When Kenvue became an independent company following its separation from Johnson & Johnson in 2023, Alexandra Tarmo was tasked with building a Procurement Center of Excellence( CoE) from the ground up while the function continued to support the business and deliver immediate results. As Vice President of Procurement CoE, External Manufacturing, R & D, and Capital, Construction and Facilities Management, she has overseen a transformation that moved more than 60 % of execution to hub locations, funded new strategic capabilities through cost-neutral restructuring and embedded AI across sourcing and market insight. She discusses the lessons learned along the way.

» I lead the Procurement CoE and Transformation, along with External Manufacturing, R & D and Capital, Construction and Facilities Management portfolios at Kenvue, the world’ s largest pure-play consumer health company by revenue, and maker of iconic brands like Neutrogena, Listerine, Aveeno and Tylenol. I joined Kenvue as it became an independent company, with the mandate to help establish the CoE as a backbone for Procurement transformation.

» We always talk about building the pane while you fly it. As a newlyindependent company, we had a clear mandate to deliver value, cost and cash, while also trengthening our capabilities in sustainability, resilience, risk management, supplier relationship management and innovation. We had to move quickly because our Transition Services Agreement with Johnson & Johnson gave us a defined timeline by which we needed to be operating as a standalone company. Even as an independent company, you’ re carrying the legacy of the company you’ re spinning out from, so it’ s a bit like a blank page that isn’ t really blank.