Transora, the world’s largest business-to-business transaction site for the global consumer products industry, announced today that its Board of Directors has selected Judith Sprieser, 46, executive vice president of Sara Lee Corporation, to the post of chief executive officer of the company, effective July 17, 2000.
Transora is the first and largest industry-led exchange in the consumer products industry. Comprised of more than 50 of the world’s leading consumer products companies, including Coca-Cola, Kraft, Nestle, Cadbury Schweppes, Procter & Gamble, Heineken, and Unilever, Transora represents a combined purchasing power of $400 billion or more than half of the global consumer products industry. Transora will enable its members across the world to streamline business transactions with their suppliers, buyers and distributors via the Internet.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Transora’s services will span the breadth of the supply chain and include procurement, vendor and product catalogues, online order management, supply chain collaboration and financial services. Moving at “Internet speed,” Transora is already engaged in pilot transactions with a number of companies and market places and will publicly launch its first service offerings – procurement and product catalogue – in the fourth quarter of 2000.
“We are extremely pleased to have an individual with such impeccable credentials as well as nearly 20 years of management experience in the consumer products industry,” said Joe Weller, CEO of Nestle USA, member of Transora exchange. “Judy Sprieser has already achieved outstanding success as chairwoman of the Transora steering committee, and now as head of the company, her skills will continue to prove invaluable in guiding Transora to become the world’s largest consumer products business-to-business online exchange.”
Sprieser has long been viewed as a leader in management strategies. Her experience at
Sara Lee Corporation has provided her with the right mix of opportunities from serving as CEO of the bakery business to most recently being responsible for leading the company’s
e-business initiatives. After a successful run as CFO, Sprieser has spearheaded a number of organization-wide initiatives within Sara Lee including centralizing support services and procurement activities. On the technology front, Sprieser was responsible for accelerating Sara Lee’s Internet activities both on the business-to-business and business-to-consumer fronts. She currently is the CEO of Sara Lee Foods and Sara Lee Foodservice, operations with combined revenues of $8 billion.
“Judy has demonstrated her strong consumer products business management capabilities through her successful 13-year run at Sara Lee,” said Steve Demeritt, Vice Chairman, General Mills, and member of the Transora committee that selected Transora’s CEO. “We found her the best candidate to lead Transora given her aptitude and experience in not only running businesses in our industry, but in driving change through technologies. We have great confidence in Judy’s ability to bring the value-creating capabilities of our consumer products industry into the fast changing business world enabled by the Internet.”
Sprieser’s former positions have placed her in the elite group of women who hold just three percent of the top-ranking corporate positions. Now as CEO of Transora, Sprieser will join an even more prestigious group, being only one in a handful of female chief executive officers of Internet-related companies.
“I appreciate the confidence that the Transora board has placed upon me and am excited to be supporting some of the world’s best known companies in their migration into the e-business world,” Sprieser said. “Transora has the opportunity to revolutionize the consumer products industry. I am looking forward to combining the strengths and knowledge of the old economy with the technology and opportunity of the new economy.”
Sprieser has worked nearly 20 years in the consumer products industry, including her term with Sara Lee Corporation. She joined Sara Lee in 1987, moving through several financial roles before she was promoted to president and chief executive officer of Sara Lee Bakery, a position she held until her appointment as chief financial officer for Sara Lee Corporation in 1994. She was elected executive vice president and a member of the corporation’s board of directors in 1998. Sprieser is currently chief executive officer of the Sara Lee Foods and Foodservice.
Sprieser earned her B.A. and M.B.A. degrees from Northwestern University. She is a member of the board of directors of Allstate Insurance Company, USG Corporation and the Chicago Network, and is a member of the American Institute of CPAs, the Young Presidents Organization, and the Committee of 200. She is also a member of the board of trustees of Northwestern University.
Transora is the world’s largest business-to-business (B2B) transaction site for the global consumer products industry. Comprised of more than 50 of the world’s leading consumer companies, Transora will enable consumer products companies across the world to streamline business transactions with their suppliers, buyers and distributors via the Internet. Transora, whose prefix “trans” means crossing or movement, is used as the root of words such as transact, transform and transcend. “Ora,” derived from Greek origins, means boundary and can also suggest an opening or entrance.
