Colin Cram has held senior positions in the public sector for the past 30 years, including central (including the Cabinet Office and HM Treasury) and local government, higher education and the wider public sector. He has been responsible throughout for initiating and implementing innovative strategies for procurement, shared services, outsourcings and organisational re-engineering. Savings from his initiatives exceed £1bn.

Colin has created and managed several pioneering joint and shared service procurement organisations, influencing spend of up to £7bn a year. He was a founder member of the Central Unit on Purchasing (the forerunner of the Office of Government Commerce), created and led the Research Councils' Procurement Organisation, the Benefits Agency Contracts Organisation and was First Director of the North Western Universities' Purchasing Consortium. Latterly he was Director of the North West Centre of Excellence, creating and delivering collaborative opportunities in procurement and shared services for 47 local authorities.

A Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply, Colin has been appointed a senior adviser to the Office of Government Commerce and is a member of SOLACE (Society of Local Authority Chief Executives). He is a regular speaker at national and international conferences and training events, and is a regular contributor to professional journals. He has been a member of European working groups on Procurement, Innovation and Sustainability. He runs a successful consultancy, Marc1 Ltd.


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After working for a number of years in industry, John Warrington joined the NHS in 1984 to work in the West Midlands Regional Supplies Department in Birmingham. He worked in a number of purchasing roles in the West Midlands, Oxford and North West Regional Health Authorities before joining the National Purchasing Unit of the newly formed NHS Supplies Authority in 1992.

John was National Portfolio Manager for the Rehabilitation Section before becoming Head of Strategic Supply Development and Innovation in the Authority's Strategy Directorate.

He was made Head of Research and Innovation for the NHS Purchasing and Supply Agency (PASA) on its formation in April 2000 and was appointed a Director in January 2004, with responsibility for research and innovation and national procurement for food, domestics and textiles categories.

After a spell as Director, Policy and Innovation, he transferred to the Department of Health, Procurement, Investment and Commercial Division in 2009 to take up his current role as Deputy Director, Procurement Policy and Research, which includes responsibility for procurement policy in the NHS.

John is a member of the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply and holds an MBA from the University of Bath.

Presentation: Strategies for NHS procurement

The NHS is undergoing significant reforms. At the same time, the QIPP agenda demands savings of up to £20bn by 2015. Procurement has been identified as an area in which substantial efficiencies can be achieved, and understanding the changes that are taking place and how to deliver the necessary procurement savings is hugely important.

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Joanna Timmerman is MD of the Theatre Business Division within NHS Supply Chain. This covers the procurement, logistics and theatre service of orthopaedic, cardiology, endosurgery and theatre consumables.

Working for NHS Supply Chain since 2008, Joanna previously worked as an independent management consultant for two years within the NHS, and prior to this for Tesco in the UK, Eastern Europe and Asia implementing their trading model in their new core and developing markets. She has over 20 years' experience in strategy development and implementation in customer service, sales, procurement and supply chain in both the private and public sectors.

Presentation: Better…simpler…and cheaper - how can procurement help achieve this?

The NHS has to achieve significant cash releasing savings to sustain its high standards of healthcare provision. How can procurement deliver this whilst ensuring we don't add unnecessary complexity or hidden costs to our frontline clinical staff?

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Sally Chisholm began her NHS career working in diagnostic radiography both within acute care and then in Cambridge and Manchester Universities' Imaging Research Departments. An Information Technology degree led to a return to the NHS in information and IT services, including work with primary care to support GP fundholding and commissioning.

Sally held a number of commissioning roles including joint posts with social care before spending two years working in Children's Services at Manchester City Council. Four years as Director of the Cardiac and Stroke Network in Lancashire and Cumbria exposed her to cross-organisational collaboration, service redesign and a focus on delivering innovation and improving quality.

Sally became Chief Executive of the NHS Technology Adoption Centre in May 2010.

Presentation: The generic adoption process

How the NHS can go about procuring and adopting innovative technology and reap the benefits. The Innovative Technology Adoption Procurement Programme (iTAPP) is designed to encourage NHS-wide adoption of high impact innovative medical technologies that can increase the quality of care provided to patients, whilst reducing the overall cost of care.

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Peter Akid began his NHS career in 2005 as Chief Executive of the Greater Manchester Procurement Hub and over the past five years has taken the organisation from strength to strength. Expanding the service offering and its geographical coverage the organisation became known as the North West Collaborative Commercial Agency and in December 2010 merged with NHS Shared Business Services. With a national footprint and the potential to deliver even greater savings and efficiencies to the NHS, Peter is now the Managing Director of SBS's commercial division - NHS SBS Commercial Procurement Solutions. Peter also sits on the boards of the National Adoption Centre and Medilink North West and is a member of the Department of Health National Procurement Council.

Prior to joining the NHS, Peter held a number of key positions in strategic and operational procurement and supply chain management both in the public and private sectors; latterly as Vice President of Global Supply Chain for Cable and Wireless, where he undertook significant change programmes in the Caribbean and Latin America. Before that, Peter had held the position of National Procurement and Contracts Manager at British Gas / Transco PLC, delivering benefits via strategic sourcing and outsourcing programmes. A common theme has been managing procurement activity in organisations undergoing privatisation and deregulation.

Peter is a member of the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply and the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport. Having started his career in the construction / civil engineering industry as a Chartered Quantity Surveyor, he is also a Fellow of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors.

Presentation: Releasing resources to support frontline services

The newly launched NHS SBS Commercial Procurement Solutions aims to drive improved procurement and commercial efficiencies across the NHS, ensuring value for money procurement. Harnessing the enormous purchasing power of the NHS can save money, improve quality and reduce inefficiencies.

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David Shields joined Buying Solutions in December 2010. He was recently appointed as Acting Chief Executive Officer, responsible for the day-to-day management of Buying Solutions.

David previously worked within the government's Centralised Category Procurement workstream in the ERG.

As a procurement and supply chain professional, David has years of experience in the private sector where he worked in senior roles for global insurance and life assurance providers, such as AXA plc and CGU, now known as Aviva.

David has also worked within other areas of the public sector including HM Customs and Excise and is an active fellow of the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply.

Presentation: A transformed Buying Solutions

The national procurement partner for all UK public services is now also part of the Efficiency and Reform Group within the Cabinet Office. There is scope for the NHS to save both time and money by procuring smarter. What actions can organisations take to achieve improvement, innovation and consistency in their procurement practice?

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