Carrie Mathes, Chief Procurement Official for Orange County, Florida was one of eight people we filmed at the GFOA’s annual conference in Chicago between June 28 and July 1. This is the fourth in the series that appears on Thursdays in this space.

In her county (population over 1.5 million), she says, “we're constantly looking at trends, understanding what our peers are implementing in terms of best practices. . We have to continue to evolve as a procurement profession, adding those tools to the toolbox, making sure that we meet and exceed standards, and that we're above any sort of scrutiny when it comes to auditing.”

Mathes focuses on the need to regain the integrity of the profession. “We see articles in the paper all the time about fraud or potential misrepresentation of the expenditure of money,” she says, “and it only takes one of those instances to erode public trust. And for me, my passion is making sure that we are preserving the integrity and upholding the standards that our constituents expect from us. . . “

As she concludes, “That’s difficult sometimes, but we pride ourselves on having good standards, meeting those standards, and exceeding them. Not just implementing best practices but creating best practices that we can share with our peers, that we can make sure that we're above those trends, and (make) sure that we are implementing those things that are going to help better serve our constituents.”