Our senior category manager, Darran Whatley will sadly be leaving us after 16 years to join King's College, London. His final working day will be on March 20.

However, he will be coming back for 5 days, spread throughout April and May to support the completion of the General Lab Equipment tender and TEC agreement. We will all miss him in the office but hope to see him at procurement events.

We have already recruited his replacement, Antonio Ramirez, who joined us on March 9. Antonio has held a number of procurement roles across the BBC, Transport for London (TfL) and more recently, as interim head of procurement at LUPC member, Goldsmiths, University of London. His experience covers tendering, framework management and contract management across a range of categories.

Antonio will be responsible for the STEMed and Laboratory category at LUPC. For further information on Antonio including his full responsibilities and contact details see here.