Jennifer Kern
Charlotte,NC
Summary
Dynamic and results-driven Procurement Professional with over 20 years of experience in procurement, strategic meetings management, corporate travel, and ESG. Proficient in identifying opportunities for organizational development, cost reduction, margin expansion and service enhancement. Adept at working collaboratively with business units to create, implement, and monitor strategic business plans.
Overview
13
13
years of professional experience
1
1
Certification
Work History
Senior Category Manager – Travel, Meetings, & Finance
BAE Systems, Inc.
04.2023 - Current
- Leading US Supply Chain Collaboration Network (2025 - 2027)
- Global Supply Chain Award for Outstanding Team Achievement, 2024; Leading Global Travel team and initiatives, including the Amex T&E RFI in 2024 that resulted in $2m in pricing improvements over the next 5 years.
- Global Finalist for Enterprise Team of the Year, 2024
- Global Supply Chain Award – Inc.'s 2023 Individual of the Year
- Representative for BAE Systems, Inc.'s Procurement Teams with our global counterparts in our move to Net 0 emissions by 2050, leading the environmental effort for Scope 3 activities.
- Addition of People Manager to my role. Employee has been identified as high-potential and was enrolled in BLI, SCCN and was just nominated and accepted into Catalyst.
Category Manager – Travel, Meetings, & Finance
BAE Systems, Inc.
10.2017 - 04.2023
- Global Procurement Award Recipient of the 2020 CPO Global Collaboration Award; During the COVID pandemic, successfully negotiated cancellation or postponement of dozens of meetings resulting in a cost avoidance of over $1.5m.
- Global Procurement Award Recipient for Outstanding Team Achievement, 2020; working with stakeholders, provided cross-functional team leadership for a check printing outsource RFP to create internal efficiencies and to free up space to allow for growth in the Charlotte office. Effort resulted in leveraging current spend with vendor resulting in reduced costs for both ACH and check printing across the enterprise.
- Chairman's Awards Bronze Medalist for Innovating for Success, 2019; newly established global travel team achieved over $8M in savings in the first 18 months of collaboration
- BAE Systems Global Procurement Award Recipient for Outstanding Team Achievement, 2019; successfully established and still provide on-going leadership for a global travel procurement team among BAE Systems' regions working toward establishing global agreements and functionality to contribute to the annual global savings and avoidance goals.
- Successful completion of the Procurement Leadership Program wherein we conducted initial reviews of Supply Chain Risk Suppliers leading to a global implementation of a Supply Chain Risk Management Program and reviewed and collaborated with internal partners on industry recommendations to President Biden's Executive Order on America's Supply Chains.
- Created total-cost-of-ownership business case to in-source transient hotel program sourcing and meeting venue sourcing resulting in the purchase of a new tool, additional Procurement team headcount, and a 50% year-over-year cost reduction.
- Rolled out centralized meetings venue/hotel competitive sourcing capabilities. Through grass-roots efforts successfully increased year-over-year utilization of process by 59%.
- In 2019, successfully conducted first global Airline RFP resulting in year-over-year savings of over $600k.
- RFPs to improve customer service for Paycards and EFT Vendor Payment Services with successful resolutions: Paycard process was shortened by 3 weeks and reduced 0.5 FTE. The new EFT Vendor Payment Services streamlines all AP process and resulted in reduced costs allowing for reallocation of 1 FTE.
- Monitor vendor performance; engage with strategic vendors through collaborative relationships; create and implement performance improvement plans; create and implement Service Level Agreements.
Procurement Category Manager – Travel, Meetings & Marketing
Electric Power Research Institute
09.2015 - 10.2017
- Developed and implemented category strategies, resulting in improved efficiencies and cost savings
- Identified and reported on Meetings Program spend, leading to a 20% year-over-year savings
- Successfully negotiated contracts with major air carriers, achieving 10% year-over-year cost savings
- Conducted RFPs for Travel Management Company and Meetings Site Selector, enhancing customer service and saving $200,000 in penalties
- Met Board of Director requirements to re-establish a Marketing Department and successfully implemented RFPs for Marketing and Public Relations consultants
Senior Meeting Planner
Electric Power Research Institute
09.2011 - 09.2015
- Led a cross-functional team of planners and administrative assistants, conducting over 400 meetings annually
- Successfully coordinated programs with 10-500 attendees and budgets from $10,000-$500,000
- Negotiated contracts for hotels, transportation, venues, caterers, and decorators
- Orchestrated meeting logistics for over 50 events annually, including food, AV, room layouts, seating, and transportation
- Coordinated billing reconciliation and client debriefs for performance enhancement
Education
Master of Business Administration -
Wake Forest University
Charlotte, NC01.2017
Bachelor of Science - Sociology (major), Environmental Studies (minor)
James Madison University
Harrisonburg, VA01.1996
Skills
- Leadership
- Project Management
- Analytical Skills
- Communication
- Flexibility
- Supplier relationship management
- Cross-functional, global collaboration
- Effective customer service
- Corporate travel management
Certification
- Global Leadership Professional, 04/01/24
- Certified Professional in Supply Management, 01/01/20
Timeline
Senior Category Manager – Travel, Meetings, & Finance
BAE Systems, Inc.
04.2023 - Current
Category Manager – Travel, Meetings, & Finance
BAE Systems, Inc.
10.2017 - 04.2023
Procurement Category Manager – Travel, Meetings & Marketing
Electric Power Research Institute
09.2015 - 10.2017
Senior Meeting Planner
Electric Power Research Institute
09.2011 - 09.2015
Master of Business Administration -
Wake Forest University
Bachelor of Science - Sociology (major), Environmental Studies (minor)
James Madison University
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