Wednesday, November 5

12:45-2:00 pm

Assistant, Agent… or Imposter?

Chris Kendrick, CEO, Mercury

The staffing industry is awash with AI talk, so in this session, we ask, “Do recruiters feel empowered by these tools, or overshadowed by them?” How do recruiters really feel about working alongside “digital colleagues”? Agentic technology promises to handle sourcing, workflows, and candidate engagement autonomously. Will these free recruiters to focus on relationships, or will it edge them out of the process? This interactive roundtable will explore the boundaries of augmentation vs. automation, and what the “future recruiter” might look like. You’ll leave with: A forward-looking perspective on how agentic AI is reshaping recruiter roles and could create the biggest cultural and operational shifts. A framework to evaluate which tasks should be automated vs. human led. Actionable steps to future-proof recruiter skills and business models.

 

Beyond the Demo: How to Evaluate an AI Recruiter That Actually Works for You

Aaron Wang, Founder & CEO, Alex.com

Every vendor promises “AI for recruiting”, but how do you tell what’s real? This roundtable helps staffing leaders cut through the noise. We’ll explore what questions to ask, how to pressure-test an AI recruiter in real scenarios, and what signals to look for around reliability, bias, scalability, and data integrity. Learn how to separate shiny features from long-term value.

 

Candidate Fraud. Should we be worried?

Ken Schumacher, CEO & Founder, Ropes

In an era where AI can craft flawless cover letters and simulate technical expertise during interviews, staffing professionals face unprecedented challenges in candidate verification. What began as simple resume embellishments has evolved into sophisticated technical impersonation that threatens the very foundation of talent acquisition.

 

Join the founder of Ropes for a data-driven exploration of how candidate deception is transforming in the AI age.

 

Cultivating a Performance-Driven Culture with ITIL

Ken Jarvis, Business Development Manager Americas, PeopleCert

Building a performance-driven culture is more than meeting targets. It’s about creating an environment where teams focus on outcomes, deliver value, and adapt as business needs change. In this round table, we’ll discuss how ITIL can support this culture today and share thoughts on what future ITIL updates can bring to help leaders and teams keep raising the bar.

 

Driving Results Through AI Recruiter Agent

Tim Robbins, VP of Sales, ConverzAI

Explore how AI Recruiter Agents are transforming staffing by automating workflows and enhancing candidate engagement to deliver faster and more hires. In this interactive session, you’ll hear how staffing leaders are adopting AI-powered solutions, exchange best practices with peers, and discuss strategies for selecting the right technology partners. Walk away with actionable ideas, new insights, and connections to help your teams thrive in the evolving staffing landscape.

 

Healthcare Benefits as a Competitive Edge

Jim Janesky, Principal, Forest Hills Advisory LLC

Discuss how supplemental healthcare plans can create a competitive and economic edge for your company.  LLH Healthcare offers supplemental plans that are zero co-pay for telemedicine, prescriptions, mental health and coaching.  The plans also increase the take home pay for the employee while lowering taxes for the employer.  Designed for staffing firms, the offering can increase recruitment and retention of employees, which creates a competitive edge versus employers that don't offer the plans.

 

Immigration During Trump 2.0

Anthony Zarate, Managing Attorney, Envoy Global

During this roundtable, we will discuss the changes to the business immigration landscape during Trump’s second term in office. We will touch on any and all matters that may impact your visa-holding employees, as well as identify potential changes to next year’s H-1B CAP Lottery.

 

Is Your Business Ready for Investment? Unlocking Capital in the Lower Middle Market

Chad Gardiner, Sr Managing Director, Griffin

This topic targets business owners seeking capital to fuel growth, whether through private equity, debt financing, or strategic partnerships. Many lower middle market firms struggle to access capital due to size or operational complexity. This topic invites discussion on preparing for investment.

• "What challenges are you facing in securing capital to fund growth or operations?"
• "How are you preparing your business to attract private equity or strategic investors?"
• "What metrics or processes are you prioritizing to demonstrate value to potential investors?"
• "Many lower middle market firms often face issues with financial transparency—how are you addressing this?"

 

Stop renting your talent funnel

Travis Arnold, CEO / Co-Founder, Boostie

Are traditional marketing tactics still cutting it?

