Craig Demarest

Senior Director, Chief of Procurement
RJ Reynolds

A supply chain professional with over 28 years of experience in the Tobacco, Plastics, Food and Pharmaceutical Industries. Responsibility for $1.8 billion in spend across the RAI operating companies, includes direct, indirect and capital procurement. Directs teams in Memphis TN, Oxford NC, Santa Fe NM, as well as centralized indirect and direct groups in Winston-Salem NC.

Check out the incredible speaker line-up to see who will be joining Craig.

Download The Latest Agenda

Day 1: Monday, September 15, 2014

Monday, March 9th, 2015

17:00 Interactive Roundtable Discussions (2 rotations)

After a busy day of active listening, keynotes and networking, take control of your own event experience. This is your opportunity to network with industry peers with very similar challenges, interests and responsibilities as you discuss niche topics in a small group setting facilitated by a subject matter expert. After 30 minutes, you will be able to choose a second topic to participate in.

Table 1: Creative Workforce Management: Overcoming the Common Hurdles in Your Talent Management Program

Hosted by: Barry Shields, Sourcing Business Partner, Global Sourcing Services (GSS), NetApp, Inc.

Table 2: Fact Or Fiction: What You Need To Know NOW About Supplier Agreements & Your Meetings

Hosted by: Lisa English, Managing Director, Carlson Wagonlit Travel

Table 3: Tail Spend Management

Hosted by: Sam Mathur, Senior Director Services Procurement, Agile•1

Table 4: Putting Energy Into Your Energy Procurement

Hosted by: Maria Murphy, Schneider Electric Energy & Sustainability Services

Table 5: CapEx Strategies: What You’re Buying Today Didn’t Exist Yesterday

Hosted by: Craig Demarest, Senior Director, Chief of Procurement, RJ Reynolds

Table 6: In-Depth: How Technology Is Changing Procurement

Hosted by: Walter Charles, Global CPO, Kraft Foods

Table 7: Tackling Inefficiencies In MRO Spend

Hosted by: Brad Cook, Director of Purchasing, Indirect & Ammunition, Remington Arms

Table 8: Three Leading Procurement Challenges & Best Practices to Resolve Them

Hosted by: Tom Beaty, Chief Executive Officer, Insight Sourcing Group

Table 9: Strategies for Achieving Supplier Diversity Mandates

Hosted by: Mary Lewis, Sourcing Manager, Sprint

Table 10: Procurement’s Role in M&A

Hosted by: Jeff Danis, Vice President Supply Chain, Pinnacle Entertainment

Table 11: Procurement As A Shared Service

Hosted by: Kevin Chihak, Senior Buyer, PetSmart

Greg Modlinski, Director, Corporate Procurement, Kohler Company

Table 12: P2P Transformation

Hosted by: Michelle Hawkins, Vice President Procurement, Charter Communications

Day 2: Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Thursday, April 9th, 2015

11:10 Overcoming Gender and Generational Differences In the Procurement Function

More women and Generation Y are in the procurement workforce than ever before. Many of them are poised to move into leadership positions if they haven’t done so already, and it’s imperative that your business adapt its communication styles and processes to what they perceive as indicators of success.
• How should you determine what is “Core” to your success? What should be kept and what will need revamping?
• What communication changes will be needed to coexist with the stakeholders?
• What types of relationship skills do you need to build or change without getting bogged down in the minutia?
• Do mentoring programs work? How about reverse mentoring, or integrated/ interactive mentoring?
• Encouraging usage of the critical thinking skills they bring to the tale table
• Overcoming compensation concerns (Salary, Stock, Bonus)
• How do you manage a team where work-life balance is important?