Kai Chen Ching, CPSM®

$700M+ Spend Portfolio | Strategic Sourcing | Supplier Governance | Procurement Transformation Led strategic sourcing and supplier management in key categories for Google's APAC marketing ecosystem — a $1B annual spend portfolio spanning creative, media, production across 10+ markets. Scope included end-to-end supplier governance, commercial negotiation, category strategy, and cross-functional alignment with senior marketing leadership. Key Achievements: > Delivered $50M in annual efficiencies (7%) across the portfolio through rigorous category strategy and commercial renegotiation — capital freed for reinvestment into brand growth > Spearheaded 'Project Optimus' — a procurement transformation initiative targeting stakeholder mindset and process change, yielding $4M+ in productivity gains > Led and developed a team of 3, building a high-accountability culture focused on commercial outcomes and continuous improvement

Directs Procurement | Commercial Model Benchmarking | Gross Margin Improvement Member of Unilever's global Contract Manufacturing Centre of Excellence — a specialist function responsible for setting the commercial strategy and cost benchmarking standards for Unilever's global 3P manufacturing network. Key Achievements: > Led global cost benchmarking of contract manufacturers across all major commercial models: Tolling, Turnkey, Open Book, and Closed Book — directly informing gross margin improvement decisions > Drove the strategic shift from Closed to Open Book commercial structures with co-manufacturers globally — improving cost transparency, enabling value engineering, and strengthening long-term partnership accountability > Delivered cash and gross margin improvements by identifying systemic cost inefficiencies in 3P manufacturing partnerships across multiple categories

Malaysia & Singapore | $240M Spend | Contract Manufacturing | Logistics | Direct Materials | Team of 7 Senior procurement leader with full P&L accountability for Malaysia and Singapore, managing a $240M annual spend portfolio across Contract Manufacturing, Logistics, Raw & Packaging Materials (RM/PM), and Indirect categories. Partnered directly with Supply Chain and Business Leadership, and functional leadership teams to deliver sourcing strategies aligned to market growth objectives. Key Achievements: > Architected a strategic supply chain localization with a contract manufacturer — reducing Total Cost of Ownership by 15% and materially improving APAC supply chain resilience and risk posture > Exceeded annual savings targets by 20%+ through value engineering, supplier consolidation, and commercial renegotiation — directly expanding EBITDA margin > Doubled operational cash flow year-on-year by restructuring supplier payment terms across the direct materials, Contract Manufacturing and Logistics supplier base > Implemented supplier performance management through structured Quarterly Business Reviews — driving continuous improvement across quality, cost, and delivery KPIs for manufacturing and logistics partners > Led a $1.5M social sustainability remediation initiative — demonstrating accountability for ethical supply chain governance at a senior level > Developed and led a team of 7 direct reports, promoting two into senior roles and building a talent pipeline that outlasted the tenure

NPI | Capacity Planning | 3P Network | S&OP | APAC > Led cross-functional NPI teams (Marketing, R&D, Finance, Procurement) for Oral Care product launches across APAC — managing the full pipeline from costing and CAPEX planning through to mass production and supply readiness > Owned medium and long-term capacity planning for both internal factories and 3P contract manufacturing networks — using S&OP demand forecasts to ensure supply continuity with minimal CAPEX commitment > Managed 3P supply chain risk across a regional manufacturing network, ensuring business continuity through proactive scenario planning and supplier contingency protocols

Successfully graduated from Unilever's 3-year Graduate Programme, which prepares individuals for business leadership roles through rotations, international stints, training, and development > Completed a 2-year factory rotation deploying Manufacturing Excellence and LEAN principles — achieving measurable improvements in OEE, line balancing, and production cost reduction; this operational grounding informs how I approach supply chain partnerships as a procurement leader > Managed category procurement for Bottles & Closures — led contractual negotiations, supplier compliance reviews, and responsible sourcing audits > Sales: 6 months stint in Philippines - leading sales and distribution of Unilever’s Pureit Water purifiers in Modern trade channel

