Victoria Read has made a big impact at bp, the global oil, gas and energy company. With 14 years’ experience in contingent labor, Read has played a key role in overseeing bp’s internally built contingent workforce program, which currently has a presence in 10 countries — all while taking a couple of months off to welcome her first baby.

Last year, Read conducted an audit that identified opportunities to convert active spend where the program is enabled but not fully utilized, resulting in a cost savings of more than 10%. The review also identified new countries for expansion and in January, she launched plans to expand her program to seven additional countries in the next two years.

“They’re all in flight and moving at pace to get the whole program set up,” she explains. “But there are a lot of local nuances — tax, invoicing, legal, etc. — so there’s a lot that you have to wrap around because it all has to be tailor-made.”

Read is driven by the human element in her work and proud of the impact it makes. For example, she recently played a pivotal role in implementing a direct-source and payrolling partner in North America that is a women-owned, diverse supplier.

“I know that this initiative is going to contribute to our ambitions to achieve $1 billion in diverse spend with suppliers by 2025,” she says. “And that’s my legacy. That’s going to be carried on and that relationship continued for years to come.