Leadership

Gavin is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Portland Group. After completing a Bachelor of Commerce (Accounting) / Law Degree at UNSW, Gavin spent a short period at a major Australian law firm. He then joined the global strategic consulting firm, Bain & Co. where he worked for a number of years in Australia and the United States. He has successfully led the implementation of strategic supply chain and procurement improvement programmes with clients across all industry sectors.

Dave graduated from Cambridge University with a Masters Degree in Engineering. He started his career as an engineer with Shell Exploration & Production and thereafter enjoyed a 7-year career with Mars Europe. Dave held numerous change management roles in Supply Chain driving cross-cultural business unit initiatives (eg. supplier integration). Dave moved to Australia where he joined A.T Kearney, leading numerous ‘procurement transformation’ projects in the manufacturing, retail and services sectors. Dave joined Portland Group in 2002 and since then has led procurement improvement programmes with a number of large manufacturing and retail organisations.

Dan has been leading corporate cost transformation programmes for over 15 years, working across the USA, Europe and Asia with clients such as Philips, AstraZeneca, UBS, Tata Group, BAE Systems and BG Group. Dan’s focus and passion has always been on delivering substantial practical change with measurable results. Before joining Portland, Dan was Head of Consulting and Managing Partner at 4C, a leading provider of corporate cost transformation in Europe. Dan has a Masters Degree in Engineering from Cambridge University, and an MBA from Stanford, USA.

Sue has extensive leadership experience in Procurement within global companies. Over the past 15 years, she has held senior Procurement roles managing operations spanning Asia/Pacific, leading significant Procurement transformation projects, cost improvement programmes within back-office & core operations, process & systems reengineering initiatives and aligning Procurement to revenue generation (sales) strategies. Sue has led Procurement teams in Wang Computers, Qantas Airways and most recently EDS Asia Pacific, developing a sound understanding of business process outsourcing and technology products and services.

Dave has extensive experience of the financial management of consulting work in various industry sectors and has constructed and managed the commercial arrangements for business process outsourcing arrangements in Europe and Asia. Dave’s experience also includes setting up service centres and managing the delivery of IT and finance support from low cost locations. Prior to joining Portland Group Dave worked for Accenture for 10 years in various finance roles in the UK and Australia. Dave is a Chartered Management Accountant and has a degree in Accounting and Financial Analysis from the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne in the UK.

Faith has over 20 years’ worth of operational experience, beginning her career in the UK working in L&D roles for an international bank and major UK retailer. After moving to Australia, she continued to work in L&D roles before progressing into senior HR management. She has worked in telecommunications, finance, professional services, construction, retail and pharmaceutical organisations, both large multinationals and small family businesses. She has provided internal and external HR consultancy services in recruitment, policy development & compliance, re-structuring & outplacement, organisational development, team-building and performance management. She holds a Masters of Business in Employment Relations from UTS and a TEFLA qualification from Cambridge University in addition to being an accredited practitioner in a number of assessment tools.

Paul graduated from Sydney University with an Honours Degree in Engineering. He started his career as a manufacturing engineer with Dairy Farmers in Australia and moved for a time to Europe where he enjoyed a 5 year career with Mars Europe and 3 years with Accenture (UK) and WCI Group (UK). Within industry, Paul has managed change and efficiency projects (employing Lean Manufacturing techniques) on the shop floor and throughout the supply chain and has managed major capital projects. As a consultant in the UK and since 2004 in Australasia with Portland Group, Paul has led numerous supply chain, procurement and operational improvement programmes for clients across most industry sectors.

Bruce has over 10 years of consulting experience focusing on strategic procurement and supply chain management. He has previously worked at AT Kearney, and joined Portland Group in 2003, where he has worked across many industry sectors including construction, FMCG, heavy industrial, financial services, and retail. Prior to his consulting career, Bruce worked in engineering and construction, managing capital projects in the water services and environmental sector. Bruce holds an Engineering Degree from the University of Melbourne, and an MBA from Melbourne Business School.

