Procurecon Indirect West 2026
March 09 - 11, 2026
JW Marriott Las Vegas Resort and Spa
DAY 1: Procurement Rising! Delivering Excellence In Unprecedented Times
7:15 am - 8:15 am
Registration And Breakfast (Buy-Side Procurement Practitioner Only)
8:15 am - 8:30 am
Welcome Remarks and Icebreaker
Michael Dunlap -
Senior Program Director,
ProcureCon Indirect West
8:40 am - 9:20 am
Keynote Panel: Keeping Procurement In The Driver’s Seat for 2022 and Beyond – Balancing Digital Transformation, Resiliency, and Inflation To Be Ahead Of The Next Global Disruption
Hiro Notaney -
Chief Marketing Officer,
SirionLabs
Phil Morgan -
Senior Director, Head of Global Strategic Sourcing and Procurement Operations,
Electronic Arts
Angela Zou -
Sr. Director, Indirect Procurement,
Schneider Electric, Inc.
Sy Henderson -
Head of North American and Global Indirect Services Procurement,
Bacardi
With increasing levels of stakeholder demands, technological advances, and drive for additional efficiency, you can’t afford to be behind the curve during the ever-increasing pace of change and disruption affecting the procurement function. To kick things off, we’ll have leading procurement practitioners will provide their vision and action steps to help you on your digital transformation journey. Key discussion points include:
- Which trends are worth the cost and risk? What is the hype vs. reality? Which are gaining traction in 2022?
- Creating a blueprint for digital transformation
- Building a circle of internal influencers to help build the case for digital transformation and other balancing factors
- How emerging tech will change the sourcing teams of tomorrow - and the role of the CPO
Phil Morgan
Senior Director, Head of Global Strategic Sourcing and Procurement OperationsElectronic Arts
9:20 am - 9:30 am
Transit Time
9:30 am - 10:50 am
Deep Dive Workshops: Tackling Top Of Mind Issues In An Ever-Changing World
Attendees will break into these working group sessions, facilitated by area, who will guide the group toward crafting an action plan of five ideas that you can implement immediately to begin getting results once back in the office. The action plans will be available via the event app at the conclusion of Day 1. Each group is limited to 30 participants to ensure practical takeaways. You can select your workshops at the time of conference registration.
Typically (but not exclusively) in manufacturing firms, you might find yourself outmatched in influence by your direct procurement colleagues. How does one take advantage of this opportunity and make a difference in world of indirect procurement?
This workshop will provide you with support of other like-minded individuals and help develop a roadmap for success
Your CFO and executive team is likely inundated with headcount requests across your company – so you better make your requests stand out in order to get results.
This workshop will focus on the preparation, research and delivery required to get the results you need.
We’re all familiar with the seven (or is it eleven) step sourcing process. While good intentioned, are there ways to simplify your procurement processes to make life a bit easier for you and your stakeholders?
This workshop will focus on approaches taken by procurement to simplify its processes and make them more stakeholder friendly.
Let’s face it, at any given point your either in the RFP phase, Blueprinting, Pre-implementation phase, Phase I, II, etc. of an eSourcing system implementation.
Swap stories, techniques, lessons learned in this practitioner-only forum to set yourself up for future success in any eSourcing implementation.
Dale Burkett
Enterprise Sales DirectorMainspring Consulting Group LLC
Given ongoing merger and acquisition activity, it’s a question of when (not if) you’ll encounter a similar circumstance in your own career.
As procurement professionals, what are some best practices to consider when being acquired, meeting your ‘new’ team for the first time, and handling all the underlying contractual changes that go along with a merger/acquisition? Not to mention keeping your team’s morale up during this difficult time?
This workshop is critical for anyone undergoing a merger/acquisition or just wants some insight on what to expect in such a situation.
Sustainable sourcing has taking center stage across so many organizations, and continues to be vital to a company’s overall reputation. This workshop will focus on key success stories and challenges encountered by sourcing professionals in developing supplier diversity and sustainability programs.
Sudy Bharadwaj
Vice President, Strategic Engagements, Intelligent Spend and Business NetworksSAP
10:50 am - 11:10 am
AM Networking Break
11:10 am - 12:00 pm
Mingle Meetups
New CPO? East Coaster? ProcureCon first timer? Check out our new Mingle Meet Ups to connect and make new some new friends you can really relate to.
