UpperEdge Forms Inaugural Advisory Board to Support Next Phase of Growth

Five accomplished executives spanning technology, finance, operations, consulting and transformation will advise the independent IT sourcing firm as it continues to grow and evolve

BOSTON, Sept. 30, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- UpperEdge, an independent IT sourcing and vendor negotiation advisory firm, today announced the formation of its inaugural Advisory Board. The five members are a former biopharma CIO, two former senior leaders from Accenture and EY, a former consumer products President and CFO, and a procurement and supply chain executive. Together they bring decades of experience leading, funding and delivering large-scale technology transformation.

The board's formation comes as large enterprises navigate a rapidly changing technology landscape, including major platform transformations, evolving cloud and AI strategies, and significant changes in how enterprise software and IT services are priced, packaged and contracted. Collectively, the five board members have experienced these decisions from multiple perspectives, including the buyer, the provider, and the business executives responsible for funding and delivering transformation.

The Advisory Board will work with UpperEdge leadership throughout the year on growth strategy, client relationships, new market opportunities and the continued evolution of the firm's offerings. It will support the firm as it expands its advisory services and invests in new, technology-enabled ways to deliver its negotiation expertise to clients.

"UpperEdge has built a strong business, but I believe we have significant opportunity ahead of us," said David Blake, CEO of UpperEdge. "I wanted to surround our leadership team with accomplished people who bring different experiences and perspectives, who understand the executives and organizations we serve, and who are willing to challenge our thinking. Their perspective will help us sharpen our strategy, identify new opportunities, and continue evolving UpperEdge as we enter our next phase of growth, while ultimately helping us deliver even greater value to our clients."

Advisory Board Members

Vince Ambrosino is a consumer products executive with operational, financial and strategic leadership experience at McCain Foods, Suntory and PepsiCo. At McCain Foods, he served as President of the North America Potato Division and Chief Financial Officer for the North America Region, where he helped restore growth and profitability. As Chief Operating Officer of Suntory Holdings in Japan, he led global initiatives to strengthen the company's operating model and expand across Asia. Earlier in his career, he held senior finance and operating roles at PepsiCo in the U.S. and Canada, contributing to turnaround efforts and sustained margin expansion.

David Davidson is an enterprise transformation executive with more than 35 years of experience in corporate strategy, large-scale ERP transformation and cost optimization. As a Senior Managing Director at Accenture, he served on the North America Leadership Team and led the firm's CFO & Enterprise Value Strategy & Consulting practice. Since retiring from Accenture in 2022, he has advised organizations in the music, wealth management and consumer products industries through David A. Davidson Consulting.

Lori Foster is an accomplished business leader and entrepreneur with more than 30 years of experience leading supply chain organizations and business transformations across multiple industries. Throughout her career, she led complex, large-scale global SAP implementations at multinational organizations, driving improvements in processes, technology, operations, and organizational performance. Today, Lori is an entrepreneur and business owner, applying her decades of leadership experience to building her own ventures.

Todd Smith is a former CIO with more than 30 years of experience leading global IT organizations through growth, transformation, and M&A. As Chief Information Officer of Horizon Therapeutics, he built a cloud-first IT organization that supported the company's growth from $300 million to nearly $4 billion in revenue. He previously led Takeda Pharmaceuticals' global SAP Center of Excellence and IT integration efforts and began his career at Accenture. He brings the perspective of the enterprise technology leaders UpperEdge advises.

Michael Yadgar is a technology executive and transformation strategist with more than 30 years of experience helping organizations navigate growth and large-scale change. A former partner at Accenture and EY, he built and led global SAP and technology businesses, including growing EY's SAP practice to $2 billion in revenue. He advises C-suite executives and boards on complex transformation and operational challenges across a wide variety of industries.

The Advisory Board marks the latest step in UpperEdge's evolution as it expands its advisory services, invests in technology-enabled offerings and continues helping the world's largest enterprises get the most value from their technology investments.

About UpperEdge

UpperEdge is an independent IT sourcing and vendor negotiation advisory firm serving Fortune 500 and Global 2000 companies. UpperEdge helps enterprises plan, negotiate and manage their most significant technology investments across enterprise software, cloud, AI and IT services. Because it has no vendor affiliations, UpperEdge represents only its clients' interests. Learn more about the Advisory Board at https://upperedge.com/who-we-are/our-team/advisory-board/.

Media Contact:
Alyssa Meyer
UpperEdge
(810) 569-2605
[email protected]

SOURCE UpperEdge