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Procurement technology company Omnea has appointed former Coupa Chief Procurement Officer Michael van Keulen as CPO in Residence, bringing nearly 30 years of procurement, finance and enterprise transformation experience to its product strategy and customer programmes.
Procurement Leadership To Support AI Strategy
Omnea, which provides an agentic operating system for procurement and supplier management, has appointed Michael van Keulen as CPO in Residence.
Van Keulen will contribute to Omnea’s product strategy and roadmap while working with customers on procurement transformation.
Former Coupa CPO Brings 30 Years of Procurement Experience
He brings nearly 30 years of experience across procurement, finance and enterprise transformation. Van Keulen previously helped build the procurement function at VF Corporation, the parent company of brands including The North Face, Timberland and Vans, before serving as Head of Procurement at Lululemon.
He subsequently spent five years at Coupa, initially as Chief Procurement Officer and later as Practice Leader, advising organisations on procurement transformation and digital strategy.
Michael van Keulen, CPO in Residence at Omnea, said: “This market has seen more innovation in the last three years than the previous twenty. The intake and orchestration players that took on Coupa while I was there intrigued me — the market needed that competition.
“But the more I researched and spoke to my network, the more I saw a similar product architecture and approach, with a prettier front end. AI is a generational opportunity to do things genuinely differently, and a slightly shinier P2P wasn’t enough for me. I wanted a truly AI-native solution. Omnea’s name kept coming up. The deeper I dug, the more certain I became. This was it.”
Agentic AI Targets Procurement Transformation
Van Keulen’s appointment comes as Omnea develops its use of agentic artificial intelligence (AI) across procurement and supplier management.
Ben Freeman, CEO and founder of Omnea, said: “MVK has seen this market from every seat, and nobody is better placed to help our customers seize what AI makes possible than someone who has led enterprise transformation from the inside.
“He’ll work shoulder to shoulder with our customers, and sharpen how we build our agentic operating system for procurement. Having him choose Omnea is a proud moment for us.”
Ben Freeman, CEO and founder of Omnea
Omnea Expands as Enterprise Adoption Accelerates
Omnea said its revenue tripled in the 12 months to June 2026, representing its third consecutive year of more than threefold growth.
Enterprises including PayPal, Just Eat and T. Rowe Price selected the platform during the first half of 2026. Global headcount increased 64 per cent during the same period, while its New York team grew 250 per cent as adoption in the US increased.
Van Keulen added: “The next generation of procurement innovation won’t be measured by how many workflows it automates or agents it implements. It will be measured by how intelligently it helps businesses make better decisions. I’m excited to build that future with Omnea.”
This article was produced by the editorial team at Supply Chain Outlook and published as part of the Outlook Publishing global network of B2B industry magazines.
Outlook Publishing delivers industry insights, company stories, and sector coverage across supply chains, manufacturing, mining, construction, healthcare, food production, and sustainability.
Supply Chain Outlook provides ongoing coverage of organisations and developments shaping the global logistics and supply chain sector.
