- February 24, 2026, 1pm ET
What Do “AI Employees” Actually Look Like in Procurement?
Everyone’s talking about AI employees. Very few teams are actually using them. In this webinar, we’ll move past the hype and show what AI employees look like when they’re embedded directly into real procurement workflows – helping procurement teams expand coverage, deliver defensible savings, and scale impact without adding headcount.
You’ll learn:
- How AI employees support negotiations with real benchmarks and context
- How teams use AI employees to cover more spend and engage earlier
- How AI turns individual buyer expertise into shared, reusable playbooks across the team
If you’re curious what it actually looks like to work alongside AI in procurement – and where it creates real leverage – this session will give you clarity.
Who you will hear from
Dr Elouise Esptein
Digital Futurist & Partner
Kearney
Hala Jalwan
Co-founder & CEO
Rivio
speaker bios
Dr. Elouise Epstein is a globally recognized digital futurist and Partner at Kearney, where she has spent more than two decades designing and implementing digital procurement and supply chain strategies for Fortune 500 companies. Known for her bold and pragmatic perspective, Dr. Epstein challenges conventional thinking and inspires organizations to rethink how technology can truly drive business outcomes rather than simply add complexity.
At Kearney, she leads cutting-edge work in digital transformation, helping procurement leaders harness AI, automation, and emerging technologies to create smarter, more resilient supply chains. Beyond consulting, she serves as an influential voice in the global procurement community, sitting on the steering committee of Procurement Foundry—the world’s largest online network for procurement professionals—and teaching as an Adjunct Professor at Norwich University.
A sought-after keynote speaker, author, and self-described “technology cynic,” Dr. Epstein brings humor and honesty to her work, rejecting buzzwords in favor of real solutions that work. Her books and thought leadership continue to shape how enterprises approach digital procurement, sustainability, and the evolving intersection between people and algorithms.
Hala Jalwan is a product leader with over a decade of experience building supply chain and AI products. After completing her Master’s in Supply Chain Management at MIT, she joined Meta as the founding product lead of their supply chain team. There, she developed supply chain software that enabled the successful launch of Oculus and Facebook Reality Lab hardware. In the latter half of her career, Hala has focused on artificial intelligence, holding key product roles at Google Assistant and, most recently, in Apple’s intelligence division. Building on her expertise in procurement and AI, she founded Rivio, a platform that helps procurement and finance teams enforce governance, compliance, and spend control within organizations.
About Rivio
Rivio is a San Francisco–based AI technology company that gives procurement teams real leverage by embedding intelligence built on real procurement data directly into sourcing and negotiation workflows. Powered by Sheldon, Rivio’s always-on procurement assistant works continuously in the background to deliver repeatable cost savings, expand coverage, and compound expertise through shared, executable playbooks — all without adding headcount. Rivio is backed by Gradient Ventures, MIT, and S32, with strategic advisors from Meta, Apple, and other leading technology companies.