Jim Butler has been the Chief Procurement Officer for the State of California since May 2008. He is responsible for managing and leading the Department of General Services, Procurement Division, California’s central acquisition business agent, serving an integral role in enabling state departments to carry out their missions. Jim came to the position with 15 years experience leading procurement, systems, and business development teams through the process of growth and change.

Jim was Director of Procurement Services at Levi Strauss & Co. from 2002 until 2007 reengineering legacy purchasing functions, implementing strategic sourcing, and deploying eProcurement tools across a wide variety of categories. From 1996 until 2001, he held a variety of senior management positions with Dell Computer Corporation in procurement, ERP systems, and business development. From 1993 until 1996, he led Asia business development efforts for a portfolio of venture backed clients at Asia Pacific Ventures, a venture capital company in Menlo Park, California.

Jim is a member of the Institute for Supply Management’s Certification Committee and holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Japanese and a Masters of Business Administration, both from Brigham Young University.