Elevate+ Philadelphia 2026

On May 7, over 95 Archlet customers, procurement leaders and partners gathered at The Pyramid Club in Philadelphia for Archlet Elevate+, a full day dedicated to what it really means to build an AI-native procurement organization in the age of agentic AI.

The day included an agenda packed with keynotes, candid chats, hands-on workshops, and networking. From real-world rollout stories to bold predictions about the future of sourcing roles, Elevate+ Philadelphia delivered sharp perspectives and actionable insights across every session.

Setting the scene: The agentic sourcing era

Archlet Co-Founder Lukas Wawrla opened the day, welcoming 95+ guests representing 40+ companies and a combined 1,160 years of procurement experience.

Tim Grunow then took the stage to explore the agentic sourcing era. He traced the journey from 2019's broken trade-off between smart and easy-to-use, to today's AI-native reality.

Drawing a powerful parallel to software engineering, Tim made the case that what's happening in engineering today is a preview of procurement tomorrow: as agents take over execution, the role of the procurement professional shifts from doing to directing. He also shared a first look at what's coming next on Archlet's product roadmap.

Alina Heimgartner followed with a session on what's changing about adoption. She walked through how onboarding is evolving from months-long rollouts to agent-driven, self-serve experiences, and made the case that AI brings a paradigm shift in how procurement value is measured. In an agentic world, the metrics that matter are shifting.

Morning client sessions

Mitch Matt, Strategic Sourcing Process Manager at Sazerac, delivered a standout keynote on the eSourcing rollout playbook, sharing the real story behind one of the most successful Archlet deployments in recent memory. In less than 12 months, Sazerac reached 100% category coverage across the entire company, with an ROI of more than 1,000x and eAuction savings of more than 20% on average.

Mitch gave the room an honest, practical look at what it actually takes to drive adoption across every category and why Archlet's ease of use and Spark AI were central to making it stick.

Brian Borochin, Director of Enterprise Procurement Data & Analytics at Comcast, then joined Lukas Wawrla for a fireside chat on agentic AI in procurement. They tackled the reignited build vs. buy debate head on, making the case that building a quick prototype with generic AI tools won't cut it for an enterprise-ready solution, and sharing why Comcast doubled down on Archlet for the entire organization.

Travis Johnson, CEO Region Americas at Chain IQ, rounded out the morning by sharing how Chain IQ is leveraging Archlet's Spark agents and how they have developed their own agents together with Sligo AI. Travis painted a compelling picture of a future where agents work together to increase end-user value and simplify how teams interact with procurement technology.

After lunch, Shashi Mandapaty, former Chief Procurement Officer at Johnson & Johnson and Principal & Managing Director at Synapsys, delivered a thought-provoking keynote on three resets needed to elevate procurement in a new world - covering agent-ready data, the shifting cognitive middle, and the scorecard built for human execution in an AI-driven era.

Interactive workshops

The afternoon was dedicated to hands-on learning across three breakout sessions.

Archlet led a deep-dive session on Sourcing automation: Let agents do the work for you, exploring what's still highly manual in today's sourcing processes and how AI agents are changing that.

ORO Labs, joined by Rick Raker from Pfizer, hosted a session on Driving procurement value through agentic orchestration and intelligent workflows, bringing a real-world customer perspective to how intelligent workflows are reshaping procurement operations.

Sievo rounded out the workshops with a session on Redefining procurement roles and governance in an AI-enabled organization, tackling how teams, structures, and accountability need to evolve as AI takes on more of the work.

The sessions gave participants space to apply frameworks, compare approaches, and leave with practical takeaways.

Closing panel: The future of eSourcing and procurement

The day concluded with a panel discussion on the future of eSourcing and procurement, featuring Mireia Brancos (Sligo AI), Victor Scarante (The Hershey Company), and Benjamin Dailey (The Estée Lauder Companies). The panelists shared their perspectives on where the industry is heading, how technology will reshape sourcing roles, and what procurement leaders need to do today to stay ahead.

Networking and happy hour

Elevate+ Philadelphia wrapped up with a networking happy hour, giving guests time to connect over food and drinks and great views of Philadelphia from the 52nd floor of The Pyramid Club.

What's next at Archlet

Elevate is more than just an event — it's a conversation shaping the future of sourcing and procurement. With events happening across Europe and the U.S., each gathering brings fresh insights, new perspectives, and meaningful connections.

Stay ahead of the curve. Explore our upcoming events here and join the conversation.