Welcome to Voice of Supply Chain, brought to you by ISM New Jersey and SourceDay. The purpose of our show is to tell stories of extraordinary people in supply chain today, really fitting given that it is International Women’s Day, and we have one of my favorite females in the industry on the show. So, did not plan that, it just worked out and was perfect. So, I’m your host, Sarah Scudder. I oversee marketing at SourceDay. Our supply chain software prevents late part deliveries for manufacturers to prevent production lines from being shut down. If you want more intel on what’s happening in the supply chain world, you can connect with me on LinkedIn and follow my hashtags #ManufacturingMaven and #WomeninERP. Today, our guest is Barb, and she and I have known each other, I want to say maybe eight, nine years. I would agree, a good time. We have been road warriors together, attended conferences, lobby crashed, tracked around trade shows, hung with her mom, her daughter, so I’m excited to actually have her on the show so she can share her personal journey with us today. So, Barb, I always like to start the show going way back in time. You may have forgotten some of these things or maybe blocked them out as well, but we’ve never forgotten about last week, so let’s see how it goes.

So, we’re gonna, we’re gonna go back in time and chat a little bit about your childhood. And while we’re doing that, I would like to welcome all of our live audience members and participants. So, those of you who are joining us live, feel free to drop in the chat where in the world you’re joining us from. We typically get a pretty diverse and global audience, so it’s always fun to see. So, drop us the city and state of where you’re at, and then if you want to give a shout out to Barb or tell us how you are feeling today, drop that note in the comment as well.

So, Barb, what in your childhood shaped you to be the person you are today? So, think way, way back, all right? So, I’m gonna get us started with a little bit of raw information about myself. So, I come from a background of abuse and trauma, and it was a challenging journey, right? So, I’ve learned to heal and grow from those experiences. And when I look back at my childhood, I feel that that has made me or taught me, rather, to be a very strong-willed, independent, very strong person. And so, I have been grateful for the resiliency and the teachings of growing up in that type of environment. And it’s definitely, I believe, the most important thing that, you know, it’s made me who I am today. And I would also argue it’s made you the parent you are today as well. I thank you so much, Sarah, and I absolutely believe that. It was my, I should say, my partner in crime there, Mr. Pat Sexton. Our number one goal was to be the parents that we did not have. And I would like to say, I would hope that Emerald and my boys would absolutely agree.

So, I want to welcome a few of our live guests. We’ve got Michael Walsh joining us from Atlanta. You’ve got someone joining us from Jupiter, Florida, and we’ve got John joining us from Clearwater, Florida. John’s actually coming on as a guest later in the year, so glad he’s able to tune in. Nice. So, Barb, given that you’ve had a tough childhood and you had to overcome and deal with a lot of trauma, who would you say is the most influential person in your childhood and why?

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so what did you do so so you graduated high school which is kind of a big deal given your upbringing what did you do first in my family ever to graduate from high school I feel like that should be celebrated and called out thank you what did you do after graduating high school I left town literally I drove down to so I was born in Los Angeles but I went to about fifth grade High School I grew up in Spokane, Washington where it snows and it’s awful so I took off I went back down to California to this Pacific Palisades to be a nanny for these twin toddler boys and it was fantastic

one of the things that stands out a lot about your story is that you married super young what I would consider to be let me phrase that super young and then you started a big career later in life so how come you so how if you’re comfortable sharing I’d like to hear the story of how you met the hubby and and why you guys why you married so young

so why I married so young Sarah you’ve met Pat he was a good catch he was convincing young man so when I I met him when I was 19. he’s a little bit younger we won’t go into this is this is rated G so we’re going to keep keep it keep it clear here I met him and I just he’s so funny so funny and I fell in love and honestly all I wanted was to have babies I oh since I was a little girl I’ve always wanted children I didn’t necessarily want a husband I wanted children he wasn’t having any of that right because he really he had grew up and not a great you know whatever and so anyways he wanted to be a dad so he convinced me that we were gonna get married we were gonna have two boys a girl and a boy we’re gonna have these four kids and wait girl boy girl boy two boys a girl and then another boy wow he was very particular yes yes this was believe it or not this was shared with me on the first night we met this was all gonna happen lo and behold 34 years later and we are married we have two boys a girl now we’ve had some boy dogs but after I had my baby girl I was done we wanted to have children I wanted to start having babies right away very young I had my first at 20. all were planned probably not smartly but planned I had my two boys my girl and then I was done I just wanted that that baby girl who you had the the the the opportunity to meet and know Miss Emerald Sexton and it’s been just a fabulous ride

