About Us
Each with over 20 years ‘blue chip’ purchasing experience in the UK and overseas, we are well-equipped to identify your purchasing needs and provide high-level – but hands-on – professional support to your business
Mike Farnworth
MA (Hons) MSc MCIPS MCMI MIBC Director
After starting his career with Kellogg Company of Great Britain and Shell UK Ltd., Mike held senior procurement positions in Rover Group and, latterly, BMW Group Global purchasing. He was a key player in the BMW Group management team tasked with achieving post-merger synergy and process harmonisation, and led the purchasing operations activity at the Oxford Plant, helping to lay the foundations for the exceptional success of MINI. He is experienced in all aspects of purchasing and procurement activity – commodity buying; cost optimisation; contracting; project management; system & process design and implementation; coaching and mentoring; and supplier improvement – as well as pan-business and cross-cultural change management, leadership, training and strategy activities.
Mike is a graduate of Edinburgh and Warwick Universities, and a Corporate Member of the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply. Now a successful management consultant with experience across sectors and industries, he has been a member of various automotive industry and DTI forums, and is a frequent speaker at conferences on a wide range of automotive and supply management topics.
Clare Farnworth
BSc (Hons) MCIPS
Director
Clare spent more than twenty years in the automotive industry in senior management positions with Rover Group, BMW Group and the Jaguar Land Rover and Aston Martin divisions of Ford’s Premier Automotive Group. Experienced in sourcing, supplier evaluation, supplier management and team leadership, she has particular expertise in managing teams of buyers charged with achieving demanding objectives in quality, cost, delivery and partnership with suppliers of both materials and services.
Her most recent role was to manage the purchasing of new project activity for the Aston Martin DB9 and V8 Vantage. Clare is a graduate of Aston University in Birmingham, holds a Diploma in Technology Management from the University of Warwick, is a Graduate Member of the Chartered Institute of Purchasing & Supply (CIPS) and trained as a Six Sigma Green Belt.
Clare leads Xemptor’s work in the field of ‘Sustainable Procurement’. She has worked with CIPS to create the Level 5 Graduate Diploma qualification and co-authored the course study guide. She has been appointed Lead Assessor for the discipline.
Clare is a Governor of Carnforth High School, and a Trustee of Furniture Matters, an environmental charity in Morecambe.