Why Attend Arkestro Optimal ‘26?
A new standard for procurement impact starts here. At Arkestro Optimal ’26, procurement and supply chain teams will explore what it means to Unlock the Predictive Advantage. Join us in Houston to see how Predictive Procurement helps teams drive stronger commercial outcomes across enterprise spend.
Agenda
Tuesday, October 13, 2026
Opening Reception - Partner Pavilion
5:00 PM - 8:30 PM
Wednesday, October 14, 2026
Pre-Conference Workshops & Training - Space is limited
8:00 AM - 1:00 PM
- Arkestro Advanced Training (Customers Only) – Arkestro Optimal '26 Advanced Certification: Design at Scale (Joshua Jones, Arkestro)
- Arkestro Basic Training – Arkestro 101: Fundamentals of Predictive Procurement (Eric Dudleck, Arkestro)
- Workshop – GAP Partner Negotiation Workshop: Building Commercial Resilience (Adrian Ritchie, GAP)
- Workshop – Speak CFO: A Working Session for Procurement Leaders Ready to Reframe Their Value (Dawn Tiura, SIG)
Supplier Summit (Suppliers Only – Invite Only)
10:00 AM - 12:30 PM
Bushra Khorasani and Brittany DeArmond, Arkestro
Spend two hours with Arkestro’s Supplier Consulting Group and Product team to workshop the platform, share feedback, and help shape supplier enablement. This session is exclusively for suppliers and is capped at 100 participants.
Registration & Lite Lunch
12:30 PM - 1:30 PM
Main Stage
Welcome
Stuart Gold, SVP Marketing, Arkestro
1:30 PM - 1:40 PM
Vision Keynote: Unlock the Predictive Advantage
Rob DeSantis, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder, Arkestro
1:40 PM - 1:55 PM
Industry Keynote – From Reactive to Predictive: Inside CenterPoint's Procurement Shift
Christopher Foster, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, CenterPoint Energy
1:55 PM - 2:10 PM
Industry Keynote – From Rollout to Routine: How W.R. Grace Made New the Normal
David Marotta, Vice President, Procurement, W.R. Grace
2:10 PM - 2:25 PM
Industry Keynote – ONEOK: Building a Predictive Advantage in Energy Supply Chains
Chris McGuire, Director, Supply Chain, ONEOK
2:25 PM - 2:40 PM
Executive Panel: The C-Suite View of Predictive Procurement
Michael Raphael, Chief Procurement Officer, JLL
James Bracken, CFO, Zurich North America
Mark Kaczynski, CFO & SVP of Information Technology, Nissan Americas
2:40 PM - 3:10 PM
Networking Break
3:10 PM - 3:25 PM
State of the Union: Breaking the Procurement Performance Ceiling
Chris Sawchuk, Principal and Global Procurement Applied Intelligence Practice Leader, The Hackett Group
3:25 PM - 3:40 PM
Panel: The New World of Energy
Sharmilla Mulligan, Board Member, ConocoPhillips
3:40 PM - 4:10 PM
One Year Later: Chevron on Scaling Predictive Procurement Enterprise-Wide
Joshua Flowers, Senior Manager, SCM IT Category Management, Chevron
Stuart Gold, SVP Marketing, Arkestro
4:10 PM - 4:35 PM
Always on, Arkestro in Action
Ben Leiken, Chief Product Officer, Arkestro
Bob van Leeuwen, VP Product Management, Arkestro
4:35 PM - 5:35 PM
Day One Wrap: What the Predictive Advantage Looks Like
Stuart Gold, SVP Marketing, Arkestro
5:35 PM - 5:40 PM
Cocktails & Dinner Reception in the Partner Pavilion
5:40 PM - 8:30 PM
Thursday, October 15, 2026
Breakfast in the Partner Pavilion
7:45 AM - 8:45 AM
Welcome Back: The Advantage in Action
Stuart Gold, SVP Marketing, Arkestro
8:45 AM - 8:55 AM
Panel: Making It Stick — How Leading Global Enterprises Drive Predictive Procurement Change
Greg Cruz, Chief Customer Officer, Arkestro
Nitin Krishnakumar, Head of Digital, Data & Strategy Sourcing & Procurement, JLL
Antonio De Sousa, Group Category Manager, Manufacturing Indirect & E-Sourcing Excellence, BMI
8:55 AM - 9:30 AM
Keynote: The Predictive Enterprise
Edmund Zagorin, Chief Strategy Officer and Co-Founder, Arkestro
9:30 AM - 9:55 AM
Navigating the Rest of Optimal '26
9:55 AM - 10:00 AM
Networking Break
10:00 AM - 10:30 AM
Breakout Wave 1 (4 Tracks)
10:30 AM - 11:15 AM
Quick Break
11:15 AM - 11:30 AM
Breakout Wave 2 (4 Tracks)
11:30 AM - 12:15 PM
Lunch in the General Session
12:15 PM - 1:00 PM
Networking Break in Partner Pavilion
1:00 PM - 1:30 PM
Breakout Wave 3 (4 Tracks)
1:30 PM - 2:15 PM
Dessert Reception in the Partner Pavilion
2:15 PM - 3:00 PM
Powering the Future: Predictive Advantage in Upstream Energy
Sam Long, Chief Executive Officer, Darcy Partners
William Seagrave, SVP Product Solutions, Arkestro
3:00 PM - 3:40 PM
Arkestro Cares: A Scholarship for Procurement's Next Generation, with ISM Houston
3:40 PM - 4:05 PM
Closing Keynote: The Predictive Advantage – From Unlocked to Executed
Rob DeSantis, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder, Arkestro
4:05 PM - 4:15 PM
Optimal ’26 Wrap: Where We Go From Here
Stuart Gold, SVP Marketing, Arkestro
4:15 PM - 4:25 PM
Closing Cocktail Reception
4:25 PM - 5:30 PM
