Simon Geale, Proxima Group

Outstanding Achievement

Procurement is a function that sits dormant for many organisations; turned to as a matter of process when new suppliers are being selected, with cost-saving serving as its only measurable.

Simon Geale’s career has been a direct challenge to this misunderstanding. His most outstanding career achievement has been changing the narrative of procurement and helping organisations to unlock its potential.

Having started his career at high-tech divisions of companies including Philips and Accenture, Simon’s career is grounded in an understanding of the integral role that procurement plays in driving innovation and optimising business performance.

His role at Proxima is now unique to the consultancy industry. As SVP Client Solutions, he works on changing the narrative around procurement at an industry level, creating compelling consulting products that reflect the needs of Proxima’s clients, and designing complex programmes which bring external specialisms to solve business challenges.

Simon’s recent achievements have involved championing the role of procurement in the global COVID-19 vaccine rollout, appearing on platforms including Sky News and BBC World News and helping this message to reach an estimated 1.7m people in February alone.

He has led Proxima’s market-leading research projects including the Finance Leaders Outlook and State of Spend reports, which encouraged business leaders to search for cost-saving in the supplier base, rather than rushing to make redundancies through the pandemic.

Simon’s day-to-day role helps translate this industry-level insight into deliverable client projects. He works with Proxima’s largest clients on issues such as future of procurement, digital transformation and sustainability.