Barbara Morton - Director

Barbara Morton has worked in the field of sustainable procurement for over 15 years and has long-established networks of contacts throughout the UK and internationally.

Barbara is presently on secondment to the Procurement and Contracts Division, Defra and was Project Manager to the business-led Sustainable Procurement Task Force chaired by Sir Neville Simms, a leading private sector exponent of sustainability. The National Action Plan Procuring the Future was launched in June 2006 and set out a series of recommendations to Government, aimed at delivering about a step-change in UK public procurement.

Through her contacts with professional bodies and business networks (including Business in the Community, CIPS and IEMA) Barbara established the Strategic Supply Chain Group in 2003 and was its first Project Manager.

During 2003-05, Barbara was seconded from the Institute of Innovation Research, Manchester Business School, University of Manchester, as Programme Manager – Procurement, to DTI / Defra Environmental Innovations Unit. There she was responsible for the forward commitment project, aimed at promoting innovation in the environmental industries though public procurement.

Barbara was a Project Manager and Researcher in sustainable procurement at UMIST/University of Manchester (Manchester Business School) from 1995. She is the founder and co-ordinator of the Sustainable Supply Chain Forum – a network of practitioners in procurement and supply chain management, sustainable development and corporate responsibility.

Barbara has worked with companies in a wide variety of sectors including financial services, facilities management, healthcare products and the water industry, providing guidance on the integration of sustainability criteria into their procurement and supply chain management processes. In the public sector she has worked with the Environment Agency, NHS Purchasing and Supply Agency and many local authorities.

Barbara develops and delivers training in sustainable procurement to the public and private sector on behalf of Business in the Community, the Chartered Institute of Purchasing & Supply and London Remade.

She is the author of articles, book chapters, conference presentations and guidance material on sustainable procurement. Guidance she has delivered includes Environmental Purchasing in Practice – Guidance for Organisations (2002) – Commissioned by the CIPS, IEMA and the NHS Purchasing and Supply Agency.

She chaired the Environment Policy Group of the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply which developed the Institute’s environmental procurement policy.

Barbara’s career began in the National Health Service where she trained and worked in procurement and supply chain management for 10 years. Her career in environmental and sustainable procurement has built on her academic background which includes M.A. (Hons) Geography from University of Aberdeen and a Masters in Civic Design from University of Liverpool.