Valerie Thompson

Valerie thompson

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location of Valerie ThompsonWilmington, Delaware, United States
Followers of Valerie Thompson1000 followers
  • Timeline

  • About me

    Senior Strategic Sourcing Manager, Research & Development at Corteva Agriscience

  • Education

    • University of louisville

      -
      Masters of engineering industrial engineering

      Activities and Societies: Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineering (IIE), Society of Women Engineers ( SWE) and National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE)

    • University of louisville

      -
      Bachelor's of science industrial engineering

      Activities and Societies: Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineering (IIE), Society of Women Engineer s (SWE) and National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE)

    • Drexel university

      2007 - 2009
      Masters of library science library & information science with concentration in competitive intelligence & knowledge management

      Activities and Societies: Beta Phi Mu, Special Libraries Association (SLA)

  • Experience

    • Dupont

      Sept 2000 - Jun 2019

      Manage Supply Chain 'Early Career' talent development program with employees working in corporate functional areas in Wilmington, Delaware and six manufacturing sites across the U.S.Led planning and implementation of DuPont Supply Chain Summer Internship Program, identifying high potential candidates for full time positions resulting in 62 hires and 55% conversion from interns to full time employeesManage developmental early career rotation program with 28 full-time direct reports, providing tailored placements and coaching to each individual to accelerate development of knowledge, skills and abilitiesLead developer of functional competencies requirements for supply chain standard roles and assessment tools. Show less Managed Supply Chain Center of Excellence summer internship program and created a pipeline of top talent for full-time positions.Led design of a simplified quality compliant complaint process for DuPont Packaging Graphics Business, reducing complaint resolution time by 60% by integrating requirements from Manufacturing, Technical Service, Customer Service, Sales, Product Management and Equipment Service. Led operations team redesign of material movement process enabling material recycling resulting in $75,000/year of income and a $100,000 reduction in warehousing and landfill expenses.Improved supply chain transaction reliability for two businesses through data management and maintenance optimization Show less Led cost reduction projects for supplier switch that enabled over $1 million in savings for a key raw material; Assured new supplier met quality requirements and customer specificationsLed improvement projects to reduce laboratory redundancies and perform testing at lowest cost facility to enable revenue growth in Asia Pacific;Designed and implemented new laboratory test request and data storage database, reducing cycle time to resolve customer complaints by over 25%; Provided metrics that tied testing to application development, new product introduction and key growth initiatives. Show less Provided technical support for two product families for the Performance Polymers Sales & Marketing organization; managed creation of product data literature, resolved customer processing issues; supported product portfolio stream lining initiatives to improve profitability of product lines.Collaborated with Research & Development and Manufacturing to evaluate new products to validate customer requirements were achieved and enable successful product launches; Led successful technical launch of over 10 new products to support the automotive connector and appliance handle markets. Show less

      • Consulting Category Manager

        Oct 2016 - Jun 2019
      • Supply Chain Program Manager - Talent Development

        Jan 2013 - Oct 2016
      • Supply Chain Management - Project Manager

        Apr 2009 - Jan 2013
      • Senior Project Manager/Technical Consultant

        Apr 2005 - Apr 2009
      • Senior Technical Consultant

        Sept 2000 - Apr 2005
    • Corteva agriscience

      Jun 2019 - now

      Lead global procurement team that manages $400 million in spend for purchase of these categories: R&D equipment, R&D research services (laboratory and field) and consumables for Corteva's global Research and Development organization. During 2023 lead major strategy review of key suppliers to determine if companies aligned with Corteva R&D growth strategies. Drove improvement processes to reduce cycle for the setup of new suppliers -- a key enabler and measure for the R&D organization. Met with key R&D stakeholders to identify key challenges in the Procurement and R&D relationship and then developed solutions to addresses these concerns which included '1-Point of Contact' for inquiry and accountability to resolve issues; Rebalanced team work load to enable category managers to have more time to engage with researchers and scientist to establish a smoother / easier process to purchase equipment and created a cross-functional team to drive process improvements.Worked directly with various suppliers to implement Corteva financial goals by improving our working capital position and negotiating pricing agreements that continued to maintain competitive pricing and avoids price increases on key items. Show less Lead Global Procurement Team for Corporate Services and managed over $500 million in spend in four categories: Human Resources, Consulting, Contingent Labor and Professional Services. The global team negotiated agreements (contracts) to purchase employee benefits (e.g. medical, pharmacy, dental, vision) as well as Employee Assistance Programs (EAP), employee reward programs, etc. Team generated savings opportunities via RFP's and moved spend to lower cost providers and smoothly managed the transitions with our HR partners. The Procurement Team managed recruiting agreements (contingent & retained) and negotiated savings on contingent fee by reducing the rate structure through benchmarking. Team handled complex multi-million consulting agreements across all functions except IT. Savings opportunities identified through benchmarking and improving our working capital position.Co-Led Corteva corporate contingent labor project with HR that designed and implemented a US, Canada and Puerto Rico 'Managed Service Provider/Vendor Management System' (MSP/VMS) program that enabled Corteva to seek contingent labor competitively (e.g. via RFP's), generate savings to market where applicable, and generate comprehensive metrics about our contingent labor programs for senior leadership. Show less

      • Senior Strategic Souring Manager, Research & Development

        Sept 2022 - now
      • Senior Strategic Sourcing Manager, Corporate Services

        Jun 2019 - Sept 2022
  • Licenses & Certifications

    • Scor professional (scor-p)

      Supply chain council
    • Certified supply chain professional (cscp)

      Apics
      Jan 2011
  • Volunteer Experience

    • Board of Directors

      Issued by Delta Outreach Education Center on Jun 2003
      Delta Outreach Education CenterAssociated with Valerie Thompson