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Event Agenda

Day 1

Day 1

  • 8:00 AM

Arrival, Check-in & Networking

Day 1

  • 9:00 AM

Welcome to the Wolf Pack Summit!

  • Main stage

  • Why are we here? Quick insights into the event format, highlights and objectives to ensure you get the most out of the next two days

  • Introduction to Buzzword Bingo & win a prize!

Paul Nilsen, Pack Leader & Director of Procurement, Douglas Elliman Real Estate

Day 1

  • 9:10 AM

Common Pain Points for Small Team Procurement Leads

  • Main stage

  • Peer insights on how to navigate the hurdles of being a CPO, without the title

  • Dealing with internal resistance and influencing key stakeholders

  • How to expand your strategic role internally

  • Getting traction internally & cementing procurement as fundamental to the business

  • Driving initiatives in resource-constrained teams

  • Automation / tech which is proving a clear winner!

Host: Lihi Lutan, Co-Founder & CEO, Opstream
Procurement Manager, Pushpay
Pieter-Jan Cuvelier, Procurement Director, Lighthouse
Chiharu Romano, Director of Strategic Sourcing, Vendor Management & Supplier Diversity, Endeavor

Day 1

  • 9:55 AM

Is There a Better Way to Collaborate with Procurement?

  • Main stage

  • Addressing Lone Wolves’ ability to influence internal and external customers

  • If this is a struggle at your organization – here are some news ways of thinking.

  • Join this session to hear how to foster collaboration with procurement, streamline vendor risk management, improve the internal and supplier experience, and make sure the business knows that procurement is its new best friend! 

Ryan Bradford, Head of Procurement, Former The New York Times
Ryan led sourcing & procurement at The New York Times, and accomplished great things, the benefits of which will be felt at NYT for years to come – and he’s going to give us some tips and tricks as to how he did it!

Day 1

  • 10:30 AM

Coffee & Demo Hubs & Challenge Board

  • Demo area

The Demo Hubs initiative was inspired by you! Hubs enable you to gather in packs and evaluate our vendors’ products and services – with live group demos, offering a unique opportunity to benchmark, critique and compare how peers might leverage the tech/product within their organizations.

Join Lumience, Airbase, Vertice, Levelpath

PLUS:

Challenge Board. This is your chance to post your challenge (or solution), and be peer matched with like-minded folks who share the same challenge internally, and want to brainstorm ideas!

Day 1

  • 11:30 AM

Supercharging Procurement: Leveraging Data to Unlocking both Actual & Perceived Value

  • Main stage

Procurement’s PR problem isn’t just about what it delivers—it’s also about how its value is perceived. As the function continues to evolve, outdated perceptions limit its potential. The key to transforming procurement isn’t just doing more, it’s being doing things differently and more efficiently. In this session, discover how leveraging spend intelligence, supplier benchmarking, and data can transform procurement into a proactive value driver, and into a function that is more broadly respected and embraced.

Michael Shields, Chief Procurement Officer, Tropic

Day 1

  • 12:05 - 12:50 PM

Roundtables #1

  • The foundational elements of a successful category management strategy, including your C-suite pitch 

  • How to prioritize categories based on business impact and risk

  • Tech opportunities—exploring software solutions to streamline workflows, enhance visibility, and enable smarter decision-making

Host: Stephanie Buntine, Senior Manager, Category Management – Facilities, Capital & MRO, Bausch + Lomb (12.05)

Host: Jonathan Townsley, Director Global Procurement, First Advantage (2.45)

  • Share success stories in building a partnership with marketing and how others are successfully demonstrating ROI to this priority category

Host: Christine Moore, Founder, RAUS Global

Host: Michelle Cleary, Marketing Procurement Senior Category Manager, Anywhere

  • Are you confident you are getting the best value from your suppliers, while building long-term strategic partnerships? 

  • Hear from peers on their ‘good and bad’ vendor negotiations and gain insights on ensuring you are securing the most competitive terms while fostering strong and collaborative relationships

Host: David McCarty, President & CEO, CRA

Host: Mor Cohen-Tal, Co-Founder & CTO, Opstream

  • Building an effective and well-defined plan which works for your business

  • What’s your strategy for turning insights into action?

  • Why build when you can buy?

