HEAF25: Optimizing Procurement

Live Event: 04/24/2025 at 2:00 PM (EDT)

Only available as part of a package

When it comes to improving campus procurement processes and results, data can be your friend. Evaluating patterns and using data is not only informative but also helps create a communication foundation for everyone with purchasing interest and responsibilities. Using a campus case study, this session will cover the approach to optimizing procurement, key discoveries, operating results, cost savings, and how they communicated across campus throughout the process.

CPE Available: 1 Credit in Specialized Knowledge

Each individual must register and attend separately to earn credit.

NACUBO is registered with the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) as a sponsor of continuing professional education on the National Registry of CPE Sponsors. State boards of accountancy have final authority on the acceptance of individual courses for CPE credit. Complaints regarding registered sponsors may be submitted to the National Registry of CPE Sponsors through its website www.nasbaregistry.org

Event Information

Level: Intermediate
Prerequisites: Minimum 1-2 years of experience as a professional in higher education or a related private industry.
Advanced Preparation: None
Delivery Mode: Group internet based
Field of Study: Specialized Knowledge
Length: 60 minutes

Steps to Earn CPE Credit

You can only earn credit for attending the session live. CPE credit cannot be earned for watching the recordings.

To earn CPE credit, you will complete the following tasks under the Content tab, after the session has ended:

Pass the CPE codeword quiz. Write down the codewords posted in the Zoom chat at random times throughout the session and complete the quiz at the end of the session.
Submit the CPE check-out code displayed at the end of the session.
Download your CPE certificate.

You have until 5 pm Eastern Time on Wednesday, May 1 to complete these three steps or report technology issues with this site to online@nacubo.org.

For more detailed instructions, review the CPE Instructions page.

Kelli Perry

Associate Vice President for Finance and Controller

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Kelli Perry joined the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute as the association vice president for finance and controller in September 2010. She serves as a key member of the senior finance team and is responsible for providing overall leadership for accounting services, financial reporting, disbursements, e-business (including travel management), systems, enterprise risk management, and operations. She has served in leadership roles in finance, administration, and student financial services. She brings a wide array of experience to her position, as she has had broader responsibility beyond finance, serving as the architect of a student financial services office, worked closely with information technology to implement a range of technology-based process improvements, supervised a budget office, human resources, and business services. She has also served in an acting vice president’s role, which has allowed her to interact with college leadership and serve on a president’s cabinet. Before focusing her efforts in higher education, she worked as an auditor for KPMG. Perry co-led the reengineering of Rensselaer’s procurement process utilizing e-commerce to improve customer service and achieve cost savings. She was also the lead on the travel management implementation that has significantly increased process efficiency and mitigated risk at Rensselaer. She is currently the chair of the enterprise risk management and student employment initiatives at Rensselaer and works closely with the outsourced internal audit function facilitating the relationship with campus.