Current president Jean Clark is retiring after 37 years of service as a champion of procurement innovation and celebrated leader at the state and local government levels
AUSTIN, TX, January 27, 2021 – Periscope Holdings announced today that current NIGP Code and NIGP Consulting* President Jean Clark, FNIGP, CPPO, C.P.M., CPPB, CPM, is retiring at the end of the month and will be succeeded by Marcheta Gillespie, FNIGP, CPPO, NIGP-CPP, C.P.M., CPPB.
Clark has spent the last three decades working to increase operational efficiencies within public procurement and collaborating with both elected and appointed officials at the state and local levels to elevate procurement into a more strategic advisory role. Her influence on policy and prudent counsel to decision makers has been game-changing for the agencies she has served throughout her career, especially in her most recent role with Periscope Holdings managing the NIGP Code and Consulting programs.
“It has been such an honor working with Jean, one of the true icons in our industry, and I am grateful for her leadership over the years,” Gillespie added. “Jean has been a true ambassador for public procurement professionals. She has always driven innovative – yet practical – solutions for public procurement, the suppliers and the communities they serve.”
And though retirement was a hard decision for Clark, both she and Brian Utley, president of Periscope Holdings, are confident that Gillespie is the right person to advance the team’s mission of sustained procurement excellence within states, cities, counties, universities, schools and special districts across North America.
“I have had the extreme privilege of working with so many smart and passionate people throughout my career as a public procurement officer and state procurement director,” boasted Clark. “However, I have never met anyone more committed to eliciting positive change as the Periscope Holdings team. Every single person, including Marcheta, is focused on one purpose: transforming procurement from an administrative function to a celebrated enabler of successful government operations. I’m so grateful that I had the opportunity to contribute to their mission these last 7 years and am pleased that Marcheta was chosen to drive this effort forward.”
“Like Jean, Marcheta has been a trusted advisor to state and local government leaders and a proven change agent in the public sector for over 30 years,” said Utley. “Her counsel has helped many agencies successfully transform their procurement processes, policies and systems. I am confident that she is the right person to strengthen the relationships that Jean helped us build with NIGP and preserve the unparalleled public procurement expertise that our clients rely on to build their own high-performance procurement organizations.”
Gillespie worked in public procurement at the City of Tucson for 26 years, having served as an NIGP consultant since 2009. As a Senior Consultant, Gillespie has played a prominent role in advising dozens of state and local government clients on procurement transformation, including strategy, policy, organizational structure and procedure. In her new role as President of NIGP Code and Consulting Services, Gillespie will continue to guide procurement organizations through focused modernization initiatives.
"I am thrilled to continue serving the public procurement community and the NIGP Code and Consulting Programs in this new role,” says Gillespie. “It is a tremendous opportunity to lead these programs and to continue delivering these vital services to the procurement community. I look forward to working closely with NIGP leadership, the wonderful team at Periscope and, most importantly, the incredible procurement professionals around North America, as we continue to work together to ensure we deliver the highest levels of service to the public."
*Periscope holds the exclusive license from the National Institute of Government Procurement (NIGP) to maintain, enhance, and market the NIGP Code. It also manages all NIGP Consulting services. To learn more about these offerings, visit www.periscopeholdings.com/nigp.
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