  • Reliable data collection and integration, and visibility of your spend across categories

  • Outcomes for greater supplier negotiation power, risk mitigation and cost-saving measures

  • Strategies for growth, training and coaching

  • Share insight on challenging and growing your team from hiring your first recruit to how to scale

  • What skillsets do you bring in, how do you mold those already in situ from transactional to strategic, creating pathways and opportunities for development

Host: Danielle Salyers, 2nd VP Strategic Sourcing, Allied Solutions

Host: Ed Petrush, Sr Director, Global Procurement, Dynatrace

Host: Rose Punkunus, CEO & Founder, Sudozi

Host: James Meads, Founder, Procurement Software & Digital Procurement Advisor

Day 1

  • 12:50 PM

Lunch

Day 1

  • 1:45 PM

How to do More with Nothing! The Roadmap to a Lean Procurement Organization

  • Main stage

  • Strategies for building and managing a lean procurement function that drives maximum impact with limited resources

  • Automation and 3rd parties – which route do you go down and how do you find the right support for your organization? When at capacity do you hire or outsource? When do you lean on a reseller?

  • How to prioritize projects

  • How can you streamline processes, reduce inefficiencies, and optimize your team’s productivity without sacrificing quality or strategic outcomes?

Host: Zip representative
Alex Singer, Sr Director, Procurement, Greystone
Brajan Gatys, Manager Procurement, Personio
Freya Hurwitz, Director of Procurement, Tripadvisor

Day 1

  • 2:30 - 3:15 PM

Roundtables #2

Day 1

  • 3:20 PM

Demo Hubs

  • Demo area
  • Gather round the Demo Hub area with your peers, and benchmark a leading solution.
    Join Agiloft, Tropic, Opstream, Varisource

Day 1

  • 3:20 PM

Therapy Bar is open!

  • + Challenge Board. Take 2 on the Challenge Board and use this time to network with peers.

Day 1

  • 4:25 PM

Embracing the Chaos: Rapid Adoption is Here​

  • Main stage

In an era of unprecedented technological change and market volatility, this workshop addresses the critical need for agile organizational transformation. Tailored for visionary, forward-thinking leaders, the training explores Rapid Adoption Enablement as a strategic approach to navigating digital transformation, enhancing market responsiveness, and driving competitive innovation.
Key Concepts:
• Comparing traditional change models (ADKAR & Kotter) with the RAE framework
• Strategic methods for adapting to technological and market shifts
• Fast-tracking innovation and driving digital transformation
• Cultivating resilient and agile organizational cultures

Amanda Prochaska, Chief Wonder Officer, Wonder Services

Day 1

  • 5:10 PM

Close of Day One

Day 1

  • 5:15 PM

Let’s Party!

The Wolves are heading to SPIN for a session of ping pong, shuffleboard, darts, drinks & food!

Day 2

Day 2

  • 8:00 AM

Arrival, Breakfast & Networking

Day 2

  • 9:00 AM

Let's Talk About the Realities of AI!

  • Main stage

  • Where are you using AI successfully?

  • What readily available tools are out there?

  • How can we best incorporate AI into our everyday life, in what processes?

  • How we can get buy-in and help stakeholders impactfully deploy AI across the business

Rob Nichol, Sr Manager, Procurement, Automation Anywhere
Ruth Hicks, Head of Procurement, Sword Health
Byron Revels, Founder, Abra

Day 2

  • 9:30 AM

The Agile Wolf: Building a Flexible & Scalable Procurement Technology Ecosystem

  • Main stage
  • Optimizing your tech stack – a proven methodology to identify gaps, remove inefficiencies, and enhance your operational framework
  • Smart tech evaluations – how to evaluate procurement technology based on features, benefits, and real-world use cases
  • Maximizing impact for lean teams – the procurement technologies that deliver the biggest ROI and how to use them effectively
  • The role of AI in procurement – where artificial intelligence fits into the procurement landscape today—and what’s next

  • How can you streamline processes, reduce inefficiencies, and optimize your team’s productivity without sacrificing quality or strategic outcomes?

