Erik Palkhiwala
Senior Director, Head of Us Procurement @Menarini Stemline
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WORK HISTORY
Senior Director, Head of Us Procurement @Menarini Stemline
New York, NY, US
Recruited to build the Oncology Procurement function centered in US from ground up post-acquisition, reporting to the US CFO & Global Procurement Head, managing all spend across the R&D, Commercial, Manufacturing and G&A functions.Strategic Impact & Value Creation:• Multi-Year Savings Architecture: Delivered $40M+ in validated cost avoidance for 20••••32, exceeding annual targets through application of category management principles.• Commercial Value Multiplier: Restructured Media Agency spend to secure 10% efficiency gains, reinvested to deliver 110% media placement volume—amplifying brand presence with no budget increase.• Clinical Governance: Architected the R&D Oncology Strategic Sourcing Committee, centralizing Phase 1–3 trial decision-making to align global sourcing with \"speed to clinic\" milestones.• Working Capital Optimization: Increased spend on favorable terms (>Net 45) from 41% to 65.5% in 24 months, significantly optimizing free cash flow across the vendor base.Digital Innovation & Operational Execution:• AI-Enabled Sourcing: Pioneering the deployment of Google Gemini AI tools for Market Intelligence & Supplier Discovery, RFX Development, & Comparative Proposal Evaluation to improve sourcing process speed & accuracy.• ERP Transformation: Directed US operational readiness for SAP S/4HANA R2P rollout, leading master data cleansing, change management, & user training to ensure seamless go-live.• High-Stakes Negotiations: Personally led global Phase 1/3 CRO negotiations, securing $30M multi-year cost avoidance. Executed a strategic Pharmacovigilance (PV) vendor switch, yielding $10M (47%) in direct savings.• Competitive Bidding Compliance: Developed a new Procurement SOP with tools / templates / governance to auditably drive process compliance, & minimize value leakage. • Functional Build-Out: Scaled the US Procurement team from 1 to 4 FTEs, establishing a robust sourcing & contracting pipeline across all high-spend functional areas.
EDUCATION
Rutgers University–Newark
MBA, Supply Chain Management
University of Chicago
BA, Philosophy
SKILLS
ABOUT ERIK PALKHIWALA
As a Procurement Executive in the Virtual Biopharma space, I transform procurement into a competitive advantage. My career is defined by building modern, compliant, and efficient ecosystems for both high-growth Biotechs and Big Pharma.Recent Career Highlights:*$40M+ in multi-year cost avoidance & cost reduction savings across Clinical and Commercial categories.* 10% efficiency / 110% volume increase in Media placement through strategic agency restructuring.* Global Resilience: Partnered with CMC and Tech Ops to strategically diversify CMO networks for supply chain risk mitigation.* AI Enthusiast: Utilizing Google Gemini Deep Research, NotebookLM and Agentic Gems to improve speed and accuracy of critical Sourcing process steps such as Market Intelligence & Supplier Discovery, RFX Development, and Comparative Proposal Evaluation.I am passionate about mentoring diverse teams and ensuring Procurement is a trusted advisor to the C-Suite and the Lab alike. Let\'s build the future of Biopharma operations.
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