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Meet the Buyer - Michelle Wood

Blog
Michelle Wood
05 May 2021

Name: Michelle Wood

Position: Category Buyer - Energy

How long have you been working at YPO: Since January 2020

What do you like most about working at YPO?

First and foremost, YPO are an extremely friendly and team focused company which is amazing. They are invested in personal development and also in providing a positive work life balance, gaining confidence and commitment from its employees. YPO are also extremely customer focused and are constantly looking to deliver innovative offerings to the public sector. There is an excellent stakeholder engagement awareness, taking on board what the customer requires and guiding them through the minefield of public procurement. They are always looking to provide a route to market that is cost efficient and is relevant to today’s needs.

What are your main responsibilities?

As a buyer, it is my responsibility to engage with the energy market to provide innovative solutions for energy requirements. This translates into tendering projects in order to enable the customer an easily accessible route to market.

Stakeholder relations are key to this and I look to engage with customers, suppliers, trade associations etc, to ensure we keep up with energy and procurement regulations. Energy focus is always moving so if it be Net Zero targets, carbon reductions or climate emergency we need to be reactive to our customer's needs and provide an excellent array of offerings that support their day to day requirements.

What is the most challenging part of your job?

Energy is a unique category to be working in and it is a complex and constantly moving arena. Most days I learn something new and look at how I can implement that into my working day. Saying that I think the biggest challenge really has been joining the team just before we entered lockdown. Adapting the way we all work and learning about energy remotely has been interesting to say the least.

Describe your role in three words:

Engaging, Interesting, Satisfying

How did you get involved in procurement?

Many years ago (too many to mention) I literally fell into a procurement role after being made redundant and have never managed to escape since. Joking apart I was intrigued by the whole procurement process, and after several years in private procurement I moved into the realms of public procurement and have never looked back since. I spent many years working on behalf of the NHS, and I loved being able to provide compliant routes to market which provided savings for such an institution. Progressing onto working at YPO is the next chapter in that journey and provides new challenges and rewards which I am looking forward to.

What do you like to do in your spare time?

I am an avid gamer with my loyalty very much divided between retro gaming and my PS4. I love travelling and have been lucky enough to go to some amazing places, obviously prior to the pandemic. I was lucky enough to be able to take two years out prior to this role and enjoyed doing some community-based courses, volunteering and of course lots of travelling, when I could. A lot of time is spent looking after the latest addition to the family who is a very active little puppy. I also love camping and socialising which I hope to do more of if and when we are allowed to.

If you’d like to contact Michelle to discuss your energy requirements, please don't hesitate to get in touch.

If you enjoyed this read, you can find out more about our employee’s and how they found themselves at YPO, as well as their job responsibilities and progress throughout the business. Meet the YPO team now!

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Author

Michelle Wood

Category Buyer for Fleet

YPO