Justin Southwell

Justin Southwell is an Executive Advisory Leader at HFS Research, where he leads the integration of the firm’s research and enterprise advisory capabilities into a single, seamless team. He specializes in procurement, global business services (GBS), and enterprise transformation, bringing deep expertise in sourcing and procurement, supply chain, and shared services, with a particular focus on healthcare, life sciences, and logistics industries operating in highly regulated environments.

With more than 20 years of experience across enterprise organizations, Justin has led large scale procurement and GBS transformations, building and scaling global operating models that drive measurable business outcomes. He has overseen more than $1B in spend, delivering cost optimization, strengthening supplier ecosystems, and enhancing operational resilience. In his role at HFS, he is developing the IP, methodologies, and tools that scale the firm’s enterprise advisory practice, bringing a practitioner’s perspective grounded in hands on leadership of sourcing, supply chain, and shared services organizations.

Throughout his career, Justin has translated enterprise priorities into actionable strategies, leading initiatives across category management, supplier governance, and digital enablement, including AI, RPA, and automation. He has partnered closely with executive leadership to modernize operating models, improve service delivery, and enable more agile, data driven decision making. His work is centered on repositioning procurement and GBS as strategic drivers of enterprise value, innovation, and supply continuity.

Justin is particularly focused on the evolving role of procurement and GBS in a digital, AI-driven world. He helps organizations navigate the shift to Services-as-Software™, moving from traditional labor based models toward AI native engagements priced on outcomes, while unlocking new sources of value through intelligent operations, ecosystem thinking, and next generation service delivery models.