so you got married young your husband had your every little thing planned out in your life and kind of cool that some of it actually kind of happened the way that he needed we’ve had a lot of boy dogs as the fourth so I feel like that kind of counts yeah it does it does yeah so you were also which you didn’t mention in the story the wife of somebody working in the military now I do not come from a military family that’s not something I have any knowledge of but I know it’s a very very different lifestyle so what was it life being married to somebody in the military so he went into the military after we were married and it was a joint decision after we were married and after we had our first son Christopher and so he he was very young he tested very high and went into the army our first duty station as a very young couple right very new just have this baby our first duty station was Hawaii which most people are like oh my gosh wonderful right but it’s very expensive in Hawaii he went in as enlisted person he was you know he wasn’t out of college couldn’t be an officer so he he went in and listed and then went to college through his military at the beginning of his military career and we bounced around I’ve lived in I know on your post seven different states we had our second two kids in Hawaii when we were stationed there but being being married and and being in the military we it really builds resilience and and I think it’s amazing for children to raise children in in the military and and let me just share it’s because we were moving every two to three years moving so for me personally right not while the babies were young I I did I did take the opportunity I I was blessed enough to to be able to hang at home with the kids when they were little but just getting to raise those kids around different cultures different states different people people from all over the world are in the military right because you have joint forces on the bases etc. so our kids were raised around the ability to pack up move in a great meet the folks that you live around and really not see again not see race or or gender or anything just to to meet and and build a relationships every two to three years you’re just consistently rebuilding so that’s that’s really you know it and it was tough too because he was also if y’all recall the the first Desert Storm you know deployed right after probably when my second son was about a month old he deployed so I was on my own with the two babies for a good six months and that’s tough but there’s also such a sense of community in the military and there’s whites groups mothers at that time you know now I bet you it’s a bunch of parents because there’s such a a great influx of stay-at-home dads these days but at that time it was a lot really a bunch of young females right that would get together and again that sense of community to to make it through until the husbands come home and and that kind of thing so it’s it’s a really interesting the military is really interesting so but it there were a lot of learning experiences growing up in that environment because basically he was in for 21 years so was able to retire real young what would you say was the hardest part of being a mom and that may or may not correlate to being being a military wife

So my little brother, so he, he’s since passed. He passed away when I was 25. Again, not a great upbringing, so a whole ‘nother story and so forth, but he was born with a double cleft lip and palate. So basically, this whole area of his face was open. And he, since the time he was born, I was five years older than him, he had to go through many, many surgeries, rebuilding facial construction, etc. And as you can imagine, when he grew up and he went to school, that was very challenging for kids. Little guys. I hope, I pray, I believe that things are getting much better in this day and age, right? But in that time, in the early ’70s, late ’70s… Now I’m dating myself for all of America to have the quote there, that’s tough. Kids are teas, and it was very rough. And he just had a hard go at it. And me being the big sister, I really… I learned a ton from that. I learned to be kind and loving and caring. And he… He was such a strong boy and really put up with a lot. I would say he was my childhood, the most influential person in my life as a child. I didn’t have anyone to look up to, so I looked down as to the younger growth and influence. And what did that teach you about overcoming people’s perception and judgments? Because that’s a pretty major thing to look at and have to walk around town in public. It is. And I mean, the corny, the very true saying is, right? You look at the person’s inside, not what’s outside. So, it’s not race or gender, yay International Women’s Day, right? It should be women’s year. It’s not race, gender. It’s about what’s inside a person’s heart and being that makes a person what they are. And you just can’t look at the surface of anyone and know, not only who they are, but what they’re going through or how they approach life.

