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Alison Littley sets the scene

By OGCbuying.solutions

OGCbuying.solutions' new Chief Executive sets out her view of the challenges ahead.

After a successful private sector career in the food and drinks industries, Alison Littley began her new job in October and has been busy meeting staff and colleagues, customers, partners and suppliers, assessing current activities and formulating plans for the future.

A photograph of OGCbuying.solutions Chief Executive Alison Littley

Alison Littley

We caught up with Alison to talk to her about her background, her guiding principles in business and the challenges ahead for the organisation she has inherited.

Alison, what was your reaction to the news that you had been appointed?

Alison Littley: "My first reaction was that I was, naturally, very pleased. The public sector is very diverse and, of course, the biggest procurement environment there is.

"Secondly, it feels to me quite significant that someone such as myself, who has spent almost all of my career in procurement, should be given the opportunity to lead and run an organisation such as this.

"It is relatively rare for a procurement professional to reach CEO level and so my appointment is perhaps a reflection of the increasingly important role we will all have to play in delivering key public policy objectives particularly around the efficiency and sustainability agendas.

"It is my aim to provide the leadership that takes this organisation forward and enables it to meet the challenges ahead."

What have been your initial impressions of the organisation?

AL: "It is clearly well run, and well governed and it has consistently met all of its ministerial targets – which is a tribute to my predecessor Hugh Barrett and the team.

"We have some talented, energetic and highly committed people, some excellent products and services and there are some innovative business practices in operation."

How has your career to date prepared you for this role?

AL: "Having spent a number of years working in senior procurement roles with two large, complex organisations – Mars and Diageo – I was privileged to work with a wide range of businesses supplying goods and services.

"I was able to see how they operated, how they treated their customers, suppliers and their own people and how they used technology. These were all learning experiences for me.

"The task for me was predominantly about relationship management, doing everything possible to enable customers, procurement professionals and suppliers to work successfully together.

"It was about fostering a relationship in which all three parties really understood each other's businesses, communicated effectively, planned for the future together and had faith in each other's capabilities and motivation."

What does this mean for Buying Solutions going forward?

AL: "In my view this is how we need to position and promote ourselves going forward – striving to be a top quality organisation at the top of its game.

"We need to show that we can provide great procurement capability and innovation, great products and services, enhanced supplier relationship management and real added value – in short a supplier of first choice.

"We need to be experts in all of our subject areas and fully in tune with the wider public policy arena – especially in relation to sustainability. We need to show that we have commercial acumen, for example to strike the right balance between big, national, aggregated deals – and local and regional economic necessities.

"From what I have seen so far we do have these things in many areas but we need more and we will get more.

"My role is to ensure that we are in a prime position to respond effectively to the challenges ahead."


Alison Littley – a brief profile.

Prior to joining Buying Solutions, Alison was the Global Demand and Marketing Procurement Director at Diageo, the leading premium drinks business.

She was responsible for developing and implementing the global marketing procurement strategy for the business, which includes household name brands such as Smirnoff, Bailey's, Johnnie Walker, Guinness and Captain Morgan.

She also built and led the procurement team, based on the latest category management principles, that managed Diageo's £1.4 billion annual global spend on marketing suppliers.

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