Have some words of wisdom to share? Or looking for “next steps” guidance? Whichever category you fall into, this meetup will bring together both sides for some meaningful mentorship. (*Attendees will receive mentor/ mentee labels at door.)
Feeling homesick? Come to this meetup to make some east coast (or even hometown) friends – then keep the connection going back home!
For those of you looking for peer-to-peer executive connections with whom to talk about your new position, attend this empowered meetup.
Have some words of wisdom to share? Or looking for “next steps” guidance? Whichever category you fall into, this meetup will bring together both sides for some meaningful mentorship. (*Attendees will receive mentor/ mentee labels at door.)
Have you optimized your procurement processes and looking to take the next leap? This is your place to chat up your likeminded peers to talk about the future of procurement.
If you’re a team of 1-5, regardless of spend, join this meet-up to share ideas and strategies for making it work with minimal resources.
Don’t feel comfortable choosing one of the other 6 meet-ups? Well come here, where anything goes! Perhaps you’ll all figure out what you have in common after 45 minutes of chatting!
12:00 pm - 1:05 pm
Practitioners Only Lunch
1:05 pm - 1:20 pm
Day 1 Afternoon Chairperson Kick Off
Michael Shaw -
Executive Director,
American Council of Sourcing and Procurement Executives (ACSPE)
Michael Shaw
Executive DirectorAmerican Council of Sourcing and Procurement Executives (ACSPE)
1:20 pm - 2:00 pm
Interactive Case Study Impact of AI - Shifting from an Agile to an Intelligent Procurement Organization
Melissa Drew -
Associate Partner,
IBM
• Overview Next Phase of Procurement Evolution - shifting from the Agile to the Intelligent Organization
• Where is AI being used today - software procurement is buying & cognitive technologies in procurement processes
• Culture Shift - What does that mean & Are you ready?
• What questions shoulqd procurement be asking when evaluating AI systems?
2:00 pm - 2:20 pm
Presentation: Overcoming Your CFO’s Skepticism Of Procurement's Impact: Innovative Category Analytics Strategies To Ensure Financial Predictability & Savings Realization
Jake Wojcik -
Executive Vice President,
Insight Sourcing Group and SpendHQ
This session will cover:
- Understanding a CFO’s mindset and aligning procurement to the overall corporate mission
- Identifying the failure points preventing savings from hitting the bottom-line and diminishing P&L impact
- Leveraging category analytics to prevent value erosion to ensure a CFO achieves financial predictability and margin enhancement
- Increase procurement’s yield by leveraging category insights to drive action and capture incremental upside through demand optimization
2:20 pm - 3:00 pm
Interactive Industry Roundtable Discussions
Kate Hall -
Director Strategic Procurement,
Alex Lee
Neil Aronson -
Global Head of Strategic Sourcing, Contingent Labor & Logistics,
Uber
Jake Beakle -
Director, Corporate Services,
Edgewell Personal Care
Adi Talwar -
Sr. Director, Global Indirect Procurement,
LivaNova
Courtney Jones -
Global Head of Procurement,
Fitch Ratings
These interactive industry roundtable sessions take a deep dive into the specific areas you came to talk about. Sit and learn in an intimate format from the speakers who have had an impact on their company and industry. Take control of your own event experience and don’t be shy! Ask questions (or answer them!) alongside other conference attendees who are dealing with the same challenges as you network with industry peers with very similar challenges, interests and responsibilities.
1. Retail Kate Hall, Director Strategic Procurement, Alex Lee
2. Electronics, Hi-Tech and Telecom Neil Aronson, Global Head of Strategic Sourcing, Contingent Labor & Logistics, Uber
3. Consumer Products (including Food & Beverage) Jake Beakle, Director, Corporate Services, Edgewell Personal Care
4. Life Sciences and Health Care Adi Talwar, Sr. Director, Global Indirect Procurement, LivaNova
5. Finance and Insurance Courtney Jones, Global Head of Procurement, Fitch Ratings and Jason Miller, VP, Procurement, Fulton Bank
6. Media and Entertainment
7. Travel, Tourism and Hospitality
Industrial Manufacturing
3:00 pm - 3:50 pm
Grand Opening of the Solutions Zone - Popcorn Shop Afternoon Break
Stop in and enjoy freshly popped popcorn & make connections with some new peers!
