Kenvue's Alexandra Tarmo on Procurement, AI and Inclusion

Alexandra Tarmo has built her career on a willingness to step into roles outside of her comfort zone and pioneering new spaces such as partnerships, social procurement or digital transformation.

As Vice President of the Procurement Centre of Excellence at Kenvue, she has moved from pioneering social procurement partnerships at Unilever to establishing an entirely new COE function.

Later this year, Alexandra will take part in the Women in Procurement Summit panel at Procurement LIVE. 

This session will celebrate the contributions of women in procurement leadership. Leaders will share insights on career development, fostering inclusive teams and driving innovation while shaping the future of the profession.

Speaking to Procurement Magazine ahead of her appearance at the QEII Centre in London on 8 September, Alexandra shares how she embeds inclusion into everyday team culture across dispersed, diverse teams, why she sees AI as a catalyst for deeper human connection rather than a threat to it and what capabilities will define the next generation of procurement leaders.

To hear from Alexandra and dozens of other incredible speakers, secure your tickets for Procurement & Supply Chain LIVE 2026. 

Looking back at your own career path, from leading social procurement initiatives to building a Centre of Excellence, what is one critical risk you took that made the biggest difference in your growth as a leader?

Stepping out of my comfort zone and accepting new scope and new roles prioritizing learnings and leveraging my previous procurement expertise.

Learning from the best around me internally and externally through my network I’ve kept developing and staying curious to learn.  This is how I‘ve moved from traditional category procurement roles in diverse FMCG companies to leading partnerships and social procurement at Unilever and then to  join Kenvue to set up the Procurement Center Of Excellence team.

How do you move inclusion from a high-level company goal into everyday team culture, especially when leading globally dispersed, diverse teams?

I always quote this one that there is no diversity without inclusion – inclusion is a culture that you live everyday by allowing anyone to be the best version of him/herself everyday at work and to balance both their personal and professional life, a core value for myself too.

It comes with building trust and building flexibility into an agenda – avoiding meetings on uncomfortable time with diverse time zones, enabling teams to work remotely when necessary, setting clear goals and then providing space and empowerment for teams to deliver.

As we adopt powerful tech like AI, you've advocated that the real value comes down to human relationships. How can leaders use digital tools to free up their teams for creative, innovative thinking?

I have embraced AI in both my personal and professional life as it allows me to free up time for more human connections.

I encourage the teams to adopt it and not to be afraid – It is a fantastic technology to amplify our function: we can spend more time connecting with each other, the business and our partners building the critical skills such as critical judgment and empathy.

Allowing teams to test and experiment while providing guardrails and support is key.

For women looking to step into executive procurement roles in the coming years, what key capability should they focus on developing today?

My advice will probably go for both women and men! Embrace digital and AI with no fear but with curiosity – ongoing upskilling is more than ever key not to become obsolete .

The Function will thrive by leveraging AI tools while maturing skills such as curiosity, critical judgment, empathy and creativity. Balance well your time between internal and external focus and be vulnerable to say when you don't have all the answers and/or need help – in an ever changing and disrupted world progress over perfection is key.

Get your tickets for Procurement & Supply Chain LIVE 2026.