Featured Speakers

Lee Buddress, PhD, C.P.M.

Dr. Buddress is Director of the Supply and Logistics Management Program at Portland State University.  He also teaches in the Master of International Management Program where he is responsible for the four-course Global Supply Management specialization.  In addition, he has over 20 years of industrial experience in purchasing and supply management.  He is a member of ISM and several other supply management professional associations.  He has received teaching awards from the PSU School of Business Administration and School of Engineering as well as awards for outstanding contributions to the purchasing and supply management profession.

Wes Friesen, APP, CMA, CFMA, CCM, CM, CMDSM, EMCM, MQC, ICP, PHR

Wes is the Manager of Revenue Collections & Community Offices for Portland General Electric, a utility with over 800,000 customers and annual revenue of $1.5 billion.  Wes has been at PGE 28 years, and manages several departments: Printing & Automated Mail Services (which prints 35 million pages & mails 12 million customer bills/notices and other company documents annually), Cash Remittance Services (which processes over 5 million customer payments annually), Customer Payment Options (which administers the company’s electronic and  3rd party payment programs) and the Company’s seven Community Offices (which receive walk-in customer payments and provide other customer services).

Wes earned a B.S. in Business Administration from George Fox University, and a MBA from the University of Portland. For the past 24 years Wes has also been an award winning University Instructor, teaching graduate level business courses. He has become a regular speaker at regional Postal Customer Council and MSMA conferences, and national conferences like National Postal Forum, MailCom, CS Week, IPMA, TAWPI and XPLOR.  Wes has had articles published by Mail Magazine, Today journal, Mailing Systems and Technology, Document, and Perspectives.

Marty Gault, CPSM, C.P.M.

Marty Gault, received a B.S., in Business Administration and M.B.A. degrees.  He has worked in the purchasing and supply management discipline since 1992.  He obtained his original Certified Purchasing Manager (C.P.M) certification in 1996 and has recertified in 2001 and 2006.  He received the Certified Public Purchasing Office (CPPO) in 2007 and the Certified Professional Supply Manager (CPSM) credential in 2008.

Marty has presented seminars for the Pacific Northwest Purchasing Conference, ISM Summer Leadership Conference, and an ISM Satellite Seminar.  He has also served as a dinner meeting speaker and pre-dinner speaker for ISM affiliates.  He has taught the C.P.M. Review Courses to help participants to pass the C.P.M. examinations since 2002.  He is currently engaged as a Contract Specialist for Bonneville Power Administration.

Gary Hopper, C.P.M., MBA

Gary has 25+ years of purchasing and contracts related experience.  He has worked in public and private sectors and in the defense environment. Former employers include: Intel Corporation, The Walt Disney Company and University of California, Santa Cruz.  At Intel, Gary was the U.S. Indirect Purchasing Manager in support of 48,000 domestic internal customers at 12 different locations and with annual expenditures of $1B per year.  At Disney, Gary was the Director of Strategic Sourcing and Operational Procurement for the Disneyland Hotels, Theme Parks and Sports Entertainment (i.e. Ducks, Angels, ESPN Zones).  At UC Santa Cruz, Gary was the Director of Purchasing and Business Contracts.  His organization was the first within the UC system to become centralized and focused on cost savings.

Gary earned his B.A. Degree in Economics from San Jose State University in 1981.  He earned an MBA from Golden Gate University in 1989.  He earned his C.P.M. in 1997 and has been a member of the NAPM since 1985.  Throughout his career he has served on various affiliate boards to include Silicon Valley, Sacramento and Oregon.  For NAPM- Oregon, Gary served as President Elect in 1998.