AP Innovation Roadshow

October 29th, 2026

St. Louis, MO

Twenty-five years of AP technology.

Dozens of platforms.

And most AP teams are still fighting the same battles.

Invoices still get keyed. Exceptions still get worked by hand. Suppliers still call to ask where their money is. Nearly every AP organization has bought the automation, and most are still doing the work.

The AP Innovation Roadshow brings together about 20 senior AP and finance leaders to look at why that is, and what actually changes it. Compare where your organization stands against your peers, hear what is genuinely working and what was oversold, and leave with changes you can take back to your team. Each session is informed by original benchmark research from The AP Institute and StreamTech Advisors, then shaped around the challenges participants bring into the room.

Agenda

This is a half-day, invitation-only session for AP and finance leaders. Practitioner experience, benchmark data, and working groups. Lunch to kick things off, drinks to close it out, and three sessions built around one question: after twenty-five years of automation, what would it actually take to get AP where it was always supposed to be?

Part of the answer is AI. Part of it is rethinking how AP is run, and what we have quietly accepted as good enough.

Session 1

The Practitioner View, What Actually Worked and What Didn't

Jeff Arnold, Director of Financial Shared Services at Gordon Food Service, runs AP for one of the largest foodservice distributors in North America: $26 billion in revenue, thousands of suppliers, and the same problems as everyone else in the room. He'll walk through what GFS has taken on over the years, what genuinely moved the needle, and what he would do differently.

Session 2

Signal vs. Slop, Making Sense of AI in AP

The AP Institute and Direct Commerce cut through the noise. Informed by original benchmark research, this session looks at where AI is producing measurable results in Accounts Payable, where expectations are still running ahead of reality, and how your priorities compare with other AP organizations.

Session 3

The Workshop, What Would It Take to Fix This?

Facilitated by Henry Ijams, Managing Director of StreamTech Advisors, who has spent more than 20 years researching AP automation and advising organizations on financial operations. Bring a real AP problem, work it through with peers in small groups, and leave with three concrete actions you can pursue in the next 90 days.

Format & Logistics

Thursday, October 29 at 612North Event Space, 612 N 2nd St, St. Louis, MO.

We start at noon and wrap by 4pm, followed by happy hour til 5pm. Convenient on-site parking is available in the main structure at 612 North 2nd Street, just follow the signs upon arrival. Done early enough to beat traffic or to get back to the office before the end of the day.

Reserve Your Seat