state of flux's leadership Team

Board of Directors

Alan Day

Chairman and Founder

Alan Day

Alan is responsible for State of Flux’s major client accounts and developing its business outside of the UK. He has over 20 years' experience in procurement and supply chain best practice. Prior to founding State of Flux in 2004, Alan held roles as Director of Procurement and Supply Chain at Cable & Wireless, and Director of Accenture’s Supply Chain European Centre of Excellence, where his clients included British Airways, Shell, Microsoft, BSkyB and Morgan Stanley. Alan started his supply chain career at Fisher & Paykel, the leading New Zealand-based manufacturer of domestic appliances.

Patrice Day

Chief Operating Officer

Patrice Day

Patrice has over 20 years experience working in marketing and professional services. She is responsible for our marketing and shared services team and for the past 9 years has overseen the editing and production of our global Supplier Management research. Prior to working at State of Flux, Patrice held various roles at KPMG within transaction services, tax and global markets.

 

 

Charles Findlay

Non-Executive Director

Charles Findlay

We are pleased to welcome Charles to our Board. After graduating from Oxford University, Charles spent five years with GEC as an industrial engineer working in various manufacturing industries in Europe and the United States. Following an MBA from London Business School, he joined Andersen Consulting, now Accenture, first in the Strategy practice, then running the UK Supply Chain practice and finally helping set up the Procurement outsourcing business; in all 16 years. For the last few years, he has worked as an independent consultant, an angel investor in early stage technology companies and a founder member of the International Supply Chain Finance community.

Tony Shortt

Non-Executive Director

Tony Shortt

Tony has joined State of Flux in Australia as non-executive director. He has 25 years of business experience and leadership in roles such as franchisor developer, corporate trainer, company director and general manager with responsibility for strategic planning, sales & marketing, finance, operations and HR in companies operating in the Australian & New Zealand telecommunications industry and training industry.

Tony’s previous experiences include working for Brightpoint, Vodafone, Crestcom and his skills span start-up operations through to multi-national corporate operations, entrepreneurial cultures and corporate cultures.

Jonathan Currie

Non-Executive Director

Jonathan Currie

We are pleased to welcome Jonathan Currie to our Board as Non-Executive Director. Jonathan is currently CEO at Qv21 Technologies, serving the US midstream Oil Field Services industry. Prior to Qv21 Technologies, Jonathan co-founded & was CEO of NiSoft, the world's leading provider of Safety Management Software. He led the company's strategic growth as CEO since its formation in 1993. Jonathan successfully sold the NiSoft Group in June 2008. From 2010 through 2014, Jonathan served as CEO of Biznet Solutions in Houston, TX. From a position of insolvency, profound losses, and devoid of strategy, he successfully led the organization through a challenging rescue and turnaround in 2010 & 2011 to achieve revenue growth and the Company’s first ever period of profitability in FY 2013. Following Biznet Solutions, Jonathan spent tenure in 2015 as CEO-in-Residence at Houston Ventures, a venture capital fund with an exclusive focus on midstream & upstream oil & gas technologies.

Jonathan is a past Chairman and Board Director of Momentum, the Northern Irish Software Industry Federation, which represents the interests of several hundred technology companies across Northern Ireland. He also held a variety of positions in accounting, finance and commerce, working in both Belfast and London.

Karen Sutton

Non-Executive Director

Karen Sutton
Karen Sutton is a senior business executive with experience in managing both national and global procurement and supplier risk portfolios ranging between $4.6Bn-$7.5Bn per annum. Over thirty years, Karen’s knowledge has spanned technology and indirect categories of expenditure, insurance claims, banking products and services, third-party risk, and outsourcing industries.
 
Her key focus is on maximising the value within local and international supply chains to deliver increased competitive and financial outcomes for the company whilst meeting ESG commitments and managing residual risk across the supplier lifecycle. She has a proven track record in delivering sustainable and material outcomes as evidenced by the benefits generated whilst working in the government, insurance, and banking industries. With her newly established company, Supply Chain Intelligence, Karen is focused on delivering solutions for organisations with complex supplier and third party risk challenges.

Function Leads

John Newton

Executive Consultant and Head of Training

John Newton
John is Head of Training and Development at State of Flux and is responsible for leading the design, development and delivery of client education. He regularly consults with clients on the soft skills and human performance aspects of supplier relationship management (SRM), category strategy implementation and creating value through collaborative working. John is a training professional with over 20 years' experience in the field of adult learning and organisational development.
 
He holds a Masters degree in education and is a fellow of the Learning and Performance Institute. John has had articles published on training, coaching for sales performance, and learning design and deployment methods, and has presented at many training and HR related conferences throughout Europe. Prior to joining State of Flux, John was the Global Sales Learning Director at NCR Corporation with worldwide responsibility for development of the sales and professional services functions. In this role, he led the training programmes to support the deployment of NCR’s products and solutions.

Jeremias Herner

Head of Marketing

Jeremias Herner
Jeremias is the Head of Marketing at State of Flux, where he leads global marketing and brand strategy efforts. With a keen eye for detail and a deep understanding of client perspectives, Jeremias leads a diverse team spread across the globe. Originally from Germany and now living in Australia, he brings a unique blend of creativity and analytical expertise to the industry. His expertise lies in crafting innovative B2B marketing programs, driven by data insights and supported by an advanced marketing stack.

Deniz Kafali

Global VP of Customer Success

Deniz Kafali
Deniz joined the ranks of our leadership team in March 2023 as Global Vice President of Customer Success.

With an unwavering focus on enhancing customer experiences on a global scale, Deniz is at the helm of Supplierbase's transformative journey, guiding clients to unlock the full potential of their supply chain through adept Supplier relationship management technology adoption.

Deniz brings into State of Flux a wide range of domain knowledge and transformational experience. She started her procurement career in 2004 within the automotive industry as a direct category buyer, moving into global category management services and technology solutions in Ariba. From 2011 to 2017, she extended her focus to deliver technology-led managed services design. In 2018, Deniz moved back to delivery and took on an Account Management role for multiple customers in the Energy sector for Source to Pay services. Since 2022, Deniz has embarked on customer success leadership in technology start-ups to release value for customers and reduce risk in the supply chain through collaborative & data-driven interactions.

Deniz is a Certified Procurement Manager and holds a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering and a Master's degree in Business Administration.

Frank Lai

Head of Asia Pacific

Frank Lai
Frank leads State of Flux’s Asia Pacific practice. He has over 10 years of procurement and supply chain experience, working both directly for large blue-chip organisations and in consulting. Frank has expertise in supplier management, sustainable procurement and risk management and is a chartered member of CIPs. He holds a PhD from the University of Melbourne and delivers lectures in the Faculty of Business and Economics and Melbourne School of Engineering.