Charles O. Auslander (1907-1992)

Advancing the Profession/Industry Influence – Challenging the norms, contributing to the thought process, pushing the envelope in terms of moving the profession/industry forward. Examples include serving as a mentor either within his or her individual organization or on a national, regional or local level outside of his or her individual organization; internal inservices for the C-suite on supply management; pioneering new concepts and ideas that may or may not become reality; influencing those up and down the corporate hierarchy on the benefits of and promotion of sound supply management.

• As a Midwestern hospital purchasing director, Charles Auslander was an early advocate of product standardization, due in large part to conservation efforts during World War II, and his efforts expanded on a national scale.
• Auslander developed one of the first group purchasing programs for laboratory products in the late 1960s.

Work Experience – Minimum 10 years of service within the healthcare supply chain (including a hospital or non-acute care facility, manufacturer, distributor, GPO, consulting or service company).

• Auslander served as director of purchasing at Chicago’s Michael Reese Hospital, one of the leading facilities in the Midwest during the war era.
• He joined Joint Purchasing Corp. of the Federation of Jewish Philanthropies of New York as executive director from the late 1940s to the mid 1970s when he retired from the industry. JPC was one of the earliest GPOs in the nation, having been founded in 1922.

Work Performance – Specific accomplishments and achievements in their respective organizations, including expense management measures, committee involvement and management leadership.

• While employed at Michael Reese Hospital in the 1940s, Auslander led a nationwide initiative to standardize stainless steel products, such as catheters and needles, in order to save metal for war-time use.
• Auslander also rallied the industry to find alternative materials to conserve others for war-time needs.

Professional Activities – Minimum 5 years of active association participation (e.g., office holder, committee chair or contributor, organizing and running meetings, mentoring others) on the national, regional and local level; performed a minimum of two speaking engagements (national, regional, local, facility) and published at least twice (including writing an article or being interviewed by the trade media) during career.

• Auslander was particularly skilled in dealing with CEOs, COOs and department managers to obtain buy-in for consolidation of purchasing volumes.
• With his uncompromising ethics, he represented the epitome of group purchasing at the time.