When one of procurement’s most influential leaders knocks on your door, you answer.
With 30 years of experience spanning finance, procurement and enterprise transformation, there isn’t much that Michael van Keulen (MVK) hasn’t seen.
Seeking a new challenge, MVK decided to proactively reach out to CEO and Founder of Omnea, Ben Freeman, to discuss a potential partnership.
“I knew I wanted to be back involved in the end-to-end process and at the leading edge of procurement technology,” explains MVK. “I wanted to be part of a community and help customers maximise the potential that AI is delivering. I’ve been fortunate enough to build up a big network, and the more people I spoke to and the more I looked at the market, the more I saw the same architecture and the same approach underneath, just with a nicer front end.
“AI is a generational opportunity to do something genuinely different, and a slightly shinier P2P wasn’t going to be enough for me. I wanted something properly AI-native – and Omnea’s name kept coming up. What I love is that everyone has this same desire to solve a real problem, drive innovation and focus on the success of customers. I felt at Omnea I could drive a real meaningful impact and build upon the momentum that the team has already established.”
Omnea’s competitive advantage
And now, MVK is Omnea’s CPO-in-Residence and brings three decades of lived procurement experience to the company’s customers who he will support closely with their procurement transformations, while also supporting on product strategy and roadmap.
“Omnea’s speed of innovation is super impressive,” MVK tells us. “I’ve heard all about it in the market and it’s the perfect time to capitalise on all the hard work that they have put into this company together with this community of customers. The energy in the office is palpable and it’s such an exciting time to join the organisation.”
And it’s not only Omnea that is making waves – the procurement function in general is currently undergoing its biggest transformation ever. The past decade has seen procurement shift from a paper-based, siloed role to a value driver equipped with autonomous agents and real-time analytics. Gone are the days of procurement simply being regarded as a gatekeeper or a blocker to overcome – today’s procurement leaders are unlocking efficiencies at the top of the C-suite.
“Over the past five years, procurement has become more relevant and we’ve taken ourselves from the basement to the boardroom,” MVK explains. “In the age of AI where we can finally remove a lot of that tactical operational work and be that innovator and strategic competitive advantage, I truly believe there has never been a more exciting time to be in procurement. We will see more innovation and advancement in procurement in the next three years than in the previous 20!”
And MVK would know, having enjoyed such longevity in his procurement career. He helped build the procurement function at VF Corporation, the parent company of brands including The North Face, Timberland, and Vans, before serving as the Head of Procurement at Lululemon. He then spent five years at Coupa, first as Chief Procurement Officer and later as Practice Leader, where he advised some of the world’s largest organisations on procurement transformation and digital strategy.
Procurement transformation
But MVK joins Omnea at a time of unprecedented transformation amidst a complex geopolitical landscape with the likes of tariffs, wars and natural disasters dominating headlines in recent years. But one of the biggest challenges facing the market’s established platforms is the hurdle of bolting AI onto infrastructure that was built long before it existed – which is where Omnea is different. Founded after the arrival of large language models, the company has designed for agents from the ground up rather than retrofitting them.
“If you build agents on top of legacy infrastructure, all you’re doing is accelerating bad outcomes,” reveals MVK. “You have to get the data and the foundations right first. Omnea has built that data layer, so the intelligence compounds – every approval, every risk score, every price benchmark makes it smarter.
“We have the ability to eliminate so much manual, administrative work, unlocking procurement to be a true strategic weapon.”
Procurement’s way forward
Looking ahead, MVK is crystal clear about procurement’s direction of travel. In his view, procurement leaders are now ‘value creators’ which is only being amplified by the acceleration of AI. “Value means different things to different executives and stakeholders” he tells us. “It could be faster technology adoption, bottom line impact, or having better quality or providing a competitive edge and driving innovation through your suppliers. While the function is already going that way, AI is helping to unlock procurement to finally become the true value orchestrators it always wanted to be.”
Given AI’s ever-growing impact in procurement operations today, it can sometimes be easy to lose sight of the role of the human. However, despite the many advantages of AI, what it can’t replace is lived human experience about how the procurement function actually lives and breathes – which is why leaders such as MVK are worth their weight in gold.
“I’ve lived in this world for 20+ years, I’ve seen the pain points and I know where technology can help us accelerate,” reveals MVK. “But I also know it is still important that we talk about the human-in-the-loop. The value that procurement leaders and their teams can create is significant in the innovation we can drive.
“Omnea is hyper-focused on customer success and the company is intentional about how it invests specifically into the product and its clients to make sure that they’re successful. Ultimately, your customers are your best salespeople and I fundamentally subscribe to that philosophy. For me, that is what makes this company special.”
Some of the best decisions in life come down to timing. As procurement enters a new era shaped by AI-driven transformation and an increasingly influential role in the boardroom, Omnea’s appointment of MVK couldn’t have come at a more pivotal moment.