The Smarter Sourcing podcast is dedicated to helping sourcing, procurement, and finance leaders elevate their influence and get their seat at the table. Each episode features conversations with innovative leaders, sharing best practices, lessons learned, and actionable insights you can apply immediately. Whether you’re focused on procurement strategies, supply chain optimization, or aligning financial goals with operational excellence, this podcast will leave you with actionable insights that you can immediately put to work.
EP 44 - Stanford Medicine's Amanda Chawla on the People-First Framework behind a 10-Year Transformation
Amanda Chawla (https://www.linkedin.com/in/amandachawla1/), SVP - Chief Supply Chain & Post Acute Care Officer at Stanford Health Care (https://stanfordhealthcare.org/), inherited a supply chain where half the organization was outsourced, basic functions like category management and master data management didn't exist, and clinical staff were calling daily about missing products. Nearly a decade later, Stanford's supply chain has earned department of the year recognition and top marks in Gartner's rankings. Amanda walks through the framework she used to get there and why she still considers the transformation unfinished.
Amanda also breaks down the four-committee governance structure she built around non-labor spend: indirect, medical, pharmaceutical, and a capital committee currently in development. Each is co-chaired by the business with supply chain as a supporting arm, and every senior VP and C-suite executive has a representative on a subcommittee. Amanda makes a case for redefining the chief supply chain officer role, arguing it should function more like a chief spend management officer. She connects that vision to how she built her team, including why she looked outside healthcare to write job descriptions and how she modeled a clinical dyad structure inside a non-clinical function.
Topics discussed:
Building supply chain infrastructure from scratch including category management, master data management, and insourcing outsourced functions
Applying a people-first transformation framework across leadership structure, technology, culture, infrastructure, and business processes
Converting a non-labor spend program into an executive-level governance model embedded in organizational operating plans
Structuring co-chaired spend committees across indirect, medical, pharmaceutical, and capital categories with C-suite subcommittees
Redefining the chief supply chain officer as a chief spend management officer responsible for organization-wide financial strategy
Modeling a clinical dyad structure inside a non-clinical supply chain function to align business partners and drive accountability
Using quarterly business reviews with internal customers like HR and marketing to build trust and expand supply chain's strategic mandate
Adopting a data-first, technology-as-enabler approach that links every metric to operational pillars and decision-making cadences
10 Mar 2026
EP 43 - Utz Brands' Ron Schnur on Outpacing Competitors with Risk-Taking and Supplier Partnerships
Utz Brands (https://www.utzsnacks.com/)’ Senior VP/CPO Ron Schnur (https://www.linkedin.com/in/ronald-schnur-cpsm-29820b2/)'s M&A integration framework strategy challenges the standard playbook: across six acquisitions, his team at his previous company, White Wave, diagnosed each deal separately. Some received immediate full integration, others got a soft touch for a few months to protect supplier innovation pipelines that created category advantages. The critical question wasn't spend consolidation potential, but whether forcing integration would damage the supplier relationships driving growth. This "leave the nickel on the table" philosophy prioritizes speed-to-market and supplier innovation over immediate cost savings.
At Utz, where the company faces competitors several times its size, Ron applies lessons from his roles at companies that had to "punch above their weight class" through risk-taking rather than scale. For hiring, he screens for curiosity and perseverance over technical capabilities, asking probing questions about how candidates work through challenging situations rather than testing Excel proficiency. Universities should handle hard skills; what matters is the ability to challenge first answers and grind through complex supply market problems.
Topics discussed:
Building curiosity and perseverance over technical skills when hiring supply chain professionals for complex problem-solving roles
Applying differentiated M&A integration playbooks at White Wave Foods across six acquisitions to protect supplier innovation pipelines
Implementing "leave the nickel on the table" philosophy that prioritizes supplier innovation and speed-to-market over immediate cost savings
Competing as smaller companies against industry giants by taking calculated risks and building strategic supplier partnerships
Leveraging AI for rapid supply market intelligence gathering compared to traditional three-month global supplier assessment cycles
Developing enterprise-wide mindset that values total business impact over purchase price variance and acquisition cost optimization
Evaluating ROI on emerging technologies through targeted investments in customer-facing versus supply-facing AI applications
3 Mar 2026
EP 42 - St. Luke's Adrian Wengert on Embedding Medical Directors to Find Cost Savings Buyers Miss
St. Luke’s Health System (https://stlukesonline.org/en/) built a 330,000 square foot consolidated service center with an ASRS featuring 28 automated pickers and nearly 20,000 bins. Adrian Wengert (https://www.linkedin.com/in/adrianwengert/), CSCO & VP of Supply Chain, spent 3 years visiting a dozen health systems before construction, extracting one unanimous lesson: every organization regretted not building bigger. He secured board approval for initially unused space by extending their 10-year pro forma, arguing future expansion would cost significantly more than justifying empty square footage upfront.The automation investment directly addressed Boise's labor market, where three Amazon distribution centers compete for the same warehouse talent.
Facing inflation that has grown fourfold with vendors embedding anticipatory tariffs, St. Luke's is pursuing direct manufacturer relationships, bulk pre-buys, channel fee negotiations, market share consolidation with fewer suppliers, and e-auctions to counter double-digit quarterly supply cost increases. Their clinical integration includes a medical director in supply chain who uncovers opportunities traditional teams miss. Sustainability investments include reusable sharps containers, solar-ready infrastructure for 2 megawatts to power the building and electric vehicle fleet, and blue wrap reduction.
Topics discussed:
Building 330,000 square foot consolidated service centers larger than needed by extending 10-year pro formas to justify unused space
Implementing automatic storage and retrieval systems with automated pickers to combat Amazon's labor market saturation
Integrating tech vendors for goods-to-person automation while managing interface complexity and validation during warehouse implementations
Unifying supply chain and pharmacy operations infrastructures to reduce transportation costs and create operational efficiencies
Combating fourfold inflation growth through direct manufacturer relationships, bulk pre-buys, channel fee negotiations, and e-auctions
Embedding medical directors within supply chain teams to uncover clinical cost reduction opportunities traditional buyers miss
Deploying contract lifecycle management tools with AI to monitor market share commitments and proactively signal deviations
Implementing reusable sharps containers, solar-ready infrastructure, and electric vehicle fleet transitions for sustainability ROI
Who has been a guest on Smarter Sourcing
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Sean Park
Steeve Yammine
Jeff Bever
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