Winners 2024

Purchasing 2024

As director of JLR’s procurement excellence hub, Judith Richardson holds a senior role and is responsible for improving the quality of the company’s supply chain relations. She moved to this post, reporting to JLR chief procurement officer Tobias Moch, from her previous position as supply chain transformation director, which involved helping manage the end-to-end supply chain for all commodities needed to build JLR cars. She was promoted to that role in June 2021 after joining JLR in 2018 to become global supply chain director responsible for propulsion systems for electric and electrified cars, later adding combustion engines to that role.

Richardson previously had spent 14 years at Nissan, rising to head of purchasing for Nissan Europe after joining the Japanese firm at its Sunderland plant in 2004. She is also a member of the Automotive Council as one of the voices of the UK car industry helping to balance their needs with those of the UK government. She graduated from the University of Manchester with a BA in geography in 1990.

Purchasing 2024 nominees

Charlotte Benson, Aston Martin

Charlotte Benson is one of two very senior women within purchasing at Aston Martin, reporting into chief procurement officer Giorgio Lasagni. Charlotte focuses on engines, chassis and all parts brought over as part of Aston’s relationship with Mercedes-Benz. She joined Aston as senior purchasing manager in 2021 before being promoted in 2023. Prior to that, Charlotte worked at Nissan, the company she started her career at as a graduate buyer in 2003 in Sunderland. She steadily rose through the ranks of purchasing at the Japanese manufacturer, giving her experience of joint procurement of parts with Renault and Mitsubishi at a global level.

Louise Reynolds, Aston Martin

Louise Reynolds oversees the purchasing of all parts related to electrical, interior of the cars, exteriors and the metal structure, reporting to Aston Martin’s chief procurement officer Giorgio Lasagni. She moved to the position in 2023 having previously worked for JLR as vehicle line director for electrical architecture, driver assistance and propulsion systems. Before that she was global purchasing director for electrical parts, leading a team of 80. She joined JLR in 2013 as purchasing manager sourcing interior parts, moving to the company from construction firm Balfour Beatty, which she’d joined after leaving Tata Steel, her employer for 11 years following her graduation from Durham University in 2000 with a BSc in physics.

Claire Else, JLR

Claire Else won her senior post under the executive director of operations Barbara Bergmeier in 2023 after serving as global purchasing and supplier quality director focusing on electrified drivetrains, a role she moved to in 2021. Before that she led a global team of more than 60 responsible for transforming JLR's supply chain from one focused on internal combustion engines to pure electric, reporting to the global purchasing director. That followed a spell as head of strategy for JLR’s supply chain, starting 2020. Claire has spent much of her career within purchasing for the firm, which she joined in 1988 as a Jaguar trainee.

Carol Jeffrie, Nissan

Carol Jeffrie’s senior role with Nissan is to oversee purchasing of all supplies external to the car itself within the region that includes Europe as well as Africa and the Middle East. She reports directly to Saravanan Meyyappan, head of purchasing for the region. Prior to that, she was responsible for purchasing the same range of services within the UK, a role she started in 2021. That arose after impressing in a position based in Cranfield, Bedfordshire overseeing performance reporting of Nissan Europe’s purchasing team. Her 23 years at Nissan started when she joined the Sunderland plant as a graduate controller in the purchasing team.