June 15, 2021

A message from Executive Vice President, Treasurer and Chief Operating Officer Helen Bowman:

Dear colleagues,

It is my great pleasure to announce that Julie Ann Jones has been appointed to serve as Vice President and Chief Procurement Officer (CPO) for Drexel University. This promotion, which took effect on May 1, recognizes Julie's work to reimagine our purchasing processes and facilitate stringent expense management to weather the financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Julie's vision for, and execution of, Drexel’s Supplier Inclusion Program places us at the forefront of this work in higher education. Her expanded role will allow her to not only continue that work, but also extend her oversight to the University's construction relationships and the economic impact goals agreed upon in those partnerships.

Julie joined Drexel as AVP of Procurement Services in January 2018, after 15 years in various functional and technical roles within information technology, finance and procurement. During her three-year tenure at Drexel, Julie has worked with colleagues across the University to restructure procurement policies and processes, collaborated with Drexel IT and our procurement analyst to develop critical and detailed expense reporting, and assumed leadership of Accounts Payable to better align its functions with procurement. She created a position dedicated to supplier diversity and later rebranded the program to supplier inclusion to better reflect its mission to pursue a more inclusive procurement model. Julie has also increased her unit's engagement and communication with University stakeholders by convening an advisory group consisting of both faculty and professional staff, developing a quarterly newsletter, and publishing an Accounts Payable & Procurement Annual Report [PDF].

As Vice President and CPO, Julie will continue to provide leadership for the offices of Accounts Payable, Procurement Services, Supplier Inclusion, and Surplus & Sustainability while overseeing the University's expense management and reporting, local and diverse economic impact, and socially responsible purchasing initiatives. She will also represent Drexel on the University City District Board.

To further the reach of Drexel's supplier inclusion program, I am also pleased to announce that Allen Riddick has accepted the role of Executive Director of Supplier Inclusion. Under Julie and Allen's leadership, Drexel received the INSIGHT Into Diversity Jesse L. Moore 2021 Supplier Diversity Award for taking proactive steps in supporting and engaging with minority-owned businesses. We plan to take that work to the next level in fiscal year 2022 by setting new socially responsible purchasing goals and tracking our progress toward them; more details on that initiative will be forthcoming.

Please join me in congratulating Julie and Allen on their well-deserved promotions and wishing them continued success in their expanded roles.

Thank you,

Helen Y. Bowman
Executive Vice President, Treasurer, and Chief Operating Officer