Global FMCG leader
Direct materials & packaging · 7+ years
Embedded programme leadership with a 24-person delivery team: $150M+ annual spend, 10,000+ material codes, 300+ suppliers, 30 countries. 6.36% year-on-year savings against a 4% target.
About
Mark Strange
Procurement & Supply Chain Advisor
Restoring control before drift becomes structural
I have spent much of my career walking into situations where the problem everyone is talking about is not always the problem that actually needs solving. Before I start prescribing answers, I try to understand how the organisation really works.
I pay particular attention to the people doing the work. They often understand the real problem long before it appears in an executive presentation.
That perspective has been shaped by a career spent on more than one side of business: procurement and strategic sourcing, sales, commercial leadership, supply chain, logistics, operations, consulting and general management. I have been a buyer and a seller. I have managed customers and suppliers, built teams and businesses, carried P&L responsibility and led international organisations through complex transformation and performance challenges.
That breadth matters because businesses do not operate in functional boxes. A sourcing decision can become an operations problem. An operations problem can become a customer problem. And sometimes the real issue is not process at all, but trust, ownership, decision-making or people who no longer believe speaking up will make a difference.
I work from the Lake Geneva region, with clients in Switzerland, France, the UK and across Europe.
40+years across buying, selling, running and advising businesses
30countries in a single programme
EN · FRworking across Europe from the Lake Geneva region
Sectors I have worked in
FMCG & consumer goodsPackagingSpeciality chemicalsCommercial vehiclesIndustrial & electrical equipmentTesting, inspection & certificationBeveragesLuxury goodsMedia & consumer electronicsLife sciences
Before prescribing answers
I try to understand how the organisation really works.
- Who speaks?
- Who does not?
- Who owns the decision?
- What are people reluctant to say?
- What do the numbers tell us, and what are they not telling us?
My approach
Simple, in this order, and through to the end.
1
Understand the AS-IS
2
Listen to the people closest to the work
3
Challenge assumptions
4
Understand the commercial and operational consequences
5
Bring the right people together
6
Simplify where possible
7
Make the decision
8
Stay involved long enough to help make the change work
I am not interested in adding complexity to demonstrate expertise, or in delivering a recommendation and disappearing. I prefer to roll up my sleeves and help turn strategy into something that can operate in the real world.
Understand the reality. Make the change work.
Selected engagements
Scale and results from recent and long-term work.
Organisations I have worked with in previous roles include P&G, Unilever / Upfield, Solvay, Volvo Group and SGS. The results below are described by sector rather than by client.
$150M+
annual direct-material spend led for a global FMCG leader, across 30 countries and 300+ suppliers
6.36%
year-on-year savings delivered against a 4% target
€27–34M
potential annual P2P and catalogue leakage identified across 68+ countries
€21M
manufacturing relocation delivered within one year and within budget
Global testing, inspection & certification group
Enterprise P2P & catalogue
Assessment across 68+ countries on one ERP, working with Finance, Procurement, Operations and Shared Services. €27–34M of potential annual leakage turned into governance, decision-rights and implementation priorities.
Global consumer goods group
European packaging · ~4 years
$40M+ packaging portfolio across 30+ countries and 2,000+ material codes. Supplier-hub contracts, packaging development and production continuity, including through a corporate separation.
Speciality chemicals group
Merger integration · indirect spend
Aligned the indirect purchasing strategies of two merging organisations, leveraging the combined spend base while keeping strong governance and total-cost-of-ownership discipline.
Commercial vehicles manufacturer
Indirect procurement · Europe & North America
$25M+ indirect portfolio covering MRO, maintenance, industrial supplies, laboratory and production-support categories.
Swiss industrial manufacturer
Manufacturing relocation · as Chief Commercial Officer
€21M Switzerland-to-Slovakia relocation completed within one year and within budget, plus a €6.5M product-range transition with manufacturing running within six months.
Recommendations
What clients and colleagues say.
“I found Mark to be professional, committed, commercially aware, and constructive in his approach. He was effective in helping to clarify issues, structure discussions, follow up on actions, and maintain focus on tangible business outcomes.”
“Mark showed great leadership and business acumen, understanding our needs and guiding and driving his whole organization through the different gates we set up, totally meeting our requirements.”
“What is really impressive is his great comprehension of real-world commercial issues, and his ability to zoom in on root causes… When people work with Mark, they know where he stands, and can trust his words.”
“Mark performed an opportunity assessment study for [our] supply chain… He demonstrated a solid business and supply chain understanding. Based on his experience he offered some insightful advice.”
“Solving complex issues and with high ethical standards… I have always been impressed with his clear thoughts on supply chain questions and the solutions he has brought internally and externally.”
“Mark never stops thinking nor working to find accurate solutions to solve client requirements… As a manager, Mark is just the manager to have as he helps you to become better.”
Quotations from references and LinkedIn recommendations. Names are withheld; French versions are translations.
Career path
From the buyer's desk to the boardroom, and back to advising both.
- 1983
Buyer to Senior Buyer
Procurement in consumer electronics; professional studies with the Institute of Purchasing & Supply“Procurement is not simply about price. It sits where suppliers, commercial decisions, continuity and performance meet.”
- 1990
Sales & international markets
From buyer to seller: new markets across Europe, including Eastern Europe“I learned to see the same table from both chairs.”
- 1996
Co-founder & Managing Director
Built an international business supplying Europe and North America, with Asian sourcing“Winning the business is only the beginning. The operating model has to deliver what the commercial team promises.”
- 2002
Chief Commercial Officer
Commercial and manufacturing leadership in a Swiss industrial business“A commercial promise is only as good as the operation behind it.”
- 2005
Chief Executive Officer
Whole-enterprise turnaround under market and cash-flow pressure“Know which problems can be fixed operationally and which are being changed structurally by the market.”
- 2009
Management consulting
Supply chain strategy, working capital and change“Step outside, understand the problem quickly and help others see what needs to change.”
- 2012
European General Manager, consulting
Eleven years with a US-headquartered consultancy, leading multi-year programmes inside multinational clients“The hardest business problems rarely belong to one function.”
- 2024
Senior Engagement Manager
Enterprise transformation across Finance, Procurement, Operations and Shared Services“Analysis only creates value when somebody owns the decision and the organisation can execute it.”
- 2026
Founder, DBerry Consulting
Independent executive advisory“Understand the reality. Make the change work.”
Education
- Nottingham Business School, Nottingham Trent University
- Institute of Purchasing & Supply (IPS), professional studies
Languages
- English, native
- French, professional working proficiency
Today, I am especially interested when leadership knows something is not working, but the presenting problem and the real problem may not be the same.
If that sounds familiar, there is probably a useful conversation to be had.
Start the conversationMethodology & intellectual property
Möbius Nexus is the platform behind the approach.
DBerry Consulting™ is the client-facing advisory brand. Möbius Nexus™ is the methodology platform behind the approach and its frameworks.
Like the strip it is named after, the method has one continuous surface: diagnosis, governance and execution are never separate phases.
