Procurement News — April 1, 2026
General Mills elevated Jonathan Ness to chief supply chain officer, cementing a nearly two‑decade internal career that spans strategy, finance, manufacturing and procurement. nVent appointed Mellinda Devese as executive vice president and CSCO to steer its global, end‑to‑end supply chain as the company expands electrification solutions. Vantage Data Centers hired Alicia Ruckteschler as chief procurement officer to support rapid hyperscale data‑center growth driven by AI demand, while Şişecam and UNCW each named new chief procurement officers to boost sourcing efficiency in glass manufacturing and higher‑education respectively.
Winning 2026: The CPO 45-Second Briefing – “Supplier Risk Management Becomes a Core Operating Discipline”
Andrew Bartolini, founder of Ardent Partners, has launched a new 45‑second video series titled “Procurement 2026: Big Trends and Predictions.” The first episode, “Supplier Risk Management Becomes a Core Operating Discipline,” highlights a shift from annual to daily supplier risk assessments....
ProcureTech Pulse — March 25, 2026
The ProcureTech Pulse roundup highlights four major moves in the procurement technology space. Levelpath introduced Agent Orchestration Studio, a no‑code platform that lets business users build custom AI agents for the entire sourcing lifecycle. Fairmarkit partnered with Zip to deliver...
LevelUp 2026: How Levelpath (and Its Customers) Are Rewriting the Procurement AI Playbook (Part 1)
Levelpath hosted its first LevelUp 2026 conference in San Francisco, unveiling an AI‑native procurement platform built from the ground up. The company, now 160 employees strong, has raised $100 million to deliver a unified system of record that spans intake, sourcing,...
Winning 2026: The CPO 45-Second Briefing – “Savings Tops the CPO Priority List (Again)”
Andrew Bartolini, founder and chief research officer at Ardent Partners, has launched a new 45‑second video series called “Procurement 2026: Big Trends and Predictions.” The inaugural video, “Savings Tops the CPO Priority List (Again),” underscores bottom‑line savings as the leading metric...
NEW WEBINAR: Uniting Intake to Payment to Drive 2026 Performance
Ardent Partners and Zip are hosting a webinar on March 26 to show chief procurement officers how to bridge the intake‑to‑payment gap that hampers spend visibility and speed. The session, led by Andrew Bartolini and Nick Heinzmann, will outline a unified,...
Procurement Trends 2026 (Part One): Thriving in an Age of Structural Volatility
The 2026 procurement outlook emphasizes a shift to "permanent beta"—an operating mode that accepts continuous volatility as the norm. Traditional multi‑year roadmaps are giving way to iterative strategies that are constantly tested and refined. Procurement is repositioned as an early‑warning...
Procurement News — March 4, 2026
Sourceability appointed Sam Stephens as chief procurement officer to lead data‑driven sourcing worldwide, emphasizing analytics and scalable processes. Lucid Group named Neil Marsons, former Rolls Royce procurement chief, as senior vice president of supply chain to bolster its EV production in...
Analyst Insight – Generation Next: SAP Ariba’s AI Rebuild (III)
SAP Ariba announced a full architectural rebuild of its Source-to-Pay suite, targeting a February 2026 release. The new platform will be AI‑native, leveraging SAP Business Technology Platform and introducing Joule agents for tasks like bid analysis and intake management. Existing customers...
Winning 2026: The CPO 45-Second Briefing – “Category Management Evolves Into Category Intelligence”
Andrew Bartolini, founder of Ardent Partners, has launched a 45‑second video series called Procurement 2026, spotlighting the shift from traditional category management to what he calls Category Intelligence. The latest clip explains how AI‑driven analytics and real‑time market data are turning...
ProcureTech Pulse — February 25, 2026
The Supply Chain Intelligence Platform (SCIP) launched Optimize and Assure, new decision‑intelligence tools that help enterprises prioritize, validate and defend supply‑chain choices amid rising volatility. Celonis partnered with LeafLabs to deliver a Robotic Systems Intelligence Manager, enabling AI‑driven robots to...
Winning 2026: The CPO 45-Second Briefing – “Permanent Beta Mode”
Andrew Bartolini, founder of Ardent Partners, launches a new 45‑second video series titled “Procurement 2026: Big Trends and Predictions.” The inaugural episode, called “Permanent Beta Mode,” highlights the growing overlap between procurement and supply chain functions. The series will unpack 33...
NEW WEBINAR: From Systems of Engagement to Systems of Action: The Agentic CPO
On February 26, a one‑hour webcast titled “From Systems of Engagement to Systems of Action: The Agentic CPO” will explore how Agentic AI is reshaping procurement. Speakers Andrew Bartolini of Ardent Partners and Saquib Jawed of Zycus will explain the...
Analyst Insight – Generation Next: SAP Ariba’s AI Rebuild (I)
SAP Ariba announced a next‑gen, AI‑native Source‑to‑Pay suite slated for launch in February 2026. The platform is being rebuilt on SAP Business Technology Platform with open APIs, introducing Joule agents that automate bid analysis, RFI summarization, and contract insight. A unified...
Procurement News — February 11, 2026
Several major organizations announced new chief procurement officers in February 2026, including Volvo Group, PowerCo SE, UC Riverside, and Duke Energy. Volvo named Michael Lovati to steer purchasing amid industry disruption, while PowerCo appointed Alexander Schmitt to oversee raw‑materials sourcing...