So, it makes me think back when I… So, I went to Sonoma State for college. It’s a little tiny school in wine country in California. And I moved into the dorm. There were three in one room, two in the other. Thank goodness I was in the room with two, because three is a lot. And my roommate’s dad showed up without an arm. And it was the first experience I had had. I didn’t see that a lot as a child. I grew up in a very, very small town. And one of the nicest, most amazing people I’ve ever met. But it was something that… I mean, I became very close with my roommate and her family and heard his story. He was actually a war veteran and lost his arm in the war. But learning about the trauma that he experienced in life by not having an arm and had to use a prosthesis with a hook on the end to be able to function. So, it’s kind of similar but different. But it makes me think of that experience. I think all the differences, you know, something that you can see from the outside, right, is probably a little more easy for us to understand and hope that we’re all learning from that. And I believe it really helps us to focus as individuals that are, I guess, blessed to experience and build relationships with that type of… Within something that you can see visually, hopefully strengthens us as individuals to then be able to look even deeper and further into the hearts of folks and rather than the outside appearance, right? So again, I just… I really… I’m not ashamed. I’m not… I don’t know that I would change the way I was brought up, because I really value who I am today because of all of those experiences, those relationships, that understanding, and learning opportunity from my little brother or from, you know, the way we were raised, etc. So, that then begs the question, what’s the one thing you learned as an adult that you wish you knew as a kid? And I’m sure there’s a lot, but let’s pick one. I mean, we can go on for the rest. Yeah, I think that every… This is my life, right? It’s awesome. Everything’s gonna be okay. Everything’s awesome. I’m gonna meet great people like Miss Sarah Scudder and all these great colleagues that I work with. And I have the three beautiful children and two grandbabies and a fantastic husband and partner in life that everything’s gonna be okay. You know, I’m learning that every day, and I wish I would have known that as a kid along with so many other things, right? Pay attention in school, don’t be such a chitter-chatter. All those things too.

You know, tough, I mean there’s so many things that’s hard about being a mom, right? I would say that the toughest part of being a mom, not related to the military, just hands down the toughest part, and this happens more when they’re young teenagers, and it’s probably very similar for a father as well, is their broken hearts. So, having a child heartbroken, something that you can’t fix or put a Band-Aid on, is, I think, the hardest part of motherhood and letting go. I may or may not have had a hard time with my kids going off to college and moving out of the house, you know. So, I think that’s the hardest part of being a mom, is not being able to fix their heart.

So, you were a stay-at-home mom for how many years?

Until Emerald was about… It’s so hard. I think she was two, like two and a half-ish.

And, Sarah, she said to me, ‘All right, mom, you go to work because I want to go to school.’

I was like, what? Literally, she wanted to go to the school the boys were at. So, it was time for Mom to get a job. And I started exploring. Okay, guess I better. Time to go to work. That often that you hear someone starting their career because their two-year-old tells them to get a job? No, I thought it was supposed to be the other way around.

Lady, hence the strong, beautiful woman that your daughter is today. Thank you. So, tell me about your first job.

Um, so not my first job. We won’t talk about my Wendy’s experience. Cool, first, first job when you started, okay, I’m gonna… I’m gonna go pursue a career. Yeah, it was so exciting. And I would never have dreamed about this. So, there’s Memorial Medical Center. It’s a little small. We were stationed at White Sands Missile Range when this all happened. And Emerald told me to get to work, and there was Memorial Medical Center, which is in Las Cruces, New Mexico, right over the hills of the White Sands Missile Range. If any of you ever have the opportunity to go to White Sands National Monument in New Mexico, one of the most amazing, beautiful places to visit and experience. So, anyways, about 30 minutes over the mountain, there was, and I honestly, talk about memory, I cannot remember how I found out about a compensation and benefits generalist position, an HR position, was open at the hospital. Now, mind you, I have some college experience. I didn’t finish college. Some a little bit of Community College and just a very bossy background, a leadership quality. And I applied. I have no idea why I applied or whatever, but anyways, I got the position, long story short, got the role, and it was phenomenal. I fell in love with HR and the experience of getting to go to work and have something and own something and experience. I thought it was very fascinating to get involved in compensation, so building out job descriptions, making sure the benefits and the total rewards, you know, which one wasn’t called that at the time, the personnel, you know, we’re taking care of through their benefits program, and better align compensation bands and things of that nature. And it was just a blast. And I was the lower-level, like, a generalist role, but it was such a learning experience, and I truly fell in love with HR at the time. You’ve had a unique… I feel like everyone in supply chain has some sort of unique, random… Yeah, it happens, right? Not a lot of us go to school and choose a career in supply chain. So, you were in HR, and somehow HR and supply chain, procurement, collided for you. So, walk me through how that happened.

