Predictive Procurement & AI in Supply Chain | Lateisha Thomas

Most procurement teams are still stuck in months-long system rollouts and slow, back-and-forth RFPs. Lateisha Thomas, Director of Professional Services at Arkestro, joins Katie and Courtney to explain how predictive procurement — powered by behavioral science and game theory — is compressing negotiation cycles, boosting savings past the industry's usual 5–7%, and doing it without cutting people out of the loop. Lateisha spent over a decade building procurement systems at companies like SAP Ariba, Mary Kay, Verizon, and HF Sinclair before pivoting into predictive procurement at Arkestro. In this episode, she unpacks Arkestro's three "sciences" — Negotiation Science, Supplier Science, and Process Science — and makes the case that moving faster with AI should never come at the cost of trust, for buyers or suppliers. In this episode: -Why "you don't mean to get into procurement, you just accidentally end up there" -Why Arkestro customers go live on day three instead of waiting months -How behavioral science and game theory shape optimal negotiation pricing -"Automation where it counts, human where it matters" — her L&D-informed approach to AI rollouts -How suppliers are actually responding to more transparent, AI-set pricing -Supplier Science: modeling awards at the line-item level instead of all-or-nothing -Process Science: catching "fat-finger" quoting errors before they wreck an RFP -The biggest misconception IT teams have about implementation timelines -Her advice for moving from hands-on technical roles into executive leadership 🎙️ New to the podcast? Head to www.shesupplychains.com and sign up for our email list for bonus episodes and updates. 👉🏽 Got a supply chain story of your own? We're looking for guests — reach out through our website. #SheSupplyChains #PredictiveProcurement #SupplyChainAI #ProcurementLeadership #WomenInSupplyChain