Andrew Russell

Andrew Russell was an inaugural attendee of ProcureCon IT, attending every year since and this is the third year as a speaker at ProcureCon IT.  He is Senior Manager and head of the IT Vendor Management Office for Bridgestone Americas, Inc., subsidiary for North and South America of the Bridgestone Corporation, the world’s largest tire and rubber company.  In this role, Andrew is responsible for developing IT sourcing and vendor management strategies, including programs that engage teammates and suppliers to innovate, drive value, optimize cost, and reduce risk for Bridgestone Americas.  He serves on the recently formed Bridgestone Global IT VMO, which is setting the internal standards for Bridgestone global IT supplier strategy and governance. During his 20+ years’ experience, Andrew has a solid track record of launching and building global indirect procurement teams, negotiating significant cost savings and business centric terms for hardware, software, cloud professional services, and outsourcing agreements (MSP, ITO, BPO, ASP, etc.). He has also built strategic partner programs, led SW/HW audit teams and managed procurement portfolios. He served in procurement leadership roles for Asurion, Inc., Dex Media, Inc., Compassion International and owned two award winning startups including digital development and marketing in Colorado. He is a Certified Purchasing Manager (C.P.M.) with the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) and previously served 10+ years as a leader and Board Member of the Southern Colorado ISM affiliate. In 2005 he was recognized as the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) Innovation Person of the Year. Andrew is actively involved with his family, the Boy Scouts, and his church. He holds a BA from Belmont University and completed the Bridgestone/Belmont University Navigation Program for emerging leaders.