Currently Liz manages a shared procurement service for Coventry, Solihull, and works in partnership with Warwickshire, Nuneaton and Bedworth and Rugby councils. To date, the shared service has won the SOPO award for outstanding achievement in Procurement twice and been a finalist 5 times. The service continues to deliver significant savings and efficiencies for the participating authorities.
A career in both the public and private sectors has seen Liz working for the Health Service Supply Council, Sealink UK, Islington Council and South Glamorgan County Council. Since joining Solihull in 1988, she has had many roles, Principal Purchasing Officer, Head of Organisational Effectiveness, Corporate Procurement Manager and now Head of Shared Procurement Service in Solihull and Assistant Director Procurement in Coventry. Her experience in these roles include, PFI, PPP, strategic partnering including co-location with Severn Trent procurement staff for 6 months, partnering contracts using Egan principles, and experience of delivering significant savings, efficiencies and cost avoidance in all the major categories of local authority spend. Her MSc in Procurement explored the cultural barriers to collaboration in a shared procurement service.
Liz currently is a representative on the LGA’s National Advisory Group for Local Government Procurement and as such has played an active role in developing the National Procurement Strategy, chairs the national construction workstream for NAG and participates in the innovation and skills workstreams.