Deliver Your News to the World

United Airlines Names Grace Puma Senior Vice President - Strategic Sourcing, Chief Procurement Officer


WEBWIRE

CHICAGO .– UAL Corporation (NASDAQ: UAUA), the holding company whose primary subsidiary is United Airlines, today announced that Grace M. Puma has been named senior vice president – Strategic Sourcing and Chief Procurement Officer. Joining United from Kraft Foods, Puma will lead United’s global procurement team in building innovative sourcing strategies and technologies that align with the company’s efforts to improve its costs and productivity while ensuring suppliers meet quality standards for products and services and do so on a consistent basis.



“Grace’s experience in developing best-in-class sourcing capabilities combined with her strong focus on effective change management makes her a perfect fit for United,” says Jake Brace, executive vice president and chief financial officer. “We are committed to transforming our procurement efforts to obtain new cost reduction opportunities, better efficiencies and high-quality products and services delivered consistently, and we are pleased to have Grace lead this important work.”



Puma brings to United almost 22 years experience in various supply chain management roles from industry-leading, multi-national consumer companies where she transformed their sourcing organizations and supplier relationships. Most recently, Puma served as the vice president, Global Indirect Materials and Services Procurement for Kraft Foods where she led the global sourcing team for several corporate, regional and operational buying services. Prior to Kraft Foods, Puma led an international team that was responsible for the strategic sourcing of Motorola’s cell phone accessories and electronic components. Other procurement roles held by Puma include Gillette and BASF Corporation.



“The continuous improvement work that United has under way gives us the opportunity to take United’s strategic sourcing initiative and transform it to a new industry-leading level,” Puma said.



Puma will report directly to Brace and succeeds Garry Kelly, who previously announced his plans to retire once a new chief procurement officer was hired.



WebWireID47337





This news content was configured by WebWire editorial staff. Linking is permitted.

News Release Distribution and Press Release Distribution Services Provided by WebWire.