Host: Michael Keller, Director of Procurement, Vertice
Garner Blume, Sr Manager, Lattice
Richard Hesse, Manager of Technology Sourcing and Procurement, Inspire Brands

Day 2

  • 10:00 - 10:45 AM

Roundtables #3

Hear what peers are doing in this space to better serve key stakeholders, build and maintain close relationships and truly deliver for the business. How are you showing tangible value and ROI, how can you create a cycle where you have more impact earlier in the process. Sharing strategies on successful cross-functional intelligence projects

What KPIs are important to your business? What metrics and methods of reporting are you using internally to demonstrate value to the organization?

Host: Megan Brooks, Senior Sourcing & Partnerships Manager, SiriusXM

Host: Karen Hodson, Global Procurement and Real Estate Officer, Marigold 

Share insights with colleagues and hear how they have grown their role, how they have climbed up the corporate ladder to be a part of senior management conversations and become integral in company decision-making

Host: Chiharu Romano, Director of Strategic Sourcing, Vendor Management & Supplier Diversity, Endeavor

Many firms have no plans to grow procurement into larger teams, for some it will only ever be a solo role or a small team of 2-3. How do you formulate this set up for longevity, what personnel do you bring in, what resources tools do you deploy to enable scale?

Host: Zanovoy

Exploring innovative tools transforming procurement process with automation - through vendor, contract, order management, and more.
Host: Nils Brauckmann, Head of Procurement, Personio (10.00)
Host: Michael Dipolt, Sr Procurement Manager, Quanata (11.45)

Host: James Meads, Founder, Procurement Software & Digital Procurement Advisor

Host: James Meads, Founder, Procurement Software & Digital Procurement Advisor

Day 2

  • 10:45 AM

Coffee & Demo Hubs

  • Demo area
  • Gather round the Demo Hub area with your peers, and benchmark a leading solution
    Join Flipthrough, Sudozi, Zip

Day 2

  • 11:45 AM - 12:30 PM

Roundtables #4

Day 2

  • 12:30 PM

Lunch

  • Live Demos 1.00-1.30
    Join Tropic

Day 2

  • 1:30 PM

Live RFP Build / How to RFP

  • Main stage

Crafting a Winning Request for Proposal – an interactive session where we work together to build an RFP from scratch in real time.

Led by Levelpath, we’ll walk through each key component of the RFP process—defining project scope, identifying key selection criteria, writing clear requirements, and setting evaluation parameters. We’ll also explore best practices for structuring RFPs that attract quality responses, enhance vendor competition, and streamline the evaluation process.

This live RFP build will give you the chance to ask questions, share insights and troubleshoot challenges together.

Levelpath representative

Day 2

  • 2:10 PM

Team Development – Who is Your 2nd, 3rd, Next Hire?

  • Main stage
  • Do I recruit a swiss-army knife talent?
  • Do I seek talent with skills in procurement, verticals, negotiation

  • Lessons from peers in team development and growth planning

Danielle Salyers, 2nd VP, Strategic Sourcing, Allied Solutions
Dominic Battiston, Sr Director, Procurement, InfuSystem
Karen Hodson, Global Procurement and Real Estate Officer, Marigold

Day 2

  • 2:40 PM

What’s Cool Right Now & Wrap-up Panel

  • Main stage

Brag session and the scar tissue of what we have learned along the way!

Host:  Paul Nilsen, Pack Leader & Director of Procurement, Douglas Elliman Real Estate
Stephanie Buntine, Sr Manager, Category Management – Facilities, Capital & MRO, Bausch + Lomb
Rob Nichol, Sr Manager, Procurement, Automation Anywhere
Chiharu Romano, Director of Strategic Sourcing, Vendor Management & Supplier Diversity, Endeavor
Michael Leiken, VP, Procurement Strategy, InMarket

Day 2

  • 3:10 PM

Close of Summit & Prize Giving

  • Main stage

Prize Giving & Awards

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Testimonials

WHAT DO PAST ATTENDEES THINK OF THE EVENT?

    "It was an awesome gathering. Never been around so many IT Procurement Professionals from the buy side that shared best practices."

      "What a great opportunity to meet, engage, and learn both from and with Procurement colleagues from a wide range of backgrounds!"

        "An exceptionally valuable event; speakers and breakout sessions were exceptional and the hallway conversations alone were worth multiples of the cost."

          "It was an amazing conference and I’ve already been able to successfully put some of the negotiation tips and tricks into use. Thank you!"

            "The concentration of specialized expertise and experience was overwhelming, so much to learn from those in the room. I can’t wait to dive in again next year!"