TLDR: Zip Forward 2025, an annual conference for procurement and finance leaders, will take place on October 21-22, 2025, in San Francisco. The event, themed ‘Agents of Change,’ will focus on the rapid adoption of agentic AI in enterprise operations and its impact on procurement workflows. Tennis legend Andre Agassi is slated as a keynote speaker, alongside industry leaders from companies like T-Mobile, Gap, Block, OpenAI, and Datadog.
San Francisco is set to host Zip Forward 2025, the annual conference organized by Zip, a leading agentic procurement orchestration platform. Scheduled for October 21-22, 2025, at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, the event aims to gather over 500 forward-thinking procurement and finance leaders. The overarching theme for this year’s conference is ‘Agents of Change,’ reflecting the significant shifts occurring within the procurement landscape.
The conference will delve into critical topics such as navigating economic uncertainty, adapting to regulatory changes, and, most notably, the rapid integration of agentic AI into enterprise operations. Attendees can expect a comprehensive program featuring keynotes, live demonstrations, interactive agent builder workshops, and customer-led discussions, all designed to explore the future of the industry.
Highlighting the event will be a keynote address by tennis icon and philanthropist Andre Agassi. He will be joined by a distinguished lineup of speakers, including Mike Simpson, Chief Procurement Officer (CPO) at T-Mobile; Tigran Avakian, Head of Procurement at Gap; Mithun Sharma, CPO at Block; Ann Fleishell, VP, Procurement at OpenAI; and Michelle Vita, VP Procurement at Datadog.
Mithun Sharma, CPO of Block, emphasized the conference’s importance, stating, ‘Zip Forward has become essential for staying ahead of the rapid changes in procurement and AI.’ Rujul Zaparde, co-founder and CEO of Zip, further elaborated on the theme, remarking, ‘This year’s theme reflects the transformational moment we’re living through, where AI agents are moving from experimental to essential in enterprise operations.’
The agenda for the two-day event includes a ‘Women in Procurement: Breakfast & panel’ on October 21, followed by a keynote address titled ‘Agents of change: Redefining the future of procurement with AI.’ This keynote will address how rising complexity, growing expectations, and the acceleration of AI are reshaping organizational management. A ‘Zip Product Showcase: AI agents’ will demonstrate how these agents are streamlining repetitive work. Another key session, ‘Building AI-native procurement at OpenAI,’ will feature insights from OpenAI’s Vice President of Procurement, Ann Fleishell, on how procurement is powering growth within the AI giant.
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Zip itself is at the forefront of this transformation, offering an agentic procurement orchestration platform designed to accelerate the procurement process, mitigate risk, and drive growth by unifying teams, tasks, and tools involved in supplier interactions. The conference will provide a platform for leaders to share real-world implementations and push the industry forward in adopting AI-native procurement strategies.
