Is Procurement a Technology Laggard?

Jeff Epstein is an operating partner in the Silicon Valley office where he leads Bessemer’s CFO Advisory Board and helps portfolio company CEOs and CFOs share best practices. He is the former executive vice president and chief financial officer of Oracle, one of the world’s largest and most profitable technology companies, with a market value of over $200 billion. Prior to joining Oracle, Jeff served as CFO of several public and private companies, including DoubleClick (sold to Google), King World Productions (sold to CBS) and Nielsen’s Media Measurement and Information Group. Earlier in his career, he was an investment banker at The First Boston Corporation. He specializes in B2B software, marketplaces and artificial intelligence software.

Greg is Head of the Cognitive Procurement Services Practice within Capgemini’s Business Services Group, where he helps his clients identify and deploy the optimal digital ecosystem, with supporting processes and both operational and system support. Greg has been working in Business Transformation and Business Process Outsourcing for almost 30 years, helping organisations ranging from global fortune 500 companies through, national and regional public sector as well as small to medium enterprises better realise their potential through Procurement and Finance outsourcing or technology transformation. He has been with Capgemini for 17 years, with previous stints at IBM and Accenture in Business Transformation roles, after starting his career in accounting.

SVP of Strategy & Procurement at Fairmarkit. Former CPO & VP, Corporate Services at VSP Global (2013 to 2021). Prior CPO and VP S2S at salesforce.com (2008 to 2013) and Oracle Corporation (1998 to 2008). M.Sc. Management from Saint Mary’s College of California with professional credentials from SIG, NAPM and NCMA. 2018 Hall of Fame inductee into SIG. 2019 CPO of the Year, Ardent Partners.

Sam Grondahl joined Fairmarkit as Fairmarkit's Head of Data Science in 2021. He leads the teams responsible for Fairmarkit's core AI/ML platform as well as its suite of intelligence and data products. His previous experience spans a wide breadth of industries, including e-commerce, financial services, video games, and health and P&C insurance. Prior to joining Fairmarkit, Sam was Senior Director, Economics and Data Products at Mythical Games. Before that, he held roles at Quantco and Microsoft Research. Sam holds a BA from Yale and a PhD from MIT where his dissertation focused on optimal pricing in two-sided online marketplaces. If he is away from the keyboard, Sam is likely running or hiking with his two dogs.