If you’re not already familiar with the Sourcing Interests Group (SIG), you should be. The organization has spent the last 19 years striving hard to accomplish their mission; to “assist companies in strategy development, the improvement of goods and services sourcing, and the implementation and management of corporate services through outsourcing, offshoring, insourcing and shared services.” SIG’s “explicit no-selling rules” give their events a very collaborative feel, full of best practices and frank discussions.

SIG has grown and changed over the years since it was founded by Barry Weigler, constantly staying ahead of the market and providing the next-practices for the sourcing profession. Longtime sourcing guru Dawn Evans has certainly continued this trend since taking the helm as SIG President and CEO about two years ago.

With the SIG Global Sourcing Summit coming up next week in Savannah (register here), I was thrilled when SIG President & CEO Dawn Evans agreed to take some time for an email interview. The Q&A went as follows:

Q: What is your vision for SIG now that you have taken the helm?

Dawn Evans (DE): “My vision for Sourcing Interests Group is to continually improve and innovate our services so as to remain the premier organization for sourcing/outsourcing best practice for executives.”

Q: What is the theme and highlights of your upcoming conference?

DE: “Global Sourcing, therefore we are looking at the issues facing executives both domestically and abroad. All of our members are global companies, so we are dedicating the Summit to better understanding nearshore, onshore, and offshore economic, political and legal issues that may affect sourcing decisions.

Highlights include over 40 practical breakouts and several thought-provoking general sessions, including a discussion with Ariba’s Chairman and CEO, Robert Calderoni, about today’s age of perpetual volatility and how sourcing organizations can adapt and thrive. We’ll also learn about best-in-class global procurement organizations from Kaiser Permanente’s Chief Procurement Office and Vice President, Dean Edwards. Plus we’ll host an interesting panel debate on cloud computing.”

Q: What other issues and challenges are top of mind for SIG members?

DE: “We are seeing a return to Corporate Social Responsibility on the minds of executives, and a continued focus on governance and how to plan for post-recessionary times. In addition, dealing with the disparate global recovery is of concern. A general session will address this, featuring CB Richard Ellis’ Global Chief Economist Dr. Raymond Torto.”

Q: How do you see the market for strategic sourcing evolving?

DE: “Strategic sourcing is evolving to continually add more spend under management, explore new supply sources and to use strategic sourcing tools and methodologies that assist in many make/buy (buy/outsource) decision making.”

Q: How has business opinions and views of business process outsourcing evolved?

DE: “We are seeing more members looking strategically at all business processes and assessing if they should be inhouse or outsourced. Areas previously untouched, like marketing and legal, are now valid areas to explore, as well as all functional areas.”

TM: Is the approach to procurement outsourcing different than in years past?

DE: “There is momentum growing to outsource transactional procurement and it is clearly an expectation that there are significant cost savings to be had in this arena.”

Q: Look into your crystal ball, what makes SIG and the strategic sourcing executive successful in five years?

DE: “Sourcing Interests Group is continuing to evolve, so in five years I see our organization using more social networking tools to create virtual communities within Sourcing Interests Group. I see us having a larger European/Asia Pacific reach within our membership and eventually having all Fortune 500 companies represented within Sourcing Interests Group. The successful sourcing executive will be someone who is able to merge best practice with localized COE’s globally to ensure transparency of all spend. This executive will have a plan in place for the replacement of their aging workforce and a leadership transition plan in place as well.”

I’ll be attending the SIG Global Sourcing Summit next week. Check back here or follow me on Twitter (@tminahan) for updates.