Technology Leader Panel
Breakthroughs in Optimizing Cash Flow and Profitability
Supply chains are still unpredictable, tariffs keep shifting, and margins are under pressure. This panel shows what distribution leaders are doing about it.
Cash flow and profitability remain the most fundamental measures of a distribution business, yet both have become harder to manage in today’s environment. Continued supply chain volatility, shifting tariff policies, rising costs, and compressed margins are making financial forecasting more difficult and cash flow planning more unpredictable than at any point in recent memory.
In this Technology Leader Panel, distribution technology executives will share how they are using data, automation, and operational innovation to drive meaningful improvements in working capital, margin performance, and overall profitability — even amid conditions that resist easy prediction. From smarter inventory management and receivables optimization to pricing intelligence and cost structure analysis, panelists will offer concrete strategies and real-world results for stabilizing cash flow and protecting the bottom line.
Key Takeaways
- Practical approaches to improving working capital and accelerating cash conversion cycles
- Technology-enabled strategies for protecting and expanding margins under cost pressure
- Inventory optimization methods that reduce carrying costs without sacrificing service levels
- Receivables and payables management practices that strengthen cash flow
- Data and analytics capabilities that give leaders earlier visibility into profitability risks
What You’ll Learn
How analytics and financial visibility tools are helping distribution leaders forecast more accurately, spot profitability threats earlier, and respond faster when conditions change.
How distribution technology leaders are deploying tools and systems to identify and close margin leakage across the business, even as tariff changes and supply chain disruptions continue to shift the cost landscape.
Practical inventory optimization strategies that balance service level commitments with working capital efficiency in volatile sourcing environments.
Approaches to receivables management, including automation and credit risk monitoring, that improve cash conversion without straining customer relationships.
Host
Ian Heller
Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer, Distribution Strategy Group
Panelists
Conor Leen
Co-Founder and President, Lantern
Ryan Ayers
Co-Founder and CEO, Suppli
Ilia Papas
CEO, Band
sponsor
Bios
Ian Heller
Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer, Distribution Strategy Group
Ian Heller joined Grainger as a part-time truck unloader in college and left fifteen years later as the VP Marketing. Since then, he’s held senior executive positions at four other publicly-held firms, consulted with dozens of distributors, and continues to write and speak extensively on how AI, strategy, channel evolution, and other major trends affect the industry. Ian holds a B.A. in History from Roosevelt University and an MBA from the Kellogg School at Northwestern University.
Conor Leen
Co-Founder and President, Lantern
Conor Leen is the Co-Founder and President of Lantern, which helps wholesale distributors use machine learning to guide what, when, and how much they buy so they never stock out and never overbuy. Raised in the Irish midlands, Conor grew up in a close-knit community that valued hard work, respect, and integrity, values he sees reflected in the distribution industry. He spent over seven years at Google and Stripe, working closely with their machine learning teams, before pursuing his MBA at Stanford. There, he co-authored a thesis on distribution, interviewing over 200 industry executives and identifying forecasting as a shared challenge. He co-founded Lantern to help distributors solve this problem and now works with over 30 distributors to reduce stockouts, free up cash tied up in excess inventory, and save buyers hours of manual work.
Ryan Ayers
Co-Founder and CEO, Suppli
Ryan Ayers is the Co-Founder and CEO of Suppli, the digital credit teammate built for the physical economy that integrates with your ERP to monitor customers for changes in credit health, proactively manage dunning, and automate cash application. Under his leadership, Suppli has become a trusted industry partner recognized by AD, NAW, ISA, LMC and NACM.
Ilia Papas
CEO, Band
Ilia Papas is the CEO of Band (www.joinband.com), which automates rebates, special pricing agreements (SPAs), and other vendor programs for distributors and buying groups. For many distributors, 40 to 60 percent of bottom-line profit flows through these programs, yet most are still managed in spreadsheets and rarely audited. Band connects to a distributor’s ERP to load SPA pricing, file claims, and reconcile vendor payments, so less margin leaks and rebate cash arrives sooner. Electrical, plumbing, HVAC, and industrial distributors use Band today. Before Band, Ilia co-founded Blue Apron, helping grow it to $1B in revenue, 1 million customers and an IPO.