James Butler Appointed California's Chief Procurement Officer

Yesterday California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger appointed James Butler, 43 years old, of Roseburg, Ore., as chief procurement officer, a position in the state's Department of General Services (DGS).

"With the current budget issues facing California, it is critical that we streamline, and modernize our procurement and purchasing operations," said Will Bush, director of the Department of General Services, which oversees the state's $10 billion annual purchasing budget. "Our chief procurement officer has broad authority to manage our entire supply-chain to improve cost savings, increase efficiencies and develop better tools and systems to report and track the state's purchasing portfolio."

Butler also assumes the responsibilities of the deputy director for the Procurement Division at DGS. The division has an annual budget of $32.5 million, several hundred employees and responsibility for about 300 commodity contracts from more than 450 suppliers. Additionally, DGS' Procurement Division spearheads the state's small business and disabled veteran business enterprise outreach efforts, which last year resulted in more than 28 percent of the state's purchasing dollars going to certified firms in those sectors.

For the past five years Butler has been the director of procurement services for Levi Strauss and Co. In that position he managed all corporate purchasing for the firm, overseeing more than $450 million in annual strategic sourcing contracts, a staff of 17, teams in five cities and also led a group that built a standardized supplier performance management system. Before that he was a senior manager of Enterprise Resource Planning systems and procurement programs at Dell Computer Corp.

"I look forward to the opportunities and challenges of managing California's widespread procurement system," Butler said. "Bringing online the new E-Procurement system, a Web-based purchasing and tracking system for state agencies due this summer, is an exciting challenge. There is much to do, but together with the talented team already at DGS, we will accomplish great things."

The Department of General Services provides purchasing services for California, developing supplier relationships as well as contracts, and helping state agencies manage their purchasing efforts. These services include agency needs analysis, supplier and sourcing identification and verification, contract negotiations, bidding and contract management and contract auditing. In recent years the department has adopted performance procurement techniques, with suppliers as partners, compensating them with a portion of savings from efficient supply-chain management.

"Although we will continue to ensure that we get the best possible prices for the goods and services we buy, we have changed the way we look at procurement, focusing on building positive and productive relationships with our suppliers," explained Bush. "Jim Butler will build on that foundation and drive our supply-chain into the future, maximizing better use of technology and online data tools."