Johanne Rossi, Chief Procurement Officer at Caltex, is one of Australia’s most interesting procurement personalities who combines passion and intelligence with humility and care. I was honoured to interview her at the beautiful Caltex office in Sydney where her enthusiasm for life and work shone through.
Awarded Chief Procurement Officer of the Year, Procurement Leader of the year, Most Improved Procurement Operation of the year and Procurement Function of the year with her team, Caltex CEO Julian Segal, says about her: “Johanne has managed quite an amazing transformation at Caltex, changing the mindset both internally and externally of procurement from just about buying the cheapest staples, to delivering on our company-wide strategy and creating value in partnership with our suppliers who are now regarded as key business partners. Johanne has this great enthusiasm and positive motivating energy that has been critical in taking people with her on the transformation journey. Caltex is now a customer of choice and we’ve been able to leverage supplier relationships to drive mutual value and deliver real competitive advantage. As an Australian company, with no international operations outside of our trading hub in Singapore, these relationships are extremely important to our success.”
Johanne is also an adventurer, marathon runner, keen tennis player and, for something completely different, gained a bachelor’s degree in Plastic Arts from La Sorbonne (taking evening classes while working at Accenture) in Paris!
Her eclectic life began in the south of France, where she grew up in modest circumstances. Her mother worked as a nurse in the emergency unit of Marseille’s largest hospital and her father was a Formula 3 and rally driver (before going back to school to get a degree and later joining Esso as a chemical engineer). Johanne entered a top-ranked French business school, working at night in a Pizza Hut shop to pay for the school fees, and went on to complete a Master of Science in Management by age 23.
She then lived and worked around the globe with blue chip organisations like Exxon Mobile, Accenture, Nestle, Qantas and now Caltex and gained experience in various industries, roles and cultures.
Johanne is a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply and an advisory board member for the peak supply chain organization, Procurement Leaders.
Where to find Johanne:
Johanne will be speaking at Women in Procurement in Melbourne on 26th and 27th April 2017 and at the World Procurement Congress on 16th and 17th May 2017 in London.
