About the founder
Ellie Davies
Founder &
Principal Consultant
Procurement expertise for organisations navigating digital transformation, sustainability expectations and increasing governance requirements.
"Good procurement is rarely about price. It is about understanding what an organisation actually needs, cutting through complexity, removing ambiguity, and turning commercial decisions into outcomes that align with business goals, community expectations and long-term value."
Ellie is the Founder of Sustain Procurement, an independent advisory practice based in Melbourne. Her career has moved through logistics, supply chain, contract management and strategic procurement, starting on the commercial floor in transport and logistics, moving into contract management in healthcare, and then leading strategic procurement across the utilities sector and the Victorian public sector.
That experience shapes how she works. Ellie has sat on every side of a procurement conversation, as the supplier trying to win the work, the practitioner running the tender, the manager holding the contract, and the leader answering for the outcome. It is why her advice is practical rather than theoretical, and why she is trusted to walk into complex environments, identify what is creating friction, and establish practical procurement and governance frameworks that people can actually use.
Why Sustain Procurement exists
Sustain Procurement was founded to help organisations access practical procurement expertise that delivers real-world outcomes. After more than two decades working across logistics, healthcare, utilities and government, Ellie saw organisations struggling to balance compliance, commercial performance, sustainability and increasing stakeholder expectations, often without the internal capability to do it all. Sustain Procurement was created to bridge that gap, providing independent advice that is practical, commercially grounded and focused on long-term value.
Clients engage Ellie because she combines more than 25 years of commercial experience with hands-on leadership in procurement, contract management and governance, helping organisations make confident decisions in complex and highly scrutinised environments. Alongside her client work, she has spent more than a decade lecturing in logistics, procurement and supply chain management at a leading Australian university, bringing the same clarity and rigour to executive education that she brings to every engagement.
Ellie writes regularly on the future of procurement, with a particular focus on the practical application of AI, digital transformation, modern slavery reform and ESG. Her published work helps procurement professionals understand emerging trends without losing sight of commercial realities. She stays actively involved in industry forums, working groups and communities of practice to remain across emerging regulation, market trends and leading procurement practice, and translates what she learns into practical guidance for her clients.
Outside of client work, she serves as a Fundraising Committee Member with Mullum Mullum Indigenous Gathering Place, supporting culturally safe spaces for Indigenous communities in Melbourne's east.
Selected engagements
Case
Statewide tender simplification
Reduced a 100-page statewide procurement tender pack into 11 clear, curated and compliant documents. Cut supplier response effort, broadened market participation and lifted competitiveness without weakening rigour.
Case
Social and sustainable procurement uplift
Embedded a social and sustainable procurement framework into a major utility, aligned to state policy and independently benchmarked, with measurable supplier requirements built into evaluation and contract KPIs.
Case
Contract management framework
Designed and rolled out a KPI-driven contract management framework across a multi-million-dollar portfolio, lifting supplier accountability and value realisation over the life of the contracts.
Case
AI and ERP readiness
Advised on ERP consolidation across business units, translating divisional user pain-points into a fit-for-purpose digital procurement roadmap grounded in operating reality.
Case
Governance and probity uplift
Refreshed procurement governance, probity and delegation frameworks so decisions were faster, more defensible and easier for the team to apply day to day.
Case
Capability building and coaching
Delivered procurement training, mentoring and reusable templates that lifted internal capability and confidence long after the engagement ended.
Sustain Procurement operates independently and maintains strict confidentiality and conflict-of-interest management practices across all engagements.
Credentials
Qualifications & professional development.
Education
- Master of Business (Global Logistics & Supply Chain Management)
- Bachelor of Business (Marketing & International Trade)
- Doctoral research coursework focused on benchmarking sustainable procurement practices in public sector reform
Professional development
- PRINCE2 Agile Foundation & Practitioner
- Contract and Commercial Management Practitioner (ACCM), CIPS Australia & New Zealand
- Commercial and Contract Management Masterclass, Cullen Group
- Executive certifications: Writing for Ministers and the Secretary · Manager as Coach · Stakeholder Engagement
How Ellie helps organisations
Practical procurement expertise, without the cost and complexity of a large consulting firm.
What you can engage Ellie for
- Procurement strategy and operating model reviews
- Tender design, sourcing projects and evaluation criteria
- Contract management and governance frameworks
- Sustainable procurement, modern slavery and ESG integration
- Procurement technology, AI and digitisation assessments
- Source-to-Pay and Procure-to-Pay process improvement
- Procurement capability development, training and templates
Who Ellie works with
Ellie typically works with mid-sized Australian organisations that need procurement expertise without a Big 4 price tag, including not-for-profits, aged care and community services providers, utilities, local government, education providers and small government agencies.
She also supports organisations undertaking procurement transformation, such as ERP implementations, procure-to-pay redesign, supplier governance programs and operating model reviews.
Professional ethics
The principles that shape every engagement.
Independence
Advice is provided independently, free from external influence, endorsement or affiliation.
Confidentiality
Client information, documentation and commercial context are held in strict confidence at all times.
Integrity
Honest, evidence-based advice, delivered without fear or favour, and grounded in professional standards.
Conflict-of-interest management
Actual, potential and perceived conflicts are proactively identified, disclosed and managed across every engagement.
Sustainable value creation
Every engagement is designed to deliver enduring commercial, social and environmental value for the organisations we serve.
Working with Ellie
What people ask before we start.
How Ellie engages, how independence and confidentiality are protected, and what to expect from the first conversation.