Walter D'Avolio

Walter D’Avolio is the Vice President - Strategic Sourcing & Procurement for Cochlear Limited, a medical device company and global leader in implantable hearing solutions headquartered in Sydney, Australia.

Walter leads a team comprising of strategic sourcing, procurement, supplier quality and procurement customer service professionals based in Australia and Malaysia, and who are responsible for the proactive management of 350 suppliers globally and approximately$300M spend. Key achievements include the following: The development and execution of a Strategic Sourcing & Procurement Strategy roadmap and accompanying organisational structure aligned to the business’s needs. Increasing value add for the business through the introduction of category strategy development and strategic sourcing disciplines thereby increasing spend covered by category strategies with strategic suppliers. Implementing a targeted supplier rationalising program in line with category strategies to reduce complexity, cost, risk and to concentrate spend with key suppliers. Implemented a low cost centralised procurement customer service function to improve effectiveness, efficiency, and procurement governance which also increased the amount of spend covered by a proper pre-approval process. The development of supply risk management policies and procedures to periodically assess supply risks and to prevent supply chain risks events.