Programs

Nicholas Lanigan

Vice President, Sourcing & Procurement
Cox Communications

Since 2023, Nicholas Lanigan has led the Sourcing and Procurement goals and strategy for Cox Automotive, Cox Communications and Cox Enterprises. As Vice President, Nicholas is responsible for building and maintaining a world-class supply chain, and delivering on the company’s financial performance, while adhering to the highest level of customer service and compliance.

Nicholas brings a wealth of experience from his previous leadership roles as the Chief Procurement & Supply Chain Officer at Panasonic Avionics, as the Vice President, Global Procurement, Contracts & Compliance at Conduent, a global leader in business process outsourcing solutions, and as the Head of Global Procurement, Pricing and Contracts at Xerox Corporation.

Nicholas holds an MBA and a Juris Doctor from the University of Connecticut and is a member of the Connecticut Bar. He is married with three young boys. In his spare time, he enjoys playing sports with his children, running, and traveling with his family.

Rich Szellan

SVP Procurement and Margin Improvement
Dollar General

Drew H. Misher

Vice President of Procurement
Penn Entertainment

Drew Misher is the Vice President of Procurement for PENN Entertainment, Inc.

Mr. Misher is responsible for PENN’s Procurement Operations including Strategic Sourcing, eProcurement as well as property purchasing and warehouse. Mr. Misher also plays an active role in managing PENN’s Supplier Diversity program.

Prior to joining PENN in 2017, Mr. Misher worked in procurement for 20 years across various industries including pharmaceuticals, banking/finance and the public sector. He has considerable experience in developing national and global procurement organizations and transitioning the function into a high performing value-added operation.

Drew was born and raised outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and received his Bachelor of the Arts in International Relations from The College of William and Mary where he was a member of the Division 1 Varsity Soccer Team. He also received his Master of Business Administration from Temple University. He resides in Villanova, PA with his wife and three children.

Kimberly Proffitt

AVP, Procurement Strategic Sourcing
Nationwide

Kimberly is a professional Procurement and Supplier Relationship Management executive with 20+years of global experience working for Fortune 100 companies like JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, CNA Insurance, Reed Elsevier and currently Nationwide Insurance. Her focus is enabling digital transformation and advancing automation within Procurement, leveraging data to create transparency to better inform our business, designing and implementing Procure2 Pay technologies, establishing third-party risk programs, advancing competitive advantage through strengthened supplier partnerships, while ensuring that diverse suppliers play a role in our supply chain strategy.

Currently, she leads the Nationwide Insurance Procurement Strategic Sourcing organization.However, led the Procurement Shared Services function prior to assuming responsibility for the Sourcing organization.

Sarfraz Nawaz

Vice President, Supply Chain and CPO
RTX

Chief Procurement Officers Forum

Sarfraz Nawaz is Vice President, Supply Chain, for RTX. In this position, Nawaz is responsible for the company’s global supply chain activities across all RTX businesses (Collins Aerospace, Pratt & Whitney and Raytheon), including advancing ongoing Supply Chain transformation efforts, focusing on talent development as well as tools and process improvement. He also leads supply chain activities that drive supplier performance and cost reduction.

Nawaz previously served as Vice President, Global Operations & Systems (GOS) for Collins Aerospace. In his 24-year tenure, he has held various leadership positions within RTX (previously United Technologies Corporation) including, Vice President, Supply Chain for Collins Aerospace, Vice President, Operations, in the Asia Pacific, for UTC Aerospace Systems, Commodity Manager for Carrier, Director, Global Sourcing, for Hamilton Sundstrand and Director, Supply Chain, Global Fire Products for UTC Fire & Security.

Nawaz holds a master’s degree in business administration from Syracuse University and a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Birla Institute of Technology and Science in India.