Mallory GraciasCommercial & Procurement

Strategic sourcing · Contract management · Negotiation

Driving commercial value through strategic procurement, supplier partnerships & operational excellence.

I'm a commercial and procurement leader with 30+ years across Shell, its joint ventures and the telecoms sector. I build sourcing strategies, negotiate and manage contracts up to $1.5Bn, and turn third-party spend into measurable savings, in the Netherlands, Kazakhstan, Qatar and beyond.

Portrait of Mallory Gracias
Mallory Gracias · Contracting & Procurement Lead
Based in the Netherlands · Works internationally
$1.5BnGlobal managed network services outsourcing contract managed
$200M+Annual corporate spend and 150+ contracts led at NCOC, Kazakhstan
$14MSaved (52%) on a global mobility tender across 40+ countries
70+Countries in a network services outsourcing implementation

About

An engineer's precision, a negotiator's instinct.

Trained as an electrical engineer at Delft, I moved from IT and technical sales into procurement, and spent 23 years at Shell leading sourcing, category management and contracting across some of its most demanding environments.

My work sits where commercial strategy meets operations. I've led global category strategies for IT and telecoms, managed outsourcing agreements running into billions, and built contracting teams inside joint ventures where government approvals, local capability and strict compliance all matter.

Along the way I've identified multi-million-dollar savings, cut open purchase requisitions by half, trained local staff to own negotiation and contract management, and introduced new tools: contract gaming to stress-test deals before award, and a Generative AI Copilot for joint venture practitioners.

I work best in international settings, with a focus on delivering commercial value that lasts beyond the signature.

Education
MSc Electrical Engineering, Delft University of Technology
Training
Experienced Negotiator Development, Shell / Harvard Business School · NEVI I-Procurement · EIPA European Public Procurement (2026)
Industries
Energy & joint ventures · IT & telecoms · Chemicals
Geographies
Netherlands · Kazakhstan · Qatar · Tunisia (JV)
Systems
SAP Ariba · Emptoris · Copilot & GenAI tools
Languages
English and Dutch (fluent) · French (basic) · Hindi

Core expertise

Areas of practice

Nine disciplines I've used across the full procurement cycle, from strategy and tender through award, contract management and supplier performance.

Strategy

Strategic Procurement & Sourcing

Global and regional sourcing strategies for IT, telecoms, HR, HSSE, finance and facilities.

Contracts

Commercial & Contract Management

From SOW and MSA drafting to claims management and value-leakage control.

Suppliers

Supplier Relationship Management

Service levels, KPIs and supplier HSE assessments that keep partners performing.

Change

Procurement Transformation

E-procurement design, JV performance frameworks and GenAI tools for practitioners.

Value

Cost Optimisation & Value Creation

Spend analysis that finds savings in contract labour, subscriptions and logistics.

Deals

Commercial Negotiations

Shell/Harvard negotiation training applied to global outsourcing, network services and mobility deals.

Control

Risk Management & Governance

Due diligence, governance assurance reviews, trade control and pre-award contract gaming.

Categories

Category Management & Planning

Category strategies aligned to top-quartile performance and long-term business plans.

People

Stakeholder Engagement & Partnerships

Working with business leaders, JV partners and government intermediaries to secure approval.

Results

Value delivered, on the record

Every contract has a schedule of value. This is mine: the engagements, the scale and the outcomes, most recent first.

Schedule A · Commercial outcomes
PeriodEngagementValue

Experience

Three decades, one through-line

From technical sales and IT into procurement leadership: a career built on understanding what is being bought, not just how.

    Value proposition

    What I bring to your organisation

    Five outcomes I've delivered before and can deliver again, each backed by work I've done.

    More efficient procurement

    Leaner processes, cleaner backlogs and teams that own their tools.

    Open purchase requisitions cut by 50% in a Tunisian JV

    Stronger supplier relationships

    Contracts that keep service levels market-competitive as needs change.

    New services negotiated into a $1.5Bn outsourcing contract

    Lower commercial risk

    Problems found before signature, not after.

    Contract gaming pre-award; supplier due diligence for a renewables acquisition

    Optimised expenditure

    Spend reviewed line by line, savings tracked to delivery.

    $7M+ annual cost reductions at NCOC, Kazakhstan

    Sustainable business value

    Local capability that stays when the project ends.

    Negotiation and contract management training for local JV staff

    Practical use of AI

    GenAI applied where it saves practitioners real time.

    Copilot solution built for joint venture practitioners

    Next step

    Let's talk

    Whether you're hiring, recruiting or looking for a commercial partner, here's the quickest route.

    Employers

    Hiring a procurement, contracting or commercial lead? I'm happy to walk you through comparable work.

    Arrange a conversation

    Recruiters

    Representing a senior commercial or category role? My full CV is ready to download.

    Download CV

    Business partners

    Need sourcing strategy, a tender run or a contract reviewed? Let's scope it together.

    Discuss a project

    Contact

    Ready to create commercial value together.

    Based in the Netherlands and open to international work.

    LinkedIn
    LinkedIn profile Add URL
    CV
    Mallory Gracias CV (PDF, Oct 2026)
    Download
    Location
    The Netherlands

    Concept sheet

    Visual identity & site plan

    The direction behind the homepage: palette, type, imagery, navigation and build notes. Deliberately distinct from connectedopsadvisory.com, which uses dark navy, electric blue and gold with a geometric sans.

    Colour palette

    Executive navy#12233D · bands, buttons
    Charcoal ink#1C2128 · body text
    Paper white#F7F8F7 · page
    Ledger teal#0E7470 · accent, figures
    Slate#58636E · secondary text
    Rule grey#D8DDE1 · hairlines

    Typography

    Display
    Bodoni Moda – commercial value
    Headlines only. High-contrast serif reads as boardroom, not start-up.
    Body
    Public Sans – clear, neutral and built for public-sector documents.
    All running text, 16–18px, ~65 characters per line.
    Figures
    $1.5Bn · 52% · 150+ contracts
    IBM Plex Mono for every number and label, so results read like a ledger.

    Navigation & structure

    • Home – headline, portrait, four proof figures
    • About – background, education, industries, languages
    • Expertise – nine areas of practice
    • Results – "Schedule A" savings ledger
    • Experience – career timeline 1995–2026
    • Value – six outcomes with proof
    • Contact – email, LinkedIn, CV download
    • Single page with anchor navigation, sticky header, "Get in touch" always visible

    Photography & imagery

    • Hero portrait: executive portrait in navy suit, modern office setting, 4:5 crop. Navy suit ties directly to the site palette
    • Supporting images: negotiation table, port and container logistics, signed contract close-ups, skyline of The Hague. Licensed stock or same shoot
    • Treatment: natural colour, slightly cool grade, no heavy filters
    • Thin teal offset frame as the recurring photo device

    SEO & performance

    • Title: Mallory Gracias | Procurement & Contracting Lead | Netherlands
    • Keywords: procurement lead, strategic sourcing, contract management, category manager, joint ventures
    • Person schema (JSON-LD), Open Graph image, descriptive alt text
    • Single HTML file, compressed WebP images, two font families: fast on mobile

    Easy to update

    • Results ledger and career timeline are generated from one data list in the page script: add a row, publish
    • Self-hostable on Cloudflare Pages, same as ConnectedOps
    • Light and dark versions built in
    • Still needed: LinkedIn URL, CV PDF, preferred contact phone (if any) Confirm

    Back to the homepage