Coral Gables Procurement Leader Shares on Successes, Challenges, and Career Tips

Discover procurement insights from Celeste Walker-Harmon, Assistant Finance Director for Procurement/Chief Procurement Officer, in this engaging episode of "The Big Bid Theory" podcast. Host Bill Culhane interviews this accomplished public purchasing leader about her experiences and advice for navigating a government procurement career.Learn some takeaways from NPI 2023 through Walker-Harmon's unique perspective, as an attendee and award winner! She shares what made an impact for her by participating at this major public procurement conference. Also, gain an inside look at the successes and challenges faced by her procurement team in Coral Gables.Walker-Harmon also provides candid career guidance, from tips on advancing in public procurement roles to benefits of serving to help your community. Her inspiring interview includes the advice she wishes she could give her younger self starting out in government purchasing. This is a must-listen for anyone interested in leadership lessons from an influential person in public procurement.Rick Jennings wraps up the episode, with Crazy Bids, by recapping an interesting RFP found in BidPrime’s database: a web-based animal husbandry system requested by Veterans Affairs. Yes, it’s true.All of that and more. A lot more!Our Guest: Celeste Walker-Harmon, MBA, CPPO, CPSMCeleste Walker-Harmon is the Assistant Finance Director for Procurement/Chief ProcurementOfficer for the City of Coral Gables. She has been with the city since 2017 and is responsiblefor managing the day-to-day operations of the Procurement Division. In her role as ChiefProcurement Officer she ensures the citywide compliance of all purchases with the applicablecity, state and federal statutes, laws, ordinances and regulations. Her team facilitates theprocurement of goods, services, equipment and construction projects.Mrs. Walker-Harmon has 25+ years of professional procurement experience in the publicsector. Her experience covers a variety of government/public sector areas that include severalCity and County governments, a public school system and the Department of Transportation inGeorgia.Mrs. Walker-Harmon earned her M.B.A, is a Certified Public Procurement Officer (CPPO), aCertified Professional in Supply Management (CPSM), a certified Procurement Professionalwith NIGP (NIGP-CPP) and is Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt and Green Belt Certified.