9 September 2010 | Angeline Albert
Premier Foods may have lived up to its name at the 2010 CIPS SM Awards last night by clinching the overall prize, but it was accompanied by a whole cast of premier procurement professionals - (try saying that after some champers).
As the procurement industry’s hangover wears off, buyers can reflect on the quips of their first class host, TV impressionist Rory Bremner who brought Gordon Brown, George W. Bush and the Queen to the party at London’s Grosvenor House Hotel. The vocal chameleon’s Obama, however, could do with a bit more work (sorry Rory) – but, like the government’s new faces, he still has time to make a good impression.
The Defence Storage and Distribution Agency (DSDA) was one of the industry’s stars honoured at the ceremony. The DSDA won the Best People Development Initiative award for its work freeing up resources for the Ministry of Defence. Its initiative to better pack containers of equipment no longer needed by UK troops in Afghanistan and Iraq to ship back to the UK saved more than £12.7 million.
Business analyst Ron Preston told SM last night: “There is a war out there. There are people dying for our country. That fact is a key motivator for procurement staff to do a good job.”
CIPS’ president Shirley Cooper told the gala dinner’s audience of more than 1,200 it had been a challenging and difficult year, so it was great to see more entries than ever before and standards continuing to rise.
“The entries were fantastic, the content was superb, the great ideas you’re bringing to your businesses continue to reap rewards.”
Praising the work of the institute, Cooper added: “CIPS is a global institute, the fastest growing of its kind with 65,000 members which is 20 per cent up on last year. Fellowship has also grown by 20 per cent, but I’m delighted to say the average age has dropped.”
Cooper will be succeeded as CIPS’ president in November by Peter Rushton, the chief executive officer of Optimum Business Solutions.