Simon has over 25 years of operational and strategic Supply Chain experience in the UK and Australia. As a supply chain executive Simon has achieved significant cost, customer service and working capital improvements in blue chip Australian businesses covering industrial gases, FMCG, retail, automotive and pharmaceutical. Simon has delivered supply chain transformation programmes as Supply Chain Director at Franklins Supermarkets and as General Manager Supply and Logistics at Symbion Pharmacy Services. Since moving into consultancy Simon has led supply chain engagements across numerous industries including, hardware, fashion, 3PL and retail. Simon brings to Portland Group a unique blend of practical operational experience and consulting expertise.

Trevor has over 10 years of procurement consulting experience and began his career working as a Business Analyst developing and implementing IT solutions for clients across Europe and North America, before moving onto the implementation of e-procurement solutions for a leading European B2B service provider. After migrating to Australia and joining Portland in 2002, Trevor has led the implementation of a number of procurement improvement programmes for clients across a number of industries including Aviation, Construction, Defence, Financial Services, FMCG, Hospitality, Manufacturing, Media and Retail sectors. Trevor graduated from the National University of Ireland - Galway with an under-graduate degree in Commerce and a post-graduate in Systems Analysis.

Brendan Comas is the Practice Director – Property & Facilities at Portland Group. With an engineering background and an MBA from the Melbourne Business School, Brendan has over 20 years of business experience in operational and consulting roles over a number of sectors. In one of these he led the sourcing team for a major Australian retailer delivering a programme comprising some of Australia’s largest facilities services contracts. He has led multiple projects for sourcing and implementation of complex goods and services and in particular the sourcing of property, construction and facilities management services under different operating models ranging from smaller privately owned firms to some of Australia’s largest corporations.

Stephen has over 15 years of IT services experience with a focus on enterprise transformation and efficiency consulting. Prior to joining Portland Group Stephen’s career included leadership roles in two specialist IT consulting/advisory firms in addition to executive positions with some of the world’s largest IT service organisations. Stephen has worked in some of the world’s most challenging IT markets including New York, London and Singapore. Regardless of role, his underlying focus has been to provide “technical translation” of business needs and strategies to ensure the most effective use of IT services within today’s ever-changing IT landscape. Stephen holds a Bachelor degree in Information technology and Communication and maintains active memberships in the CIO Technology Executive Network.

As the Practice Director of Marketing, John brings a broad range of experience from various functions within this category with 25 years of experience across Marketing, Brand Strategy, Marketing Communications, Media Strategy, Buying, Advertising creation and production. He was most recently a Director at Telstra within the Chief Marketing Office with a scope that included management and optimisation of all marketing communications, media, events and PR agency relationships, leading the development of media strategy and media buying for the company and for a period managed the cross company marketing budget. John has worked at Director level within marketing and multinational advertising and media agencies across the telco, government, media, FMCG, auto, airlines, pharmaceutical, banking, insurance and retail categories.

Robert joined Portland Group in 2011 and is focusing on building the Portland team in WA, leveraging Portland’s existing expertise and capabilities to meet the needs of the Western Australian market. His experience includes 12 years in senior management roles in WA, working for companies including Anaconda Nickel, Newcrest Mining, Technip Oceania and Leighton Contractors, as well as a 20-year military career in the British Army in command and staff appointments worldwide, including command of the special forces aviation squadron. Robert has a MA in Science, Technology and Management from Cranfield University through his study at the Army Command and Staff College.

Simon joined Portland Group in 2009 following a career with BHP Billiton and Ariba International. While at BHP Billiton Simon was a member of the Global Supply Team based in Singapore where he was actively engaged in negotiating and managing contracts for a number of commodities, including earth moving equipment. Prior to this, Simon worked for Volvo in Sweden and with a number of eCommerce companies. Simon graduated from the University of Queensland with an Honours Degree in Mechanical and Space Engineering as well as a degree in Business Management.

Since joining Portland Group in 2004, Adam has been involved in the delivery of procurement programmes across various industries including financial services, FMCG, retail and manufacturing and currently leads a number of ongoing managed procurement services engagements. Adam moved for a time to the US, where he was Vice President, Global Sourcing at Citigroup in New York and gained experience within a corporate procurement team. Prior to his procurement experience, Adam worked in engineering consulting, with a focus on civil and hydraulic engineering. Adam graduated from the University of Melbourne with a degree in Engineering with Honours.

