, Research and Distribution. Prior to that, he worked in various senior editorial and publishing roles for the media company EMAP plc. Grahame was appointed Deputy Chief Operating Officer of the BI Division in May 2012 and became Sales & Marketing Director in May 2016 with overall responsibility for driving revenues through private and public sector sales, marketing and events teams. In January 2017, Grahame was appointed Managing Director of the Media and Marketing Solutions division of the BiP Group. In this role he assumed overall responsibility for two of BiP Group’s recent acquisitions – Pro Mark Media and Ingenium – as well as BiP Solutions’ events and training portfolio. Following a restructure of BiP Group in April 2018, Grahame was appointed Sales and Marketing Director for the Business Intelligence and Public Sector business units, before subsequently being appointed Director of Public Policy, Research and Communications in 2023.

Carl has a wealth of public procurement experience, having previously led the award-winning procurement team at one of Wales’ largest housing associations. Before joining Welsh Government, Carl worked for the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply (CIPS), where he taught procurement and contract management best practice to public and private sector organisations across the globe. Carl also played an important role in CIPS’ work post-Grenfell, and supported the work of Working Group 11 to agree specific procurement competence levels for people involved in the construction of new higher risk residential buildings. In his current role, Carl is responsible for developing Welsh Government’s wider Procurement Reform engagement activity, working closely with stakeholders across the Welsh public sector to ensure that they are ready to maximise the opportunities arising from procurement reform.

John began his career as a laboratory assistant before becoming a qualified Master Brewer. Having spent 10 years in brewing production, John moved onto various procurement roles in the industry prior to spending 2 years in the food industry working for one of the country’s leading chilled food producers. In 2006, he joined the NHS being involved in the growth and development of two regional procurement organisations before joining Anchor 2 years ago in the role of Head of Procurement and Purchasing.

Julie Welsh is the Director of Scotland Excel, the Centre of Procurement Expertise for local government. As the organisation's senior officer, she provides leadership and strategic direction to ensure its services are aligned to the needs of the sector. Since taking up her post in September 2014, Julie has implemented strategies to extend the range of services provided by Scotland Excel, extend the influence of the organisation in the wider public sector landscape, and secure its future as a leading shared service.