TRACK A Technology Enablement and Digital Transformation
3:50 pm - 4:30 pm Panel: Leveraging Emerging Procurement Technologies Felix Meng - Chief Customer Officer, ZIP Cindy Yan - VP, Source to Pay, Vendor Management and Real Estate Strategy, Coinbase Aaron Friedman - Senior Manager - Global Procurement Operations, DoorDash Alexandra Beshara - Vice President, Strategic Sourcing & Procurement, The Carlyle Group Purvee Kondal - Sr. Director, Technology & Engineering Sourcing and Vendor Management Office, Albertson'sWhether your managing your tail spend, spend analysis, or vendor scorecards, there are a plethora of niche providers that can complement your existing procurement technology?
But how do you separate fact from fiction, and ensure you’re setting your team up for success? This panel will talk through innovative ways to assess and incorporate such technology in your own organization.
Purvee Kondal
Sr. Director, Technology & Engineering Sourcing and Vendor Management OfficeAlbertson's
TRACK A Technology Enablement and Digital Transformation
4:30 pm - 4:50 pm Presentation: How Managed Services and AI Can Transform Procurement: A Case Study Greg Francis - Senior Director, Managed Services, CorecentricThe challenges facing today’s Procurement groups are diverse and constantly evolving. Addressing them means taking an approach that combines the best of internal resources, external support, and cutting-edge technology. According to the latest Deloitte CPO Survey, high-performing, agile teams are twice as likely as the rest of the pack to employ hybrid operating models and automation tools. Corcentric’s ongoing engagement with Univar, a leading North American chemical and ingredient distributor, offers a case study in the value of combining people, processes, and tools to provide for Procurement’s digital transformation and make the function a trusted strategic advisor.
Tom Pellescki, Corcentric’s Senior Vice President of Supply Chain and Technology Services, will walk attendees through the engagement to describe how Corcentric and Univar were able to realize the following impressive results:
- $6.5M in realized savings
- $1.2M in identified savings thanks to new Guided Buying Program
- $300M in newly reviewed and managed spend
- 4X ROI improvement
- ~60 new documented processes and workflows
TRACK A Technology Enablement and Digital Transformation
4:50 pm - 5:30 pm Panel: Successfully Implementing Contract Lifecycle Management: Key Attributes To Make Your Initiative A Success Hiro Notaney - Chief Marketing Officer, SirionLabs Linda Chuan - Head of Sourcing & Procurement Ops, Box Amanda Morrison - Director of Sourcing Services, Scanmarket Seth Dunn - Director, Procurement Operations & P2P, Eisai US
TRACK B Change Management Champions: Driving Success In Uncertain Times
3:50 pm - 4:30 pm Workshop: Transformation In Overdrive: Getting Past Roadblocks To Achieve SuccessTRACK B Change Management Champions: Driving Success In Uncertain Times
4:30 pm - 4:50 pm Empowering A More Sustainable And Responsible Purchasing Strategy Stephanie Lang - Director, Commercial Business, Amazon BusinessEven with environmental and sustainability goals in place, many organizations do not have the right sourcing strategies or technology to effectively manage indirect spend and purchase more responsibly. In this session, you will learn how to implement successful programs to easily identify and purchase products with sustainability certifications and track progress with sustainability goals.
TRACK B Change Management Champions: Driving Success In Uncertain Times
4:50 pm - 5:30 pm Panel: Moving Past Interim: Reinvigorating A Mature Supplier Diversity Program Cecil Plummer - President, Western Regional Minority Supplier Development Council Gary Levitan - Global Head of Procurement, WeWork
TRACK C Making It Rain: Uncovering Savings Where You Least Expect It
3:50 pm - 4:30 pm Panel: Finding Unique Ways To Address Your Tail Spend: Tips And Tricks For Success Phil Ideson - Host, Art of Procurement Gaston Alvarado - Sourcing Director, Global Professional Services | LATAM Indirect Sourcing, Lincoln Electric Sy Henderson - Head of North American and Global Indirect Services Procurement, Bacardi David Campbell - CEO and Co-Founder, Tropic Mona Chen - Global Procurement Services Director, Supply Chain, Schneider ElectricAs sourcing professionals it’s easy to set aside tail spend and focus on more (seemingly) strategic initiatives. However this panel of experts will show you how to take the bull by the horns (or tail?) and deliver results in this ever-challenging topic for the procurement community.
