Tom Mills

Tom Mills

Get 1% smarter at Procurement every week | Join 23,000+ newsletter subscribers | Link in featured section (it’s free)👇

Shapwick, England, United Kingdom
128K followers 500+ connections

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About

There are plenty of expensive ways to get better at Procurement.
Expensive courses and Qualifications.

But after 25+ years in both direct and indirect procurement roles, I figured out the real differentiator for procurement success - and it doesn’t cost the earth.

It’s how you interact with others.
Your ability to influence, communicate, and collaborate.
In short, your soft skills.

I’m Tom Mills, Procurement Protagonist®, and through years of hard-won experience (and a few battle scars), I built the frameworks that helped me and my teams thrive.

Those frameworks became my flagship course, Procurement Soft Skills Mastery, now helping procurement professionals elevate their careers around the world.

I also simplify procurement through cheat sheets, frameworks, and my weekly newsletter, Procure Bites -- - read by over 20,000 procurement pros who want real, relatable insights (not jargon).

Here’s how I can help you:

1. Subscribe to Procure Bites - the number one independent procurement newsletter.

2. Join the waitlist for Procurement Soft Skills Mastery (limited enrolment windows).

3. Partner with me through the Quarterly Growth Package if you’re a business looking to reach 115,000+ LinkedIn followers and 20,000+ newsletter subscribers.

All links are in my bio and featured section.

📧 Sponsorship enquiries: [email protected]

(no sales emails, please)

Articles by Tom

  • Alexa, play Spice Girls...
    Jul 6, 2022

    Alexa, play Spice Girls...

    …play anything other than Kendrick Lamar, Wet Leg or Sleaford Mods. I’ve never heard of them.

    29 Comments
  • My Worst Ever Interview
    Feb 15, 2022

    My Worst Ever Interview

    The Context I’d done all the hard work; telephone interview (tick), psychometric tests (tick….anyone really get the…

    51 Comments
  • Extroverted Leaders and our Future ways of working.
    Feb 3, 2022

    Extroverted Leaders and our Future ways of working.

    Studies have shown that 96 percent of business leaders identify as being extroverted. In another poll, 65 percent of…

    30 Comments
  • 7 reasons I'll continue to write articles even when nobody reads them!
    Jan 21, 2022

    7 reasons I'll continue to write articles even when nobody reads them!

    The last article I wrote got tumbleweed response; 37 views and about 4 likes. It was also the best article I've written.

    29 Comments
  • Lunar Leadership Lessons
    Nov 15, 2021

    Lunar Leadership Lessons

    Bad day at work? Imagine it’s April 1970 and you are a flight controller of Apollo 13. Following an explosion in Oxygen…

    11 Comments
  • Anxiety - My Nightmare Experience
    Oct 7, 2021

    Anxiety - My Nightmare Experience

    The circumstances A new exciting job, change of business, a house move and a complete relocation within the UK. This…

    94 Comments
  • Three mistakes I made and how I learned from them.
    Sep 1, 2021

    Three mistakes I made and how I learned from them.

    The most powerful lessons are through the mistakes we’ve made. Nobody goes through their career without having some…

    22 Comments
  • Fantasy Football - Lessons for business decisions.
    Aug 9, 2021

    Fantasy Football - Lessons for business decisions.

    Many millions of people play fantasy football and competitive work leagues have become great sources of banter during…

    25 Comments
  • Why this week has sucked (and tips to move forward positively)
    Jul 16, 2021

    Why this week has sucked (and tips to move forward positively)

    Football is not everyone’s cup of tea. I want to be clear though, that this week has felt really tough, not simply…

    10 Comments
  • My 5 Rookie Errors as a Wannabe Content Creator
    Jul 1, 2021

    My 5 Rookie Errors as a Wannabe Content Creator

    It's the one year anniversary of my transition from LinkedIn Lurker to Content Creator. To help someone else starting…

    22 Comments
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Activity

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Experience

  • Procurement Protagonist Ltd Graphic

    Founder

    Procurement Protagonist Ltd

    - Present 11 months

    Author of Procure Bites, the number 1 Procurement newsletter delivering insights to help Procurement Professionals get 1% better every week.

    Creator of Procurement Soft Skills Mastery, the online course that's fast tracking Procurement careers globally.

    Public Speaker.

  • Bibby Financial Services

    Bibby Financial Services

    4 years 6 months

    • Bibby Financial Services Graphic

      Head of Procurement & Properties

      Bibby Financial Services

      - 3 years 4 months

      Banbury, England, United Kingdom

      Responsible for leading the Procurement & Properties functions. Driving the strategy, building the team, driving cost efficiency and commercial best practice across the business.

