A Message From IAOP's CEO

What we've been building, and what's next

It's been a busy stretch at IAOP, and I wanted to slow down long enough to tell you what's happening this fall and what's coming behind it. Some of this is on the calendar now. Some of it is a few weeks out.

Office hours. New this fall. Cameras on, no slides, bring a problem. The first session is on sourcing governance on September 24. Think of it as a standing appointment with people who've dealt with what you're dealing with. It's free, lock in your spot here.

Webinars. Our Healthcare & Life Sciences COE is hosting "The Agentic Shift: Outcomes, Guardrails, and Getting It Right" on Wednesday, October 7 at 11 AM ET. It's a panel that covers all three sides of the table: the customer, the provider, and legal. Free, one hour, and worth your time whether or not you're in healthcare. More are on the calendar behind it.

GOV26, October 14, Washington, D.C. Thirty seats, one day, no sales pitches. We're getting a small room of sourcing and vendor management leaders together at Avasant's D.C. offices to work through what AI is really doing to governance: where it helps, where it doesn't, and who stays accountable when the tools are making recommendations. If you've been to one of our working sessions before, you know the format. If you haven't, this is a good one to start with. Corporate members have passes included.  

IAOP Global 100. Applications opened September 1. If you're a provider or advisor, this is the one recognition in our industry that buyers actually use when they build a shortlist, so it's worth the effort. If you're a buyer, the list is coming, and it's built for you. Deadline and application details are on the site.

The IAOP AI Collective. This one I'm excited about. Everyone is talking about AI, and most of that talk is either vendor pitch or vague panic. The Collective is a working group of buyers, providers, and advisors who are actually deploying this stuff and want to compare notes honestly. We're starting with a monthly virtual workshop next month and we'll build from there. Details and the invitation to join are coming later this month.

And the Summit. OWS27 is April 27 through 29 in Chicago, and it's our 30th. Thirty years, every year, since 1998. We're keeping what people tell us they come for, the small rooms and the honest conversations, and adding a few things I'll share as they firm up.  Registration is open here.

Two things still in the works. We're building out discussion boards to sit alongside the Centers of Excellence, so the conversation keeps going between events instead of stopping when the webinar ends. There will be a community open to everyone, a private network that stays buyer-only, and boards tied to specific COEs. And we're building a job board for sourcing, vendor management, and GBS roles, simple on purpose. Both are close. You'll hear from us when they open, and I'd rather launch them right than launch them fast.

That's the short version. The longer version is that we rebuilt a lot of this organization over the past year so we could spend less time on structure and more time on the things that actually matter to you. Tell me what's working and what isn't. My inbox is open.

Debi Hamill 
Chief Executive Officer, IAOP
debi.hamill@iaop.org