Eliza Gonzalez

Global Procurement Talent Management Director
Johnson & Johnson

Eliza is currently Procurement Capabilities and Leadership Development Lead at Johnson & Johnson. In this role, Eliza is accountable to drive strategies encompassing functional competency building, functional training programs, and leadership development. Eliza’s career began at Johnson & Johnson in 1986 when she joined as an Assistant Accountant for the then Ortho Pharmaceutical business. Since then, she has held positions of increasing responsibility and spanning a range of cross-functional experiences in: Finance providing support for R&D, Supply Chain/Operations, and Marketing; enterprise-wide Marketing Sourcing as part of the former Corporate Strategic Sourcing organization and leading a team as Sourcing Director for the U.S. Pharmaceutical Procurement Group. Prior to her current role Eliza was Director, North America Consumer Commercial and Business Services Procurement. Eliza has a natural passion for coaching, mentoring, and advocating for talent at all levels within the organization, encouraging a mindset of continuous learning and leading with strengths. Eliza holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Accounting from Rutgers University, and a Master of Business Administration degree from Fairleigh Dickinson University. She is also a certified coach in the Hogan Assessment personality-based assessment inventories. Eliza resides in Kendall Park, New Jersey with her husband Angel and their children Jessica, Victoria, and Luis. In addition to quality family time, Eliza enjoys getting each day started with her morning exercise regimen and vacations at the beach.

Check out the incredible speaker line-up to see who will be joining Eliza.

Download The Latest Agenda

Procurement of the Future: Meeting the Needs of Your Business in 2026

Tuesday, April 10th, 2018

09:15 Career Pathing: What Is It and How Can It Help You Build a More Engaged Team and Attract Talent

Traditionally, people join Procurement for a variety of reasons but many will tell you that they "fell into the profession" from another discipline, rather than specifically targeting it as a career choice. As such, Procurement teams today are often comprised of talent who have had previous careers outside of Procurement, including finance, marketing, operations, and other related supply chain functions. As Procurement capabilities are increasingly seen as critical value drivers within the business, the need to attract talent into Procurement becomes paramount. In this session, we will discuss how "career pathing" can be an important lever in talent development and talent attraction, while offering options for choosing a Procurement career rather than just falling into it!

-Why should you consider integrating "career pathing" into your talent development framework?
-How can career planning guiding principles and tools help your talent?
-What is the role of functional and leadership competencies?
-What is the role of the employee vs. the manager?
-Once implemented, how do you measure success and keep it sustainable?

10:05 Roundtable Discussions:

Be sure to join these interactive roundtable sessions and take a deep dive into the specific areas you came to discuss. Opportunities to sit and learn from life science executives like these do not exist elsewhere. Take control of your own event experience. Don’t be shy! Ask questions (or answer them!) of other conference attendees who are dealing with the same challenges as you.

1. Network with industry peers with very similar challenges, interests and responsibilities

2. Take a deep dive into a niche topic in an intimate and informal setting moderated by a subject matter expert

3. Don’t miss out on the discussions you want to participate in—you’ll get to select a new topic after 35 minutes

Roundtable Discussions:
1. Building a Procurement Function from the Ground Up
Scott McKinney, Associate Director of Procurement, bluebird bio

2. Topic to be Determined
Tarbinlam Lafon, Director – Travel, Card & Meetings Procurement, Merck

3. Approach, Applicability and Importance of Understanding Multi-tier (or sub-tier) Suppliers
Raj Kshatriya, Program Manager -J&J Global Supply Chain, Johnson & Johnson

4. Building Career Ladders to Keep Your Team High Performing and Engaged
Eliza Gonzalez, Director, Global Procurement Talent Management, Johnson & Johnson NEW

5. Best Practices in Category Management
Samuel Friedman, Director, Strategic Procurement Leader, Bristol-Myers Squibb

11:25 Roundtable Discussions:

1. Network with industry peers with very similar challenges, interests and responsibilities

2. Take a deep dive into a niche topic in an intimate and informal setting moderated by a subject matter expert

3. Don’t miss out on the discussions you want to participate in—you’ll get to select a new topic after 35 minutes