Anthony has over 15 years of procurement and consulting experience and began his career working with Ernst & Young. Since joining Portland Group in 2000, he has been responsible for developing and leading procurement sourcing and transformation programmes and most recently for the strategy and delivery of services to Portland Group’s managed services clients. Anthony has a track record of achieving sustainable and measurable bottom line results across a number of industries including financial services, telecommunications, oil & gas, retail and FMCG. Anthony is a qualified Chartered Accountant and holds a Bachelor of Business from the University of Technology, Sydney.

Andrew joined Portland Group’s supply chain consulting practice in 2005 and has worked across projects focusing on network optimisation, sales and operations planning design and implementation, cost to serve analysis, inventory reduction and transport efficiency. Andrew has led cost reduction programmes in several industries including retail, telecommunications, FMCG, steel, mining and financial services. Prior to joining Portland Group, Andrew worked in a variety of supply chain roles for British American Tobacco and at Ernst & Young in their consulting practice. Andrew holds a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Management with a minor in Manufacturing Management from Purdue University where he graduated with honours and is also a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar.

Vernon has more than 20 years of experience in designing, implementing and managing financial processes and systems, with deep expertise in the procurement process and shared services. Vernon worked with a big 4 accounting firm, implementing numerous financial accounting systems and process improvement initiatives. He was subsequently Financial Controller for a large consumer goods company in two European operations before helping establish its finance shared services centre in Sydney. Vernon joined Oracle Corporation to help build and run its Asia Pacific shared services centre before managing the financial, tax and legal integrations during Oracle’s acquisition program in Asia Pacific. He then held the position of Vice President, Global Procure-to-Pay Operations. Vernon has a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of NSW and a Masters Degree in Human Resource Management and Coaching from the University of Sydney.

Ashish has over 15 years of consulting and industry experience having started his career as a Production engineer in India. He has consciously moved between industry-based leadership roles to consulting roles during his career. Prior to joining Portland Group, Ashish held a regional leadership role at Cadbury Schweppes. His previous consulting experience includes FreeMarkets (now Ariba) where he set up the global sourcing practice in India and led their Australian operations. During his time at Portland Group, Ashish has led several procurement diagnostics and transformation programs across FMCG, financial services, manufacturing and resources industry sectors. Ashish holds a Mechanical Engineering degree and is currently studying a part time MBA at Melbourne Business School.

JB joined Portland Group in 2008 and has led a number of major sourcing projects, including the re-negotiations of $10M+ telecoms contracts for ASX listed media and industrial goods companies, which resulted in 15%+ savings in both cases. He has recently led the end to end benefits realisation program for a leading financial institution, from an initial diagnostic to the implementation of the initiatives across 5 major spend categories. Prior to joining Portland Group, JB was working as a Strategy Consultant for 3 years across France and the UK. JB holds a MBA degree from ESSEC.

Paul has worked in a variety of engineering roles including mechanical, electronics, telecommunications & IT, laser equipment & optical systems design, instrumentation & control and capital projects. He has previously worked at AT Kearney and prior to that owned and operated a laser systems manufacturing and display business with offices in Sydney, Melbourne and Singapore. Paul has advised clients on more than $4B in capital projects in oil and gas and has led procurement initiatives in many highly technical areas such as oil refining and distribution, coal seam gas, chemicals, mining, food processing and transport. Paul has an Industrial engineering degree and MBA from the University of NSW.

 Larry has spent 20 years in electric power and natural gas utilities managing major capital projects and capital programs. Over the past seven years he has been involved in Procurement Improvement projects conducting strategic sourcing and managing sourcing programs and conducting negotiation workshops and training sessions. Strategic Procurement management has been across industries as diverse as pipelines, telecommunications, power distribution, banking, insurance, and forestry. Larry graduated from the University of Alberta, Canada with a degree in Mechanical Engineering.