    • Bibby Financial Services Graphic

      Head Of Procurement

      Bibby Financial Services

      - 1 year 3 months

      Banbury, England, United Kingdom

      Responsible for heading up a new procurement function, building the team, driving cost efficiency and procurement best practice across the business.

  • Nisbets Graphic

    Global Head of Buying

    Nisbets

    - 11 months

    Bristol, United Kingdom

    • I led a team of buyers across all buying activity across £100M + of spend.
    • I was responsible for delivering the budgeted revenue, profit and margin of the third party range.
    • I developed and evolved a Supplier Relationship SRM strategy
    • I was responsible for leading a developing a buying team.
    • I developed and maintained strategic relationships with key functional leaders in marketing, sales, sourcing & finance.

  • Clarks

    Clarks

    6 years 7 months

    • Clarks Graphic

      Head of Procurement: Corporate, Brand, Marketing & Digital Marketing

      Clarks

      - 2 years 1 month

      Street, Somerset


      • Head of Procurement for Brand, Marketing & Digital Marketing. Led Procurement Transformation, redefining procurement role.
      • Simultaneously Head of Procurement for all Corporate Categories: Professional Services, HR, Properties, Consultancy Spend, Finance & Legal.

    • Clarks Graphic

      Head of Procurement: Supply Chain & Logistics

      Clarks

      - 4 years 7 months

      Street, Somerset

      • Global Supply Chain & Logistics Procurement Lead
      • Delivered multi-million savings on Inbound & Outbound Transportation
      • Led RFP to source new WMS for UK
      • Led Global Procurement Team
      • Expanded scope delivering savings in Shoecare & Accessories

  • The Hut Group Graphic

    Head of Purchasing - Lifestyle Division

    The Hut Group

    - 11 months

    Northwich

    • Headed up the Purchasing Team for the Lifestyle Division at the Hut Group, the UK's leading multi-site online retailer.
    • Reported into the Divisional CEO and led a team to deliver best in class availability, cost benefits and working capital improvements to the business.
    • With full responsibility for all elements of Supply Chain and Buying, I drove the profitability of myprotein.com, the leading online retailer for Sports nutrition & supplements, as well as the newly launched…

    • Headed up the Purchasing Team for the Lifestyle Division at the Hut Group, the UK's leading multi-site online retailer.
    • Reported into the Divisional CEO and led a team to deliver best in class availability, cost benefits and working capital improvements to the business.
    • With full responsibility for all elements of Supply Chain and Buying, I drove the profitability of myprotein.com, the leading online retailer for Sports nutrition & supplements, as well as the newly launched myvitamins.com

  • The Co-operative Group

    The Co-operative Group

    12 years

    • The Co-operative Group Graphic

      Range Strategy Manager

      The Co-operative Group

      - 1 year 8 months

      Manchester, United Kingdom


      • Led a team of range managers to develop and recommend product strategies by store format for the food business. Ensuring branded and own label ranges exceeded customer expectations.

    • The Co-operative Group Graphic

      Soft Drinks Buyer

      The Co-operative Group

      - 3 years

      Manchester

      • Successfully bought the entire Soft Drinks range - Carbonates, RTDs, front of store chilled soft drinks, ambient juice, cordials, water. Annual Turnover £450 Million.

      • Delivered market share increases across chilled soft drinks, take home soft drinks and ambient juice categories with YOY cash margin benefits. Exceeded stretching budget targets.

    • The Co-operative Group Graphic

      Spirits & Fortified Wine Buyer

      The Co-operative Group

      - 2 years 1 month

      Manchester, United Kingdom


      • Transformed YOY sales & increased Spirits market share by introducing a clear & consistent range strategy. Annual Turnover £350 million.

    • The Co-operative Group Graphic

      Grocery Edibles Buyer

      The Co-operative Group

      - 1 year 9 months

      Manchester

      • Consistently delivered versus budget targets while responsible for Desserts & Puddings, Homebaking, Sugar, Sauces & Pickles, Canned Fruit & UHT Milk categories.

    • The Co-operative Group Graphic

      Strategic Purchasing Buyer

      The Co-operative Group

      - 2 years 4 months

      • Grey market buying, negotiating costs from alternative sources to deliver enhanced margin against standard cost price for branded goods.

    • The Co-operative Group Graphic

      Graduate Management Training Scheme

      The Co-operative Group

      - 1 year 7 months

      • Fast Track Head Office Management Training Scheme: 4-6 month projects in Stores, Depots, Supply Chain, Marketing and Buying.

Education

  • The University of Manchester Graphic

    The University of Manchester

    Geography BSc (Hons) 2:1

  • Herts and Essex

    3 'A' grade A levels English - A, History - A, Geography - A

  • The Leys School, Cambridge

    12 GCSE's including 4A*, 6A's and 2 B's

Licenses & Certifications

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