ABOUT THE PRINCIPAL

From the chair, not the sidelines.

Gary Godbee is the founder and managing director of Black Lion Consulting. He has run procurement and supply chain functions in the Fortune 50, through a structured Chapter 11, through a SPAC conversion, and through M&A integration on three continents.

How Black Lion Consulting was built

Most fractional consulting firms are built around a deck. Black Lion is built around the chair.

I spent twenty years in operating seats, at Visa, Core Scientific, Mood Media, Netspend, Dell, and Iron Mountain, running the same procurement and supply chain functions that growth-stage technology companies now need but cannot yet justify hiring full-time. I led procurement through a complex restructuring. I integrated an international acquisition while the parent company was still working out its public-company readiness. I built Source-to-Pay flows from scratch on Oracle, NetSuite, and SAP Ariba.

What I noticed across those engagements is that the lower-middle market, the band between $25M and $250M in revenue, is the exact stage where a real procurement function pays for itself ten times over, and also the stage where no one has installed one yet. The founder is still approving every purchase order. The CFO is wearing the procurement hat as a fourth job. The PE sponsor sees value-creation initiatives in the plan that nobody on the operating team has time to execute.

I built Black Lion Consulting to install that function, fast, time-boxed, and aligned to hard-dollar outcomes, and to hand it off to a permanent hire when the moment is right. A fractional engagement that overstays its welcome is a failed engagement. The exit is part of the design.

$400M+

Savings delivered

$750M+

Spend under management

30%+

DPO improvement

40%

YoY supplier performance lift

$400M+

Supply chain savings delivered

$750M+

Spend under management

30%+

DPO improvement during Ch. 11

40%

YoY supplier performance lift

Mission

To install the procurement and supply chain function that growth-stage technology companies need but cannot yet justify hiring, fast, time-boxed, and aligned to hard-dollar outcomes, so that founders, CFOs, and PE sponsors can resume building the business and a permanent leader can take the seat when the moment is right.

Vision

To set the standard for fractional operating leadership in the lower-middle market: a category where every growth-stage company can access the same caliber of procurement and supply chain talent that the Fortune 500 takes for granted, on commercial terms that match the moment. Success is measured not in retainers booked, but in the permanent leaders the firm hands the seat off to and the durable savings it leaves behind.

Five principles I operate by

How I Work

Operator first.

I sit in the operating chair, not on the sidelines. The output is not a deck, a recommendation, or a roadmap. It is a function that works. I run negotiations, sign contracts, set policy, and own the result.

Hard dollars only.

Savings are validated against the prior-period baseline and defensible to the CFO and the board. No soft savings, no cost-avoidance arithmetic, no synergy theater. If it cannot be reconciled to the general ledger, it does not count.

Time-boxed by design.

Every engagement has a defined end. I am effective by week one, deliver material savings inside 90 days, and exit when a permanent hire is in place, typically inside 6–12 months.

Aligned incentives.

Compensation is a monthly retainer plus a savings share. The savings share keeps the firm honest about what is real versus what is performative. I get paid more when the client does.

Discipline before flash.

West Point and the Army taught a standard of preparation, accountability, and economy of effort that translates directly to working capital, supplier governance, and ERP discipline. Authority is earned through reps, not borrowed credentials.

BIO

Gary Godbee

Managing Director

Gary Godbee is the founder and managing director of Black Lion Consulting. He has spent more than two decades in global procurement and supply chain operating roles at Visa, Core Scientific, Mood Media, Netspend, Dell Technologies, and Iron Mountain, delivering $400M+ in validated savings and managing $750M+ in spend across those engagements.

At Visa, he led Global Technology Sourcing for Corporate Applications, ran the Pismo sourcing team post-acquisition integration, and operationalized AI and cloud category strategy during the most volatile pricing window in enterprise software history.

At Core Scientific, as VP of Global Supply Chain he stood up the global supply chain function during the company’s SPAC conversion, delivered a $40M+ Middle East immersion cooling project on time and 20%+ under budget, and led procurement-side restructuring, installing SOX controls and rebuilding NetSuite-based Procure-to-Pay end-to-end.

At Mood Media, as VP of Global Sourcing & Procurement, he delivered $20M+ in SG&A reductions, improved DPO by 30%+ through partnered supplier negotiations, and lifted YoY supplier performance by 40%.

At Dell Technologies, he owned Global Services NPI sourcing strategy and led a multi-year, structured services-COGS reduction program that delivered $423M tied directly to enterprise margin targets.

At Iron Mountain, as Senior Consultant for Supply Chain Engineering, he led a multi-year OPEX reduction program across 18 North American metro markets, delivering $12.6M in validated OPEX reduction with measurable transportation-margin accretion and a documented operating-model handoff to the permanent regional teams.