Phil Ideson
HostArt of Procurement
Gaston Alvarado
Sourcing Director, Global Professional Services | LATAM Indirect SourcingLincoln Electric
TRACK C Making It Rain: Uncovering Savings Where You Least Expect It
4:30 pm - 4:50 pm Presentation: How Intelligence Helps Create Opportunity Plans Leading To Better Data, Better Decisions, And Better Outcomes Throughout The Buying Journey: A Series Of Case Studies Nina Vellayan - President and CEO, XeevaProcurement and Supply Chain Leaders are concerned with supplier risk, disruption, fraud, and default due to the pandemic and supply chain disruptions and ultimately, how it impacts their brand. Internally however, due to the lack of insight and control over spend, leaders are faced with increased cost from suppliers, tail spend purchases, off-contract purchases and the inability to develop an effective opportunity plan to manage increased operational expense.
Through a series of case studies, Xeeva’s CEO will walk you through how other leaders have overcome these challenges by utilizing intelligence throughout the buying process from data enrichment, category planning, sourcing, supplier discover and awarding to make impactful business decisions that improves the bottom line.
TRACK C Making It Rain: Uncovering Savings Where You Least Expect It
4:50 pm - 5:30 pm Workshop: Negotiation Master Class: Negotiating With SaaS Providers For Success Lisa Loewy - Senior Category Buyer, Corporate Procurement, Discount TireListen to a fresh take on how to tackle those big negotiations with your SaaS providers on your to-do list.
In this informative workshop, learn to think differently, achieve a better outcome, and walk away with new ideas and approaches to add to your toolkit.
Boardroom: Deep Dive Category Workshop (Dynamic Categories)
3:50 pm - 4:30 pm Boardroom: Third Party Logistics Suppliers Scott Demers - Senior Category Manager, Iron Mountain
Boardroom: Deep Dive Category Workshop (Dynamic Categories)
4:50 pm - 5:30 pm Boardroom: Non-Profit Procurement Boardroom Ed Mills - Chief Procurement Officer, University of Colorado Paul Williams - Associate Vice President and Chief Procurement Officer, University of CaliforniaUniversities, charities, and other non-profits face unique challenges when it comes to managing indirect spend within their respective organizations. This interactive boardroom will provide a forum for such leaders to identify their top challenges and collectively address them
Paul Williams
Associate Vice President and Chief Procurement OfficerUniversity of California
Boardroom: Invite-Only PRGX Workshop
4:50 pm - 5:30 pm Invite-Only Workshop: Procurement Savings Best Practice Workshop: Getting Maximum Credit For The Value You Deliver Angie Holsen - Regional Vice President – Commercial Compliance, PRGXHow does your organization’s savings measurement stack up with your peers? Are you truly getting maximum credit for all the value that you deliver? What are others doing to influence the definitions and KPIs that measure success? And how can you ensure that all of the value you negotiated is received?
Join us for an interactive workshop and a chance to network with your peers, be inspired and learn as our experts discuss best-in class approaches around Savings targets.
The workshop will focus on the following:
· How is your performance measured? And how does it stack up to your peers?
· Should your savings definition be altered or expanded?
· How have you/can you influence the savings definitions that are used to measure the value you create for your organization?
· What are the best practices used to capture the full value that the procurement organization brings? How do you ensure that all the value negotiated is received?
5:30 pm - 7:00 pm
ProcureCon 20th Anniversary Emerald Reception In The Solutions Zone
7:00 pm - 7:00 pm
Women In Procurement Dinner
Joanna Martinez -
Founder/CEO,
Supply Chain Advisors LLC
Mary Kristynik -
Senior Vice President,
Akraya
Let’s make a difference together! This energetic session will not only focus on empowering women and underrepresented groups but also celebrate their achievements in the workplace.
***An invitation to RSVP will be sent in mid-January to procurement practitioners registered for the conference. However, if you would like to confirm your spot earlier you may do so by emailing Michael.Dunlap@wbresearch.com after registration.