Okay, so fast forward, gosh. So, I’ve been with Omnia Partners now for 12 years. My girlfriend, Sonda, was working at this company… Well, first, we had worked together at a staffing company and met each other… While my husband was stationed at West Point, we met each other in New York through this staffing company we both worked for. When I moved to Arizona, this is in 2004, and she had moved back to Ohio from New York, she went to work for this company called Corporate United. And I know you’re very familiar with Corporate United, Sarah. We first met you when you were at Corporate United. I was, I was, because Omnia Partners acquired it. So, Omnia Partners have been in business for over 20 years. We’ve had a strong M&A focus, right? Through and… Or just the acquisition focus. They acquired Corporate United in September of, I believe it was September of 2017. But, you know, through my bouncing around in the military and going from place to place, I landed in, out of comp and ben, I landed in the staffing industry, met Sonda, and then, you know, long story short, in the early, early 2000s, I came to Arizona. She went to Cleveland, Ohio, and went to work for this company, Corporate United. And for, I think it was, like, four to five years, we chatted and talked all the time, and she was just always so dang happy. And I just couldn’t believe this company that she worked for. She told me what they do, you know. It was a GPO, and they… She had all these, you know, members and these supplier relationships. And it was just really cool. I really thought it was interesting. And it took me five years of just really kind of waiting for the opportunity to open up, but she finally introduced me to the president at that time in, gosh, late 2010. And to this model and to the… To the leadership there. And I and I landed a role to run their West… Takeover actually found this position because they were growing so fast. She had to concentrate on the East, and I was brought in to take over her area where she was basically national and focused on the West. I think I was employee, like, around 20 or so. And so, it was… It was really who I knew, that’s how I landed in that… In the procurement world, right? And I didn’t have a clue, because we… You know, we… We sell, we speak to, we support, and we work with procurement professionals. And I’m like, wait a second, you know, when I was in staffing in a sales role, the CPOs, procurement, like, you stay clear of those guys. They were, like, the… Yeah, like, what are you talking about? I want to build a relationship and learn what they do and how they do it.

So, you know, I’ve always been one to kind of self-learn, you know, a lot of reading, get involved with the local association. So, that’s when I… It was introduced to ISM, it’s supply chain, there in Arizona. And I immediately got involved to try to understand and learn and network with fellow procurement professionals. And that was the beginning of my procurement or purchasing career, and I just could not be in a better place. Like, it’s the most amazing industry. I think, I know, hands down, I work for the best purchasing organization out there, and I couldn’t imagine getting out of this industry. So, you work at a GPO. I’d like to have you explain to those who are with us today or tuning in afterward via recording what is a GPO? I think there’s actually a fair amount of people that work in our industry that don’t know what a GPO is. Yeah, I sure didn’t. But I… Again, I didn’t work in our industry, but I had never heard, and it was kind of like, wait a second, if that’s what you do, why does everyone not a member of a group purchasing organization? So, GPO, group purchasing organization. Now, at Omnia Partners, yes, we’re a GPO, but we far exceed anything that’s out there from a typical GPO. But in the generic term, if you will, for a GPO, a group purchasing organization is leveraged buying power. So, working with your members of the group purchasing organization or your participants that are buying from a cooperative, is what you’ll typically hear in the public sector space, the city, state, and local government space, working and buying off contracts that are either on the private sector side, so solicited on behalf of the contracting team, negotiating on strong service level agreements and contractual pricing and strong contracts, so that you can leverage that relationship versus go out and build yourself. And on the public sector side, as there’s legislation and rules, more stringent rules on how they need to contract with suppliers, we work with the lead public agency model, and they go out and they contract with those suppliers, and we assist in the marketing of that contract.

So, Barb, let me… So here’s how… Tell me if this is correct. Here’s how I understand, in very terms, what a GPO is. So, to me, I think of the hotel industry. If I work at a big hotel like a Marriott, I could go out and try to secure and source all the suppliers myself, or I could go partner with a GPO who already has contracts and relationships in place with all the major things that I buy, and I could just piggyback off their existing contracts to save me tremendous time and money. You nailed it, Sarah. And no, you cannot have my job behind. I think of GPOs and I think of hotels. Very good. Yeah, I haven’t heard that before, but absolutely. I know. I know. My… You know, a common example that I’ve used in the past, right, is office supplies, right? Everybody can think of pens, paper. Instead of, you know, even take your largest, you know, your Fortune 100 company, right? Instead of them having to go out and build an RFP and solicit these suppliers and negotiate what it costs for a big pen, right? Instead of them having to work and focus on that, let’s focus on our strategic relationships and what have you, and let’s streamline that process and go through a group purchasing organization, again, to expedite that process. We’ve already, you know, solicited the arrangements with the key suppliers out there. We have contracts ready to use. If you’re on the public, you know, in the public arena at a city, state, or local, you know, chances are you can search the website and see what contracts are already in place. Can I use that cooperative agreement, piggyback on that contract, and take advantage of the work that’s already been done? So, for those that are live, if you have any additional questions about what a GPO is or how GPO works, feel free to drop it in the chat, and we’ll make sure Barb has a chance to address it. Barb, I want to pivot back, because this show is really about the personal journey of our guest. So, your journey of transitioning from HR to the world of GPOs through the strong network that you had built, I want to talk about how you moved up within Omnia Partners to become a VP, because that’s a pretty big deal. You didn’t go to college, you were a stay-at-home mom, and now you have a big job. So, what did you do strategically that helped you get to that level in your company, and I would consider a pretty quick time?

