Meet The Team: Madeline Pennino
Madeline has joined the EBIT team as our new Procurement Co-ordinator, bringing with her experience across start-up and scale-up businesses, across operations, growth and procurement. Madeline is already an integral part of our team, working with the Procurement Operations and Business Growth teams to improve systems and processes well as getting to understand our many clients and their unique requirements
Bringing a new perspective and energy to the team, Madeline has quickly settled into her new role and is finding time to discover the unique landscape that Dorset has to offer
What does your role encompass?
My role spans projects in operations, growth, and procurement. Sometimes this means my days are spent raising PRs, other times building pitch decks or doing research for client projects.
What do you enjoy most about working at EBIT?
The culture—it’s very hands-on-deck and supportive, producing an unmatched learning environment. I always feel like I am welcome to, and thus, have my hands in a bunch of different buckets, quickly generating insights into each team’s work. The most poignant element of EBIT’s culture, though, is not this ‘all aboard’ mentality, but rather how colleagues skip the part of getting to know you and go right to treating you as a friend. This has meant a great deal after relocating, and I genuinely look forward to spending the day/week with the team.
What’s your professional background?
I have dabbled between consulting and professional events, participating in start-ups in both spaces across all my experiences.
What would your advice be to someone who is considering procurement as a career?
Go for it—no two days are the same because you’re always learning about something new—be it a client, a category, a supplier. It feels in many ways untapped as well; there’s an element of braving a new frontier. Of course, procurement is not ‘new’, but it is certainly overlooked, meaning there is so much room or opportunity to create impact at a firm-level, and even individual-level. In this way, it’s very fulfilling and stimulating work!
What was your first ever job?
Throughout secondary school I worked as a digital photography assistant learning to use desktop publishing and photoshop tools and training under the photographer’s guidance to understand light deflection, posing, and colour and pattern compatibility. Other tasks included running errands or packaging orders. This experience definitely launched my love for design and taught me I will always need a creative outlet, either in or outside of work!
Do you have a favourite book / podcast? Why is it your favourite?
Tough question! I’m split between 1984 and A Thousand Hills to Heaven. My loyalty and love for all things/works George Orwell and deep passion for Rwanda’s prosperity and the proliferation of their tremendous growth story (characterised by forgiveness and grass roots) leaves me at a crossroads. They’re my favourite’s because 1984 serves as a timeless reminder of the human condition and possible extremes—I could not put it down and find myself thinking of that book at least once a week—and A Thousand Hills to Heaven because after living in Rwanda for a summer of work I hold lessons from that country close to my heart and as a sincere inspiration for my approach to life: build from the bottom-up rather than top down and practice grace.
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given?
Everything in moderation—my great grandma’s mantra, words she most definitely lived by! She lived a full life—of exercise, both mental and physical, travel, food & drink, fun and work, and relationship building up until 111. She only passed a couple of years ago and left with her mental faculties and body fully intact. If those words worked for her, they’re certainly good enough for me too!
Do you have any pets?
My family has a dog named Coconut…named after the American girl doll dog…she epitomises ‘House of Girls’…and she’s the favourite daughter, by a long shot.
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