National Supply Chain Day Gala 2026: How APSentra Showed Up for the Industry

Last week, our team traveled to Atlanta for a full schedule of supply chain events organized by New Gen Architects and anchored by the National Supply Chain Day Gala 2026. Four events over four days. Nearly 100 professionals from technology, warehousing, logistics, media, procurement, and manufacturing gathered to connect, learn, and celebrate the industry.

For APSentra, this was more than a series of meetings. It was a chance to engage directly with the people doing the work: planners, operators, executives, and entrepreneurs who understand that the supply chain is not a back-office function. It is a competitive lever.

We are grateful to Dyci Manns Sfregola, CSCP, for organizing all four events and for creating a space where these conversations happen at a practical level, not just a theoretical one.

Coffee Talk with Let’s Talk Supply Chain

The week opened with a live Coffee Talk session hosted by Let’s Talk Supply Chain, one of the most recognized voices in the supply chain media space. Sarah Barnes-Humphrey brought together Natalie Eksi, CEO at APSentra, and Dyci Sfregola, Digital Supply Chain Strategist, for a live conversation broadcast to the community.

The session focused on a question that is very real for many organizations right now: What does it mean for procurement to perform as a strategic finance function rather than just an operational one? The discussion covered how companies that align procurement with financial control are able to protect margins and maintain resilience when conditions change.

The discussion was built around our article, “Procurement as a Strategic Finance Function During Recession”, published on the APSentra blog. The live format made it possible to explore these ideas in real time, with audience questions reflecting the actual challenges practitioners face today.

The Collaborative Planning Leadership Workshop

The second event in the week was the Collaborative Planning Leadership Workshop. This was a practitioner-focused session, not a keynote format. The goal was direct: improve how teams make decisions together, strengthen alignment across functions, and reduce the coordination overhead that slows planning cycles down.

Natalie connected with Larecha Wynn, Emeka Njoku, Prakash Acharya, Aundre Oldacre, and a wider group of planning and operations professionals. The conversations that happened in this workshop reflect exactly the kind of work APSentra is designed to support: procurement and decision flows that are structured so alignment is built into the process, not added on top of it.

This session directly connects to the Collaborative Planning Leadership Workshop featured as part of the broader National Supply Chain Day initiative, in partnership with Blended Pledge.

The National Supply Chain Day Gala 2026: An Evening Worth Celebrating

The centerpiece of the week was the Operations and Business Leadership Gala, the formal highlight of the National Supply Chain Day Gala 2026. Close to 100 professionals from across the industry gathered for an evening that combined recognition, networking, and genuine celebration of the people who keep supply chains moving.

For APSentra, being part of this space reflects our ongoing commitment to contributing to the broader supply chain ecosystem, not only through technology but through the conversations and communities that shape the industry.

Natalie Eksi Wins the Breakthrough Leader Award at the National Supply Chain Day Gala 2026

Among the recognitions presented at the gala, Natalie Eksi, CEO at APSentra, received the Breakthrough Leader award. The nomination recognized the work she and the APSentra team are doing to bring a modern procurement platform and company-wide spend control technology to market.

The Breakthrough Leader award is given to individuals who are advancing their field in a meaningful and demonstrable way, and who are building something new rather than following an established path.

For Natalie, this recognition reflects her role in shaping APSentra’s direction, structuring how procurement connects to financial decision-making and advancing technology that gives organizations real visibility and control over company-wide spend.

The award was presented among a strong group of nominees, which made the recognition especially meaningful. It reflects not just individual effort but the quality and direction of what APSentra is building, and the community’s recognition of that work.

Executive Breakfast & Final Networking Session

The week closed with a Business Breakfast, a smaller and more focused setting that created room for deeper conversations. Natalie sat down with Lina M. Ramirez and Kieu Vy Nguyen, two professionals bringing different perspectives to the supply chain conversation.

This format, less formal and more direct, is often where the most useful exchanges happen. No agenda, no presentations. Just professionals talking through what they are working on and where the real friction points are.

Why Community Matters in Supply Chain

Supply chain operates through relationships, not just contracts. The decisions that keep operations running, the information that travels between functions, the trust that allows planning to hold under pressure, all of it depends on people who know each other and have built real working connections.

Events like the National Supply Chain Day Gala 2026 serve a purpose that goes beyond celebration. They create the conditions for collaboration that organizations cannot engineer internally. When professionals from logistics, technology, procurement, manufacturing, and finance share a room and a conversation, the results show up later, in faster decisions, better partnerships, and a more resilient industry overall.

APSentra is proud to be part of this community, not only as a sponsor or award recipient, but as an active participant in the conversations that shape where the industry is going. If your work sits at the intersection of planning, procurement, and execution, this is where those conversations are happening.