Rich outlines objectives forfor his year at the helm
Purchasers must seize the chance to add to the bottom line, says NAPM president Dick Rich.
By Staff -- Purchasing, 6/4/1998 2:00:00 AM
On May 6, Richard D. (Dick) Rich, director of procurement with Seminole Electric Cooperative in Tampa, Fla., began his term as president of the National Association of Purchasing Management (napm). Along with the napm Board of Directors, Rich will be responsible for implementing the organization's five-year strategic plan.
While serving as chairman of the national Professional Development Committee, Rich had a role in creating the current system of leadership that is designed to promote continuity of strategy and goals from year to year. "Several years ago," Rich says, "we started to emphasize strategic planning at napm. We put into place a five-year plan." One goal for his presidency, Rich says, will be to "bring continuity to the plan through all three levels of governance at napm--national, district, and affiliate--and through the grass-roots level."
Another of Rich's goals will be to re-establish strong bonds between the national organization and its local affiliates. "If an affiliate feels we haven't responded to their local needs in the past, a level of mistrust may have developed. The affiliates sometimes perceive us as being aloof," Rich says of the national organization.
To improve communications, Rich says he will conduct frequent teleconferences with affiliate leaders. He is urging the national organization to convene regional discussion forums among geographically proximate affiliates. Already scheduled for summer 1998 are forums for districts IV, X, and VI; and districts XII, XI, and I. For 1999, napm has regional forums planned for districts I and XI; districts V, VIII, and IX; and districts II and VII.
Membership drive
Rich notes that napm has a goal of doubling its membership by the year 2003. An important piece of this strategy, Rich says, will be to involve greater numbers of top-level purchasing executives from Fortune 500 firms. "A recent cause for concern to me has been a reduction of chief purchasing officers in our membership," Rich says. (The percentage has decreased almost 8% in the past three years.) "Involving CPOs as members brings several positive elements. On the national level we get strategic insight to our planning and governance and resources for research and development. Affiliates may gain by an increase in members, from the influence of the executive, as well as resources brought by those executives." Recruitment of executive-level members will occur mostly through executive discussion forums, Rich says. At the grass-roots level, napm is in process of revising its by-laws to allow for more extensive membership recruitment through a national marketing campaign.
In the spotlight
While purchasing "traditionalists" may see it as a threat, Rich says the rising attention among corporate executives to strategic supply management presents a tremendous opportunity for the purchasing professional. "For as long as I have been active in napm," he says, "I've heard people say the organization doesn't do enough to raise the corporate profile of purchasing." But this responsibility, he says, is with the individual. "The responsibility of raising the level of purchasing lies with supply management professionals within the firm. They must seize the opportunity to create contributions to the company's bottom line through supply management and contribute to improving the competitive position of their employer with new and creative methods of supply."
Rich is currently director of procurement with Seminole Electric Cooperative in Tampa, Fla., where he has been employed since 1982. He previously held purchasing and financial management positions with the State of Wyoming, City of Pittsburgh, and New York City.
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