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August 27, 2025
I spent about a decade working in finance before starting my public procurement career. The transition was supposed to be temporary–our small department had experienced some turnover, and the purchasing department needed extra support. I planned to spend a few months with the procurement team before going back to finance.
But that didn’t quite happen. I found that I really enjoyed working in procurement, and my department was happy with my progress. After a year, I decided that I wanted to pursue this new path, so I officially became the second procurement team member (we’re a small department in a small city). I love helping people with different projects and the thrill of knowing that I’ll be doing something different every day.
Getting Introduced to NIGP and Leadership Summit
I am lucky to have managers and leaders in my department who support professional development. So, when I was introduced to NIGP, I immediately started taking courses, starting from the introductory ones and moving into the more advanced ones as my knowledge of procurement grew. I get my money’s worth out of my NIGP membership!
I was trying to find ways to develop further on my leadership journey when I found out about the Edge program at the NIGP Leadership Summit. I knew my manager would support my attendance, but we had to make sure we had the funds. Fortunately, I was awarded a scholarship, which allowed me to attend. It has been one of the best experiences I’ve had so far in my professional career.
Exceeding Expectations
I knew I would be in good hands at the Leadership Summit. NIGP is the best when it comes to putting on events. They know how to put on a show and are always at the cornerstone of what’s new and what we need currently in the procurement profession. My very high expectations were all met and even exceeded.
The most important takeaway from attending the program was that self comes first. The first part of the journey in the Edge program is the self-leadership part, which I wasn’t expecting. We started by taking a DISC Assessment and an emotional intelligence assessment, which both expose you to your core and reveal your strengths and weaknesses.
The thing I love about that was really digging into the results—I was a psychology major in college, so I get really excited about this kind of stuff. My results were eye-opening, but they weren’t necessarily surprising. I enjoyed getting an action plan from the assessments, along with one-on-one coaching with our facilitator to tie together our goals and assessments to develop a plan. She offered a lot of tips and tricks from her personal journey and experience working with and developing leaders. I still keep a gratitude journal and have a list of all my strengths and positive traits that I can look at on days when I’m feeling down.
The self-reflection and self-leadership portion was my favorite, and that opened the doors for the second and third parts of the class, where we learned about more traditional leadership and the applicable practice of it.
Leading The Future of Public Procurement
During our first virtual session, we were asked to write a statement describing who we currently are as leaders and where we needed to grow. My initial statement was realizing I had to come to terms with the fact that I hadn’t been trained or developed in any kind of leadership capacity. I wanted to take this journey to become the leader that I never had.
That purpose remains. I want to be a better leader for my future staff members. And that starts by recognizing that professional development and continuous improvement are truly key. Things are constantly changing in our world and profession, and you need to stay abreast of what’s going on. You must have a growth mindset and be willing to constantly improve, learn, and change. Procurement is not a profession where you can be complacent and satisfied to just work for your tenure without continuing to learn and grow.
While the Edge program at Leadership Summit was a big step on my leadership journey, it’s not the end for me. I remain a big advocate for NIGP. I am currently on a committee and aspire to serve on a Council. I am also going to attend NIGP Forum where I will be co-presenting with my NIGP mentor, who has become a very close friend. We will be speaking about bridging the gap between procurement and finance to elevate public procurement as a strategic partner with finance. I hope to see you there!
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Other posts in Profiles in Leadership
How Edge Helped Me Become a More Confident Leader
Sharon Lynne Mellenkamp
