Lamar Chesney (Past Speaker)

Lamar Chesney is a respected leader in procurement, finance and business transformations.  He is a seasoned financial,  supply chain, strategy and operations professional with over four decades of diversified business experience as a senior executive in the financial services, manufacturing, audit services, educational, healthcare, transportation, professional services, consumer products and energy industries.  His expertise encompasses numerous functional and diverse business leadership aspects, including (i) strategic and operations planning; (ii) mergers, acquisitions and corporate restructurings; (iii) governance and regulatory oversight; (iv) investor relations and securities reporting; (v) litigation strategies and management; (vi) organizational development and change management; (vii) international operations; (viii) strategic sourcing and procurement; and (ix) supplier relationship management.  He has held a variety of C-Level executive positions during a career that spans eleven companies in nine industries.  His business tenure includes senior positions with well-known entities such as Delta Air Lines, Coca-Cola Enterprises, Marsh & McLennan Companies, SunTrust Banks and The Coca-Cola System.  

Lamar is a dynamic, systemic-minded leader with a strong track record of building highly capable organizations and leading challenging business transformations.  He possesses superior interpersonal skills, the capability of resolving multiple and complex business issues and motivating leaders and staff to peak performance.   He is an individual that is self-motivated, optimizes his own capacity, demonstrates openness and self-confidence, accepts and builds accountability, thinks systemically, activates organizations and brings about positive action in self and others.  

Lamar is a Magna Cum Laude Business Graduate from the University of Tennessee and a Certified Public Accountant by training.   He is an Executive-in-Residence at the Goizueta Graduate Business School at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia and is a Leader-in-Residence at the Crummer Graduate School of Business at Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida.  He is also a member of The Advisory Board for The Center for Leadership Development at the Crummer Graduate School of Business.  He serves as a Board Member for the International Association for Contract and Commercial Management (IACCM) and he is Past President of Georgia Lawyers for the Arts, a nonprofit organization that provides pro bono legal services to artists and inventors.  He has published many articles on leadership, finance and procurement.  He also is a frequent keynote speaker at finance, procurement and other professional conferences. He also assists individuals and organizations in their development endeavors. He conducts Leadership Development classes for aspiring professionals and is a mentor to many. He has been the recipient of several recognitions including most recently the Next Practices Innovator Award from The MPower Group and a Lifetime Achievement Award from Ariba/SAP.