So, what do you do in your new role? Like, what is your job? Because I think a GPO is a really interesting career path, and there may be some people that have not heard of it or maybe they’re interested in exploring a career in the world of GPOs. And I do want to call out we have Tina Smith who gave us a GPO definition. She said GPOs are able to leverage collective higher volume amounts to get better pricing and terms as well. Yeah, thank you, Tina. I would… So not all GPOs are equal, right? So, yes, the base is leveraged pricing and contracts. What I do in my role, I don’t believe… I’m 99.9% sure that there are other GPOs out there that don’t have the breadth and depth of resources that our organization brings to the table, and that’s one of those roles and responsibilities is mine and my colleagues within what we call partner development. So think of it as, you know, in the typical procurement office, right? It would be those maintaining and managing the relationships of the suppliers who, if not being done today… If not if you’re not treating those suppliers like strategic relationships, building upon those relationships to make sure that your business, whatever that is that you do, and that supplier, that it’s a mutual partnership and when amongst your business. I don’t know how you could be successful, right? So we take… We at Omnia Partners have a focus on those relationships with those suppliers because if our suppliers are not continuously meeting the SLAs of the contract that we’ve put in place, meeting the pricing… Right, that’s kind of the table stakes. If they’re not meeting those, but if they’re not building their business, focusing on the members, the member companies, or the participating agencies of that purchasing, you know, of our organization, but of a GPO, bringing innovation and continuously improving upon that contract, then there’s no value for any three parties, right? So going back to my initial statement, most GPOs do not have this role. A lot of GPOs in… In, let me take that back, they might have a contract manager, right, who’s negotiating the terms and the SLAs and putting that contract in place. But what are they doing to manage that relationship and to make sure that it’s exceeding and delivering upon what was negotiated and making sure the needs of the members are met? And, oh, by the way, the needs of the suppliers are met, because if they’re not all in, why do they need to put these agreements in place for those members? So it’s very much a triangle relationship, and our specific roles are to maintain and manage those supplier relationships, to make sure they’re getting what they need from all the resources that are within our organization and to make sure the members are happy and getting what they need. And the suppliers, you know, everybody’s happy.

Yeah, just, you nailed it. Strong relationship management skills, independent thinking. Right, not out of the box, but maybe, you know, if that’s… But in independent thinking, the ability to…

Entrepreneurship, right? So ownership. General business skills, like, you know how to… How to sell. I think we used to talk about this a lot, gosh, maybe four or five years ago. I know at the ISM conferences or, you know, at the different conferences or whatever it was, all about selling skills within the procurement and purchasing supply chain industry, right? The ability to… And I think that’s important, salesmanship and the ability to sell yourself is important. I think in any role, right? In the parent role, right? The ability to sell and gain respect from another, whether it’s a little two-year-old or a teenager or a supplier or a stakeholder within the organization, you have to have the ability to share and sell, a challenge. So, I think those would be the… You know, strong relationships, sell, and salesmanship.

What advice would you have for people that are wanting to move up in their career, like you did? So, you started out, I mean, you started your career entry-level, you became a director, and now you’re a VP. Like, what are some key things that people can action on to start building up to get that next role?

I’m going to say, to the… You have to take the opportunity to educate yourself, whether that… And it’s not necessarily college. There’s trade schools, reading. Just, you can’t stress enough the importance of… For me, reading and networking. I believe it’s so important on who you know versus what you know. I know that sounds very counter-intuitive, but it’s so important. I wouldn’t be with this organization today if I didn’t know Sonda and I didn’t put… You know, take my HR background and my staffing background and convince them to give me an opportunity and try me out in this… You know, procurement world, in this purchasing world. So, I think my the most important advice I would say is to… To read, read, and always be learning.

How do you stay sane in your job and life? Because I feel like you juggle so much. You’re a grandma. You and your husband travel all over the world. You work a ton. Like, what… How do you handle all that?