> Collaborated with cross-functional team to land new innovations with annual Gross Sales Value of 400K Euro > Led gross margin improvement project to optimize existing repacking activities for total savings of 115K Euro a year > End to end Supply Chain representative for Homecare category

• Led Cost deployment exercise and identified 240 Mio THB (6.3 Mio Euro) of Loss in the factory • Led a team of 4 and improved the process at critical production line through continuous improvement projects (Kaizens) – Reduced changeover time by 65% and improved OEE (Overall Equipment Efficiency) by 6% • Designed and implemented a Mix-up prevention system in the Warehouse, improving overall Quality of products from the Factory

• Supplier Management for Australia and Malaysia (11 Suppliers), managing a total spend of 19 Million Euro • Delivered Supply Chain savings of 674K Euro through Supplier consolidation, sourcing shifts and contract negotiations • Led contractual negotiations with key Australian supplier and achieved payment terms extension of 30 days (660K Euro cash benefit) • Business partnering Marketing, R&D, Supply Chain to make sure that our key brand innovations (eg. Sunsilk, Cif, Domestos) can be launched in the regional markets On-Time-in-Full • Drove supplier compliance and ensure they are complying to all local regulations and Unilever requirements, supporting our Unilever Sustainable Living Plan ambition

• Led a team of 4 and headed the Environment Pillar for the Dressings factory's (30,000 tons annual production volume) World Class Manufacturing program • Structured and managed an all-round Environmental program that ensured compliance to local regulations and consistent reduction in Utilities consumption • Rolled out key Utilities reduction initiatives that totaled 11.1 Million Php annual savings opportunity • Conducted detailed root cause analysis of Waste Water Treatment Plant process issue, and proposed engineering solutions that were able to effectively resolve problem, allowing a CAPEX avoidance of 2 Million Php

• Managed sales and distribution of Pureit Water Purifier - a key cog to Unilever's USLP (Water) ambition • Revamped and devised a new non-promoter business model that our retailers were willing to take up, increasing our non-promoter store coverage by 280% in 4 months (from 36 stores in Jan '15 to 101 stores in Apr '15), over-delivering on target • Led the restructuring of Promoter-to-Store allocation system that better matched Promoter's capability to Store's potential, unleashing trapped potential. Individual promoter performance improved 360% after re-allocation • Sharpened monthly Forecast and Target setting accuracy, improving forecast accuracy from 51% to 79%

• Collaborated with cross-functional team to complete a regional (North Asia, South Asia, SEAA) sourcing study and successfully identified 15 Million Euro savings potential from proposed sourcing shifts utilizing spare capacity in competitive sites • Managed Oral Care Resilience project network and ensured on-time delivery - development of backup production capability in alternative site for key Oral Care SKUs (6 Million Euro Annual turnover) • Led a product costing/Benchmarking exercise used for deciding ~4 Million Euro of CAPEX investment

• Facilitated an Enterprise Risk Management exercise and identified the types of risks faced by different departments and established mitigating actions • Performed financial analysis to evaluate credit-worthiness of counterparties wishing to establish an open credit limit with the company • Enhanced existing Business Objects report to significantly reduce the time required by team to create Monthly Operational Risk Dashboard

• Developed a systematic way of flagging out erroneous data, ensuring the integrity of customer records before system migration • Created a product pricing simulator using Microsoft Excel, enabling Relationship Managers to assess the impact of changes in banking regulations to their existing sales models • Worked in a team and successfully completed a project aimed at enhancing human capital strategies targeted at fresh graduates, and presented it to senior management

• Researched on target regions and focus sectors that International Enterprise should explore in its engagement in Africa • Participated in a Lean Six Sigma Quality improvement project aimed at improving efficiency of resource utilization

• Led and intstructed more than 200 junior officer cadets and took charge of their training and discipline • Recommended by Deputy Commander (Air) to extend instructor stint for outstanding performance • Co-ordinated the daily operations in Air Defence battalion as an Assistant Operations Officer, ensuring smooth and timely execution of objectives