Eric Cohan

Eric Cohan

CPO

Eric Cohan, CPO of HCL Technologies, discusses his journey from IT engineer to procurement superstardom...

With 29 years of experience in the technology and supply chain, dating back to 1991, Eric Cohan is a stalwart on the procurement scene. Cohan joined HCL Technologies in 2015, as the company’s very first Chief Procurement Officer (CPO) ─ a role that, had you known Eric at the start of his career, you might not have expected him to end up in. “My story makes sense once it’s explained, but when you look at the two endpoints, without context, it really doesn’t make sense. I started as an Operations Research Engineer while in college, around the late eighties, when supply chain optimisation and logistics started to become the hot topic.” 

My first job was with Accenture ─ Andersen Consulting at the time ─ the big multinational company. I started out as a programmer in logistics systems, working for a major delivery transportation company, and then that evolved to working for an internal optimisation team. Gradually, that role transitioned into the supply chain optimisation team ─ so slowly, I crept my way into supply chain process work. After nine years, I went to Dell Technologies, where I did the same kind of thing that I was doing at Accenture, and I was tasked with implementing new supply chain systems.” 

Eventually, at Dell, Cohan was promoted to Director of IT and had a plethora of supply chain systems at his fingertips. He was the ventriloquist of the show. And, “halfway through my career at Dell, we had a turnover at the CIO level, and one weekend the C-Suite asked me if I could take on the IT contracts ─ because the former CIO had handled them himself, and once he left, nobody had a clue what was going on. So I started focusing on that, and by the mid-00s, the role had evolved; I had transitioned into IT procurement.” 

While it wasn’t intentional, it was actually a great change, because “I was able to add some unique value there, given that I was an IT person now doing IT procurement, not a procurement person now doing IT procurement.” Given that there’s an art to procurement and it’s all about negotiating the best deal for your own party, Eric’s prior knowledge of IT allowed him to “call out any falsities on what [opposition negotiators] were saying, and I was able to shortcut some things and didn’t have to go and ask IT departments for direction because I already knew what was needed.”

The trailblazing IT procurement guru then left Dell behind after ten years and returned to his roots at Accenture in a variety of procurement roles, culminating as a “sort of deputy CPO. I wasn’t the head guy, but I worked across all the categories and processes. And then I got my opportunity to work here at HCL, where I get to be the guy in the front of the plane. So when you say ‘I was an Operational Research Engineer, then a Chief Procurement Officer’ it makes absolutely no sense, but each step along the way, sort of as an adjacency step, made complete sense.” 

With an unusual path into his role as CPO and HCL, Eric also had an unexpected impact across the company as a whole; not only does he deal with the procurement side of things, he is also known as a champion of employee benefits ─ as the chairman of the 401k Investment Committee as well as the only procurement guy who dares to set foot in HR-related, benefit events ─ and a true leader in the field, who rolls his sleeves up and mucks in with the rest of the team at any hour. He believes in being agile and responsive, engaging with everyone who needs him, and he’s always ready to go above and beyond expectations to ensure customer and employee satisfaction. 

To the industry-leading CPO, there’s still plenty more to do with HCL Technologies and, when commended on his achievements, Eric’s humble side ─ lacking from most C-Suite executives ─ shone through, with a simple yet impactful: “The book still isn’t closed.” 

Read the full story: HERE 

Share

Featured Interviews

Featured

Antonio Pietri

CEO of Aspen Technology

Antonio Pietri, President and CEO of AspenTech, outlines his leadership principles and explains the growing importance of carbon capture

Read More

Nate Clarke

President and CEO, GoTyme Bank and Co-Founder at Tyme Group

President and CEO Nate Clarke and co-CEO and Chief Commercial Officer Albert Tinio explain how GoTyme Bank is bringing digital banking to the Philippines

Read More
“It's very different recruiting people for something you're building from scratch, compared to recruiting for something that is already running.”
Nate Clarke
President and CEO, GoTyme Bank and Co-Founder at Tyme Group

Niranjan Ramsunder

Chief Technology Officer, UST

UST Chief Technology Officer Niranjan Ramsunder explains how the billion-dollar company delivers innovative digital transformations for clients

Read More

George Whyte

Managing Director, Australia Pacific and Global Mining Sector Leader at Aggreko

Rod Saffy and George Whyte are passionate advocates of inclusivity and believe in close communication with their regional customers

Read More

Douglas Benalan

CIO

Doug Benalan loves his work as a transformational CIO, one whose personal mantra is “perfection through continuous improvement.”

Read More

Antonio Pietri

CEO of Aspen Technology

Antonio Pietri, President and CEO of AspenTech, outlines his leadership principles and explains the growing importance of carbon capture

Read More