Barry Olson

Background

About Barry Olson

As a collaborative executive leader, Barry has a demonstrated history of successful procurement related wins for the companies he has worked with. Using a collaborative and team-building leadership style, Barry has been able to deliver substantial monetary results to the bottom line while building robust teams that have provided additional procurement related horsepower to the organization. He excels in building strong teams and establishing interorganizational networks that deliver results and higher productivity levels. As a senior executive, he is known for his strategic approach to solving complex procurement issues and ability to think outside the box. As Vice President of Procurement and Stakeholder Engagement at Hypower, a highly diversified specialty contractor, he was able to build a strong network of shared services, leading to greater efficiencies and employee productivity. As the primary leader of material negotiations for both Sasco and Fisk, he was able to drive profits directly to the bottom line and establish vendor “partners” who shared his long-term vision of delivering competitive pricing through strategic supply chain alliances. It was in his early years working for United Electric where he gained a strong appreciation for how the leveraging of supply chain partnerships could provide a greater competitive edge in the market. While at Hunt Electric, those ideas were put into action as he developed a national network of suppliers and manufacturers who were able to deliver products faster and at lower prices than Hunt’s competitors. Barry also worked with vendors and the Hunt accounting department to create payment terms that greatly benefitted the organization’s cash flow. As Barry worked on and completed a Doctorate in Strategic Leadership, he realized the leverage principles he used with vendors could also be applied to organizational teams to better support organizational growth and profitability. Since then, he has focused on a pragmatic leadership model to assist others to attain excellence in their corporate roles while fostering leadership development initiatives to train new leaders for success.