Together, Una and Art of Procurement are excited to bring you epic stories of beating the odds and rising up in procurement. Hear from leading sourcing and supply chain professionals as they share expert insight and tales of business heroism, all in the name of creating exceptional value within procurement.
Follow the team:
Anthony Clervi -＞ https://www.linkedin.com/in/anthonyclervi/
Kris Lance -＞ https://www.linkedin.com/in/kris-lance-1b9015175/
Kelly Barner -＞ https://www.linkedin.com/in/kelly-barner-6884443/
Ep 247: Procurement Governance That Protects Uptime feat. Vernetta Tyler
Few words empty a meeting faster than “governance.” Mention it to non-procurement colleagues and their attention tends to wander.
At the same time, governance determines how decisions get made across procurement, maintenance, and operations. In MRO-dependent environments, weak governance shows up quickly as duplicate orders, wrong or missing parts, strained supplier relationships, and unplanned downtime.
In this episode of The Sourcing Hero podcast, Host Kelly Barner welcomes Vernetta Tyler. Vernetta is the founder of NINET9 Solutions and has eight years of experience across operations, maintenance, reliability, and supply chain.
Vernetta shares her perspective on why procurement governance is about how decisions are made, not just the rules written on paper:
Why governance is especially critical in MRO environments, and the early signs that it may be starting to drift
How to guide decisions with clear boundaries without restricting the teams who keep operations running
How AI is likely to change compliance and anomaly detection while keeping human judgment at the center
Links:
Vernetta Tyler on LinkedIn
16 Sept 2026
Ep 246: The Hidden Cost of Coordination in Procurement feat. Mike Fedorov
Procurement’s ‘hidden’ operational costs often sit in the coordination required to get work done across the business. Beyond the hours spent chasing stakeholders, locating contracts, reconstructing negotiation history, and digging through systems, teams can lose value through delayed savings, unsustainable supplier agreements, and the opportunity cost of focusing on transactions instead of more strategic work.
Procurement works with nearly every other function, and so these costs can accumulate in the gaps between teams without ever appearing in traditional performance metrics.
In this episode of The Sourcing Hero podcast, Host Kelly Barner welcomes Mike Fedorov to the show. Mike is the Chief Operating Officer and Co-CEO at Applied AI Labs. He has over 25 years worth of hands-on operations and supply chain experience, and he has either run or turned around operations for some of the most complex companies in the world.
Listen in to hear Mike explain:
Where procurement is most vulnerable to getting pulled into cross-functional busy work
The difference between work that creates value and work that simply keeps a process moving
How procurement should think about data readiness without getting stuck waiting for perfect data
Links:
Mike Fedorov on LinkedIn
2 Sept 2026
Ep 245: Strategic Stakeholder Expectation Setting feat. Richard Campbell
Host Kelly Barner interviews procurement expert Richard Campbell on strategically setting stakeholder expectations to ensure project alignment and success.
Who has been a guest on The Sourcing Hero
Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.
Richard Campbell
José Alfredo Rodríguez
Lamont Robinson
Wendy Storino
Bhavuk Chawla
Reach and audience
Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.
Apple Podcasts (US)
5.0 / 5
4 ratings
Spotify
5.0 / 5
2 ratings
Podcast Authority Score: 56 / 100
A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.
Quality
80
Social presence
0
YouTube
0
Engagement
81
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Guest appearances
Books guests
Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.
Questions about The Sourcing Hero
Who hosts The Sourcing Hero?
Kelly Barner host the show. Published by TheSourcingHero.
How often do new episodes come out?
The show publishes weekly, based on its RSS feed.
Does The Sourcing Hero take guests?
Yes. Guests have been identified in episode analyses.
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