Kinder Morgan Energy
Partners, L.P. (KMP) is a leading pipeline
transportation and energy storage company in
North America. KMP owns an interest in or
operates approximately 28,000 miles of
pipelines and 180 terminals. Its pipelines
transport natural gas, gasoline, crude oil,
CO2
and other products, and its terminals
store petroleum products and chemicals and
handle bulk materials like coal and
petroleum coke. KMP is also the leading
provider of CO
for enhanced oil recovery
projects in North America. One of the
largest publicly traded pipeline limited
partnerships in America, KMP has an
enterprise value of approximately $30
billion. The general partner of KMP is owned
by Kinder Morgan, Inc., a private company.
Kinder Morgan became
interested in the idea of leveraging its
spend when the company’s head of human
resources was at a roundtable with several
HR colleagues in early 2009. The group
decided to complete thorough due diligence
to find a group purchasing organization, and
Corporate United met the criteria.
Lisa Shorb, Vice President
of Procurement and Administration, manages
Kinder Morgan’s relationship with Corporate
United. Responsible for departments from
real estate to contractor safety to
corporate business continuity, Ms. Shorb has
a very broad and deep understanding of
procurement within Kinder Morgan. Says Ms.
Shorb of her company’s engagement with
Corporate United, "The first contract we
executed with Corporate United was for
industrial supplies by Fastenal. We are
currently exploring office products,
commercial moves, household goods management
and asset recovery. All of these types of
agreements ease the load of our line
procurement staff and will potentially
streamline the HR workload around employee
relocations."
Ms. Shorb first came to
Kinder Morgan because of her bachelor and
master’s degrees in geology. The company
quickly recognized her strong
problem-solving skills and moved her through
several different departments at their
benefit. "I have also held various positions
in contract administration, scheduling,
operations and measurement prior to taking
my current position," she explains.
One of Ms. Shorb’s best
experiences as a member was visiting the
Cleveland office of Corporate United to meet
with the operations employees. Lance
Bradford, Director of Purchasing, and Mark
Dreiling, Senior Buyer, accompanied Ms.
Shorb on the trip. "Meeting the people
behind the scenes gave us a solid
understanding of how Corporate United
operates and how we can best work together
to achieve our procurement goals."
When asked what she believes
is the most valuable part of being a
Corporate United member, Ms. Shorb replied
that several things come to mind: financial
cost savings, time savings, achieving more
integrity around the indirect procurement
process, shared resources and networking
opportunities. "Corporate United provides a
great opportunity to leverage spend,
simplify our business and save time and
money."
