Dean Bergen oversees an enterprise-wide program that focuses on contingent labor and business consulting, with almost $500 million in annual spend and close to 2,500 contractors at any time. His favorite part about his role as supply chain management category manager is interaction with so many people, from coworkers to customers to suppliers.

He comes from the supplier side of the ecosystem, wetting his feet at Kelly Services after being headhunted from the travel industry. “I’m a terrible recruiter because I like everyone,” he chuckles, “so I built strong recruitment teams instead.” After moving to an outsourcing/consulting group and gaining experience running MSPs, he joined the Enbridge team post-merger.

Bergen loves the challenge of keeping up with a quickly-changing field, especially now in the wake of a global pandemic. “I’m not sure if I want to call Covid-19 a roadblock,” he muses. “It’s more like something blew up the road entirely!” But, although some projects were cancelled, the program is still on pace, thanks to quickly adapting contractors to work remotely where possible. Bergen predicts that this shift will have a permanent impact on the industry; as it is recognized that work can be done anywhere, there will be better access to talent moving forward. “We’ve already been seeing trends towards a freelance market,” he says. “Covid-19 cut five years off that evolution!”