Arthur Christy
Atlanta,GA
Summary
Seasoned international procurement leader with over 15 years of experience managing strategic sourcing and supplier development across global industrial sectors. Proven success in both country-level procurement leadership and global category management, with a strong track record of delivering cost optimization, operational efficiency, and sustainability impact.
Led procurement operations for Verescence North America as Country Procurement Manager, overseeing $40M in annual spend across direct, indirect, and CAPEX categories, while managing teams across multiple manufacturing sites. At the global level, served as Category Manager for Corrugated Board Packaging at Lactalis Group, coordinating sourcing strategies across 250+ plants in 50 countries and managing a €300M spend portfolio.
Expert in supplier performance assessment, CSR integration, and cross-functional collaboration. Currently serving as Senior Procurement Manager at Verescence North America, driving procurement transformation with a focus on strategic sourcing and carbon neutrality goals.
Overview
17
17
years of professional experience
Work History
Country Procurement Manager
Verescence North America
Atlanta, Georgia
03.2023 - Current
- Member of the U.S. Division’s Management Committee, reporting directly to the Country CEO.
- Mission: Develop, lead and execute procurement strategies for the US Division on Direct & Indirect categories and CAPEX : $40M annual spend.
- Lead strategic procurement initiatives aimed at enhancing cost efficiency, optimizing supplier performance, mitigating risks, advancing sustainability goals, and driving long-term value creation.
- Drive execution of the Supplier CSR roadmap with a long-term objective of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050.
- Management: Leading a team of 3 procurement specialists over 2 manufacturing plants located in GA, USA.
Global Sourcing Category Manager – Corrugated Board Packaging
Lactalis Group
Laval, France
01.2020 - 02.2023
- Mission: Develop, lead and execute procurement strategy for the Group on Corrugated board.
- Budget construction: commodities [feedstock & Containerboard] follow-up + forecasts & saving plan contribution [PPV & projects]
- Supplier Management (pool of 10+ global suppliers – 75% of Global Spend): Business Review, quality monitoring, RM indexation, benchmark, TCO / cost model & cost-in-use, financial assessment, strategic vision. Bring support to local buyers for negotiation with local suppliers (50+ active local suppliers) when needed.
- Team Management: Functional: 10 local buyers
- Sustainability & Innovation: contribute to building our Group Packaging Policy, create and monitor global KPIs
- Strategy deployment: secure supply w/ back-up, extend sourcing, reduce portfolio complexity, value analysis, develop master technical database, weekly upstream monitoring, provide quarterly Global Commodity [feedstock & Containerboard] Market Reports and lead VC Calls for 50+ Packaging buyers.
- Scope: Coordinate 250+ Plants in 50 Countries - 300M€ annual spend – 200KTA of Containerboard – 400 million square meters of Corrugated Board
- Results: Coordinate 10+ Global Suppliers (from 10M€ for the smallest account up to 40M€ for the largest one), mitigating price increase requests in a challenging environment (+100% on RM, strong pressure on other cost elements), develop the European Strategy for Corrugated Board, provide regular Global Market Analysis for Paper Commodities.
Corporate Lead Buyer
Verescence Group
Mers-les-Bains, France
10.2018 - 12.2019
- Mission: Develop, lead and execute procurement strategies for the Group over the following strategic categories: Resorting Sub-contracting (5M€/year), Finishing Raw Material (7M€) and Indirect (30M€, covering Car Leasing, Mobile phones, Consulting services, Temporary agencies, Cleaning Services, Company insurances, Waste Management...).
- These various missions allow me to work on several types of purchasing approaches including international sourcing, Global RFQ, exclusivity contracts, standardization of best practices (CSR & Quality Management System / Purchasing Reporting), cross-country sites coordination...
- Scope: Responsible for all plants + HQ - 50M€ annual spend
- Results: reduced OPEX by 1,5M€ year-o-year, development of local sources for each region to fulfill our target of having 95% local purchasing by 2022.
Country Procurement Manager
Verescence North America
Atlanta, Georgia
04.2014 - 09.2018
- Mission: Develop, lead and execute procurement strategies for the US Division across multiple categories, optimize inventory levels and find more local and profitable suppliers. Deploy the CSR approach under Corporate vision.
- Scope: Responsible for our 2 US plants and managing 2 procurement specialists - $25M annual spend.
- Results: reduced stock coverage on Packaging from 6 to 2 months, on Finishing Raw Materials from 1 year to 3 months, negotiated better payment terms to contribute in reducing cash out, saved OPEX by $1M year-over-year, contributed in obtaining Gold Medal under Ecovadis Assessment.
Junior Buyer – Indirect Materials and Services
Verescence France
Mers-les-Bains, France
01.2012 - 03.2014
- Mission: Definition of Specifications with internal customers, sourcing, RFQs, negotiations, placing of orders (or delegation of this task), supplier visits, handling of litigations.
- Scope: France: 4 plants / Maintenance contracts and indirect purchasing / 5M€ Annual Spend
- Results: OPEX savings by 0,5M€ year-over-year
Corporate Purchasing Controller
Verescence France
Mers-les-Bains, France
01.2009 - 01.2012
- Mission: Develop and Implement a Database and analytical tools for Corporate Purchasing Dept.: PPV Reporting, Budget control, Purchasing savings analysis, Budget building N+1
- Scope: 10 Plants Worldwide - 250 M€/year of Purchases
- Results: Reporting tools still in-use within the Group
Education
Post-Graduate Degree (Specialized Master) - International Purchasing Management (MAI)
Kedge Business School
Bordeaux, France01.2013
Master of Science - Business and Management with a specialty in Corporate Finance
France Business School
Amiens, France01.2012
Skills
Strategic Procurement & Sourcing
- Strategic sourcing
- Contract negotiation
- Complex tariff environment navigation
Analytical & Financial Expertise
- Market analysis
- TCO analysis
- Risk assessment
Operational Excellence
- Inventory optimization
- Supplier performance management
Leadership & Collaboration
- Cross-country team leadership
Sustainability & Supplier CSR
- Sustainability engagement: SBTi, CDP, and EcoVadis
Languages
French
Native/ Bilingual
English
Full Professional
Timeline
Country Procurement Manager
Verescence North America
03.2023 - Current
Global Sourcing Category Manager – Corrugated Board Packaging
Lactalis Group
01.2020 - 02.2023
Corporate Lead Buyer
Verescence Group
10.2018 - 12.2019
Country Procurement Manager
Verescence North America
04.2014 - 09.2018
Junior Buyer – Indirect Materials and Services
Verescence France
01.2012 - 03.2014
Corporate Purchasing Controller
Verescence France
01.2009 - 01.2012
Post-Graduate Degree (Specialized Master) - International Purchasing Management (MAI)
Kedge Business School
Master of Science - Business and Management with a specialty in Corporate Finance
France Business School