Tenative Agenda

Bust out the Rubik's Cubes, neon leg warmers, and crank up the mixtape- we're living the 80's all over again!

Procurement professionals have always dealt with uncertainty, but lately, the storm clouds seem constant. Budget cuts, supplier breakdowns, urgent policy changes, and shifting leadership priorities are just the beginning. To keep up, procurement teams need more than reactive instincts. They need resilience built into their people, their processes, and their partnerships.

In this 90-minute session, Danny Mays, Assistant State Court Administrator of Operations and Chief Procurement Officer for the Maryland Judiciary, shares practical strategies for building a procurement function that holds steady when everything else is shifting. Blending real-world examples, candid insights, and just the right dose of humor, Danny will walk attendees through a five-part resilience framework and explore how procurement can evolve into a stabilizing force across campus.

This isn’t a theory-heavy session; it’s grounded in reality, filled with actionable takeaways, and designed to help professionals at any stage strengthen their response to the unknown.

In this session, we will present how UNC Asheville's procurement team jumped into action during Hurricane Helene, first focusing on fast emergency purchases in the first 72 hours, then shifting to long-term recovery over the next 72 days, concluding with the end of the Fall Semester. We'll share what worked, what didn't, and how we balanced compliance and support for campus operations through every stage of the storm.

Explore ideas on how to transform your procurement and purchasing function through targeted team development. This session will highlight the indispensable value of investing in your people, starting with providing new hires, and early procurement professionals the essential tools and a robust onboarding process that ensures a strong foundation and lays the groundwork for success. We'll uncover actionable strategies to build a workplace culture where best practices are not just encourages, but ingrained, yielding tangible improvements in efficiency and fostering a spirit of innovation. Beyond just skill-building, discover how this investment will creatively foster career development within your team, intrinsically shaping tomorrow's leaders from the talent you already have.

Exploring risk management, key contract clauses, and negotiation strategies through the lens of a real-world, high-profile event contracts.

Join us for a dynamic, three-part workshop designed specifically for procurement professionals looking to harness the power of artificial intelligence. 

Whether you're just beginning your AI journey or looking to elevate your current practices, this session offers practical, real-world applications you can put to work right away.

Session 1: Demystifying AI and laying the groundwork for using it effectively in procurement tasks.

Explore how to use AI to respond more strategically and efficiently to RFP requests.

Shifting focus to your role as the issuer: Crafting RFPs that attract strong proposals and grading them effectively.

During a time of enrollment and budget uncertainty, higher education leaders must move from competition to collaboration to meet the evolving demands of today's students. As technology drives societal and social change, people are pushing colleges and universities to adapt, create new education opportunities, and prioritize student wellbeing. Learn how you can be the conduit for meaningful change at your institution to remain relevant and efficient in developing the 21st-century-aligned higher education model, sharing a campus-wide vision.

• Brett Bahr, Sr. Account Executive, Sourcewell
• Brittany Bezick-Hamel, Sr. Buyer, University of West Florida

In today's higher education landscape, procurement is more than just purchasing, it's a strategic function that supports institutional goals, ensures compliance, and drives value. This session explores how universities can cultivate a strong procurement culture that engages stakeholders, promotes transparency, and enhances collaboration across departments. Drawing from real-world experience at a North Carolina university, we'll discuss practical strategies for increasing procurement awareness, streamlining processes across Purchasing, AP, and Travel, and aligning procurement practices with academic and operational priorities. Attendees will leave with actionable ideas to foster stewardship, improve service delivery, and build lasting partnerships across campus.

Facing the dual challenges of staffing shortages and rising software subscription costs, the Morehouse College Office of Procurement & Contract Services turned to artificial intelligence as a strategic solution. This presentation will highlight how the office successfully implemented an in-house AI bot to streamline the vendor onboarding process, a critical area often impacted by limited staff resources and costly eProcurement software modules. Attendees will learn how the AI bot now autonomously processes new vendor applications, validates documentation, and ensures compliance, eliminating the need for manual intervention in routine tasks. This innovation allowed the College to bypass the need for a paid vendor registration module, delivering both cost savings and operational efficiency. This session will offer practical insights into identifying internal pain points, selecting AI tools, and gaining stakeholder buy-in, making it a must-attend for institutions looking to do more with less through smart automation.

In today's rapidly evolving higher education landscape, procurement leaders face unprecedented challenges in managing institutional spending, ensuring compliance, and driving operational efficiency while supporting diverse departmental needs. This panel discussion brings together distinguished procurement leaders from Universities to explore how strategic partnership with Amazon Business can fundamentally transform institutional procurement operations. This session addresses the essential intersection of technology, process efficiency, and institutional collaboration across multiple campus departments that leaders must navigate. Our panel will examine how Amazon Business's partnership and solutions address key institutional challenges including resource optimization and cost management.
 

• Jody McLaughlin, Sr. Account Executive, Amazon Business
• Michael Logan, Director of Procurement, University of North Carolina at Greensboro
• Michael Sullivan, Director of Procurement, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University

Facing the dual challenges of staffing shortages and rising software subscription costs, the Morehouse College Office of Procurement & Contract Services turned to artificial intelligence as a strategic solution. This presentation will highlight how the office successfully implemented an in-house AI bot to streamline the vendor onboarding process, a critical area often impacted by limited staff resources and costly eProcurement software modules. Attendees will learn how the AI bot now autonomously processes new vendor applications, validates documentation, and ensures compliance, eliminating the need for manual intervention in routine tasks. This innovation allowed the College to bypass the need for a paid vendor registration module, delivering both cost savings and operational efficiency. This session will offer practical insights into identifying internal pain points, selecting AI tools, and gaining stakeholder buy-in, making it a must-attend for institutions looking to do more with less through smart automation.

This session is designed to be a roundtable experience where participants discuss in small groups their issues and challenges that are currently facing them today with guided discussion prompts and facilitation from the moderator. The workshop starts with an interactive survey of the audience asking them to provide examples of what they think their greatest challenges are in modern procurement. Then, we use those as the launching point for facilitated group discussion. Participants will come back together after having time to discuss/brainstorm with each other and report out to the entire group on how their team chose to manage the problem. There will also be some case studies that can be used if needed to prompt more discussion.