I mean, there’s meds. I’m just kidding, but I’m not. My mental and physical self, right? So, I do, I’m a strong believer in meditation and exercise and trying my darndest to eat right. I don’t always do it, but I try to eat well. And I… I also try, I am very hard on myself, strict on myself, to keep office hours. And I forget what conference it might have been, SHRM or the Society for Human Resource Management. I think it was one of the conferences. There was a great keynote speaker, actually, actually, it was Arianna Huffington, spoke about keeping office hours and putting your phone to bed at night. And I don’t know if everybody’s tried this, but the… The ability to lay your tasks out and put a time frame on yourself and so we’ll… We’ll honestly help you to get tasks done within that time frame. And so, I think that keeps me sane, being organized, planning my days, giving into myself as much as I do my work. And then, again, I also love what I do. So, I think it’s super important to find something in your job or in your world, do your darndest to love what you do because that old corny saying, you’ll never work a day in your life, it’s so, so true. I literally enjoy and have… I can tell you, I’m as sane as it’s gonna get right now because I’m just… I love what I do, got the family at home, I keep my hours, I’ve got wonderful colleagues. Like, I don’t… I don’t have a problem with sanity right now, and I’m sure there are some of you that would challenge that.

So, you said you had some technology or tools that you wanted to share or talk about today.

Actually, so the tools that I was going to talk about is just my own personal tools, right? So, I… I don’t have any technology, although I mean, I could go on for days, talk about… So, here, let me just, let’s do a plug for Omnia Partners real quick. We are driven by technology and data enablement and so forth, and we are… I love what you do, Sarah, at SourceDay. I wish our paths crossed, you know, so we can… We could get some business going together. I would love nothing more, but kind of a different little realm that we’re in now versus where we used to be. But we are, from a technology standpoint, our organization is putting all kinds of revenue and executive level buy-in and build out of our technology and data enablement for our organization, for our members, for our suppliers, to be able to see what’s going on via that technology and so forth. But really, the tools that I was talking about and doing a little taunting on LinkedIn was more about reading and… You know, organizing yourself and networking, and just kind of more tricks and tools of the trade, right? How to stay singing and how to climb the career ladder and keep plugging away and be honest and put yourself out there, you know, challenge yourself to do things that you wouldn’t do ordinarily. So, you used to use some device where you would electronically take notes. Oh, I still use that bad boy. So, can you share with us what this is because I know you were obsessed with it when you got it.

Okay, I’m still obsessed. And I think personally, if anybody out there from Remarkable’s listening, maybe I could do a commercial, get a few for my colleagues, ’cause they’re amazing. Shout out to Remarkable. If you don’t have one, you should try it out. But it’s just, it’s an electronic notebook. I… My kids, like, we get them for the kids for… Guest, you know, they’re awesome for college. They’re awesome for to stay organized and, you know, for any career field. But it’s just an electronic notebook, tablet of paper that’s interfaces with your computer and your iPhone or your… You know, I’m sure or the Android, all the good things. But it’s fantastic. Drop us a note in the chat if you have a Remarkable. We’ll see if they’re available. There’s a Remarkable groupie here on the call today. So, Barb, we’re going to move into our Spitfire round. This is where I’m going to ask you a question, and you’re going to say the first word or phrase that comes to mind.

Accomplishment you are most proud of: Raising my kids.

Quality you admire most in yourself: Honesty.

What’s your dream: To live in the cul-de-sac with all my kids and all my grandbabies, lots of grandbabies. AKA commune.

Biggest pet peeve: I don’t think I have one. Disorganization.

Favorite thing to do in your downtime: Family time.
Most important summertime: It’s pool time with the grandbabies.

What are you binging: Oh gosh, I’m so bad with names and titles. Hold on. It’s probably… I’m not binging it because the episodes, truth be told, it’s on Apple TV but it’s coming out on Fridays, so I can’t binge it. I’m already caught up.

Favorite thing you’ve read recently: “Becoming.” Hasn’t been very… I reread it with my daughter on the road, re-listened to “Becoming” by Michelle Obama. Fantastic book.

Bucket list item you’re going to accomplish this year: Marry off my daughter.

And with that, I want to thank all of you who were able to join us live. I recommend reaching out and connecting with Barb on LinkedIn. She posts a lot of awesome content about supply chain, women in our industry, and all things GPO. Our show next month is on Wednesday, April 19th, at 2 pm Eastern Time. See you all then. Thank you so much.