THE PROCUREMENT INTERVIEW
While many see procurement as a back-office function, at a giant like Jabil it is central to production. Millions of parts are needed when building products for more than 400 leading brands and companies. In electronic manufacturing services( EMS), the bill of materials often accounts for 80 % of the total product cost.
Graham Scott is responsible for more than US $ 26bn in annual spend and a supplier network of around 38,000 partners as the company’ s Chief Procurement Officer. He leads a team of more than a thousand procurement professionals around the world and is accountable for aligning procurement strategy with Jabil’ s growth.
JABIL’ S GROWTH JOURNEY
Jabil was founded in Michigan in 1966 and now has more than 140,000 employees in 25 countries. In FY25 it had US $ 29.8bn in revenue and more than 35 million square feet of manufacturing space.
In 1979 it secured a US $ 15m highvolume PCB manufacturing contract with General Motors and the company has continued to grow. In 1982 Jabil relocated its headquarters to support IBM’ s personal computer business.
The company went public in 1993 and has been part of the Fortune 500 for 25 consecutive years.
“ My focus is on re-positioning the function as a growth driver rather than a cost centre,” he explains.“ That means combining deep category expertise with strong supplier relationships and advanced technologies to enable faster, more informed decision-making and stronger alignment with both customer and enterprise priorities.”
Graham’ s career so far“ On a personal level, I never imagined my career would take me from being a buyer to CPO of a Fortune 500 company like Jabil,” Graham says.“ It is humbling to have that level of responsibility and it is not something I take for granted. Every day, it reminds me how far teamwork, discipline and a focus on relationships can take you, and it reinforces the importance of leading with integrity at every level.”
It was not a grand plan or ingrained passion that brought Graham to procurement. He began his career in engineering, following after his father. Curiosity, eagerness to learn and hunger for responsibility, he explains, led him to apply for a buyer role at a small contract manufacturer.
Graham says:“ I learned on the job, and before long, I caught the‘ procurement bug’. The mix of problem-solving, negotiation and relationship building clicked in a way I hadn’ t anticipated, and that experience set the stage for everything that came after.” He joined Jabil in 2004 and has been growing with the company since.
28 April 2026