Chief Procurement Officers Offer Smart Strategies for Tough Times at Fifth Annual CPO Summit

BOSTON, MA--(Marketwire - December 1, 2009) - Chief Procurement Officers and other executives from around the world convened in Boston for the 5th Annual Chief Procurement Officer's Summit last month to discuss the Best-in-Class strategies that will improve performance and drive change in 2010. Hosted by Aberdeen Group, a Harte-Hanks Company (NYSE: HHS), the CPO Summit has become the premier global event for procurement leaders eager to meet, network, and discuss the strategies that can shape and improve procurement operations and increase the strategic value delivered to the larger enterprise.

"The CPO Summit was designed to present ideas and strategies from leading industry executives and analysts that would help procurement leaders develop and implement the strategies needed to transform their departments into Best-in-Class operations," said Andrew Bartolini, Vice President and Group Director, Global Supply Management research, Aberdeen. "We'd like to thank the speakers, sponsors, partners, and attendees who helped us realize this goal and make the 2009 CPO Summit our most successful event yet."

Thought Leadership

A series of executive-level presentations designed around the summit theme of "Smart Strategies for Tough Times" were delivered during the conference by a group of recognized leaders in procurement including:

--  Roy Anderson, Chief Procurement Officer, State Street Bank
--  Marty Annas, Vice President, Equipment Procurement Group, Global
    Purchasing, Xerox
--  John Campi, Former CPO of Chrysler, Home Depot, and DuPont
--  Ron Carcamo, Chief Procurement Officer, Yahoo!
--  Peter Connelly, Chief Procurement Officer, Leggett & Platt
--  David Dawson, Former Director, Supply Chain Strategy, Dell (current
    CEO of AssetNation)
--  BJ DeFelice, Division Global Sourcing Leader, GE Security
--  Wayne Evans, Sr. Vice President, Procurement, DHL
--  Bruce Kilkowski, Vice President, Procurement, JCPenney
--  Shirley Kuhloie, Global Category Leader - Meetings, HP
--  Gus Pagonis, Retired US Army General & World Renowned Supply Chain
    Expert
--  David Parsley, President & CEO, Centralized Supply Chain Services, LLC
--  Lynn Ridzon, Director, Global Strategic Sourcing - Travel, Meetings &
    Events, Amgen
--  Julie Zadow, Sr. Director of Marcom/Events, Aberdeen Group
    

2009 Aberdeen Achievement Awards

During the proceedings, Aberdeen presented five industry achievement awards for excellence in global supply management. The winners were drawn from a research pool of thousands of enterprises who participated in Aberdeen's Global Supply Management research efforts over the past twelve months. The winners are:

   (1) Innovation in Technology Award Winner: Dow Corning

   (2) Executive Stewardship Award Winner: Leggett & Platt

   (3) Process Excellence Award Winner: Merck

   (4) Business Evolution Award Winner: Agilent Technologies

   (5) Performance Excellence Award Winner: Xerox

"Aberdeen is pleased to recognize this year's winners for their outstanding efforts and extraordinary results in supply management," said Andrew Bartolini, Vice President, Global Supply Management research, Aberdeen.

Aberdeen would also like to acknowledge and thank the 2009 CPO Summit sponsors: StarCite, JVKellyGroup, E2open, American Express, Maxvantage, IQNavigator, Genpact, MasterCard, and Dryden.

The post-CPO Summit Webinar will reveal the highlights and key findings delivered at the conference and will be presented LIVE on Tuesday, 1/12/10 at 11 am PST / 2 pm EST. To register for this free webinar, visit https://e-meetings.verizonbusiness.com/emeet/rsvp/index.jsp?Conference_ID=2268271&pas scode=7242913.

The 6th Annual CPO Summit will be held in Boston in November 2010. For more information about attendance and sponsorship opportunities, visit: http://summits.aberdeen.com/index.php/cpo.html.

About Aberdeen Group, a Harte-Hanks Company

Aberdeen provides fact-based research and market intelligence that delivers demonstrable results. Having queried more than 30,000 companies in the past two years, Aberdeen is positioned to educate users to action: driving market awareness, creating demand, enabling sales, and delivering meaningful return-on-investment analysis. As the trusted advisor to the global technology markets, corporations turn to Aberdeen for insights that drive decisions.

As a Harte-Hanks Company, Aberdeen plays a key role of putting content in context for the global direct and targeted marketing company. Aberdeen's analytical and independent view of the "customer optimization" process of Harte-Hanks (Information - Opportunity - Insight - Engagement - Interaction) extends the client value and accentuates the strategic role Harte-Hanks brings to the market. For additional information, visit Aberdeen or call (617) 854-5200, or to learn more about Harte-Hanks, call (800) 456-9748.

© 2009 Aberdeen Group, Inc., a Harte-Hanks Company
451 D Street, Suite 710
Boston, Massachusetts 02210-1928
Telephone: (617) 854-5200
Fax: (617) 723-7897
www.aberdeen.com

Contact Information: Media Contact: Andrew Bartolini, Aberdeen Harte-Hanks (617) 854-5310 andrew.bartolini@aberdeen.com