Candidate acquisition costs are rising, applicant quality is dropping, and candidates expect a frictionless experience. This roundtable digs into what’s broken in talent marketing and how to fix it. We’ll explore how to engage passive candidates, reactivate dormant ATS talent, and stop renting your talent funnel so you can take control. Discussion will focus on reducing wasted spend, improving candidate quality, and aligning marketing with recruiter priorities. Participants will share what’s working, what’s not, and what’s next, from smarter targeting to measuring ROI across the funnel. Designed for marketing, recruiting, and operations leaders, this session will challenge assumptions and spark fresh ideas to modernize your approach. Expect a candid, solutions-oriented conversation and leave with actionable strategies to attract better candidates and hire faster.

 

The Cost of Using Job Boards and Neglecting Your Internal Data

Liran Kotzer, CEO, Woo

Many staffing firms default to job boards while sitting on goldmines of untapped candidate data. This roundtable will explore the hidden costs of job board dependence — financial, operational, and strategic — and how firms can better leverage their own talent data. We’ll discuss practical approaches to reactivating dormant candidates, increasing match rates, and reducing client acquisition costs.

 

The Death of Passive Recruiting: What Job Hugging and AI Mean for You

Steve Vittorioso, Director of Strategy, Ceipal

“Job hugging is replacing job hopping,” according to the Wall Street Journal. The passive pipeline is drying up—and AI is rewriting the rules of engagement faster than ever. In this conversation, we’ll dig into the new reality: how proactive recruiters are winning, how AI is reshaping sourcing, and what it takes to reach talent that isn’t raising its hand.

 

The Leadership Antidote to Upheaval: Scaling Your Firm Through the Power of Relationships

Kendra Cato, Director of Strategic Partnerships, Advance Partners

Partnerships are a must have if you want to see your business grow. Developing them and nurturing them allows for fresh ideas, new connections and overall, a more positive culture. Join Advance Partners for a discussion on how to forge those relationships and our top tips on how to nurture them.

 

Turning Data into Your Competitive Advantage

Gabe Mendelsohn, Partnerships Lead, Woo

In IT & Engineering staffing, everyone has access to talent- but not everyone has the insight to win. This roundtable will focus on transforming raw data into a strategic differentiator. We’ll explore how firms are leveraging analytics, enrichment, and personalization to deliver faster fills, higher client satisfaction, and more resilient pipelines.

Thursday, November 6

11:45 am-1:00 pm

AI-Powered Tech Stacks: Full Capability, Lower Cost

Gabe Mendelsohn, Partnerships Lead, Woo

What functionality do staffing firms really need from their tech stack, and how can AI help deliver it without piling on more tools and spend?

In this roundtable, we’ll uncover how firms are rethinking infrastructure to achieve complete functionality with minimal tools.

Drawing on partnerships across the ecosystem, we’ll explore where consolidation makes sense, how adoption improves, and what a “lean but powerful” stack looks like in practice.

 

Assistant, Agent… or Imposter?

Chris Kendrick, CEO, Mercury

The staffing industry is awash with AI talk, so in this session, we ask, “Do recruiters feel empowered by these tools, or overshadowed by them?” How do recruiters really feel about working alongside “digital colleagues”? Agentic technology promises to handle sourcing, workflows, and candidate engagement autonomously. Will these free recruiters to focus on relationships, or will it edge them out of the process? This interactive roundtable will explore the boundaries of augmentation vs. automation, and what the “future recruiter” might look like. You’ll leave with: A forward-looking perspective on how agentic AI is reshaping recruiter roles and could create the biggest cultural and operational shifts. A framework to evaluate which tasks should be automated vs. human led. Actionable steps to future-proof recruiter skills and business models.

 

Beyond the Demo: How to Evaluate an AI Recruiter That Actually Works for You

Aaron Wang, Founder & CEO, Alex.com

Every vendor promises “AI for recruiting”, but how do you tell what’s real? This roundtable helps staffing leaders cut through the noise. We’ll explore what questions to ask, how to pressure-test an AI recruiter in real scenarios, and what signals to look for around reliability, bias, scalability, and data integrity. Learn how to separate shiny features from long-term value.

 

Candidate Fraud. Should we be worried?

Ken Schumacher, CEO & Founder, Ropes

In an era where AI can craft flawless cover letters and simulate technical expertise during interviews, staffing professionals face unprecedented challenges in candidate verification. What began as simple resume embellishments has evolved into sophisticated technical impersonation that threatens the very foundation of talent acquisition.

 

Join the founder of Ropes for a data-driven exploration of how candidate deception is transforming in the AI age.

 

Cultivating a Performance-Driven Culture with ITIL

Ken Jarvis, Business Development Manager Americas, PeopleCert

Building a performance-driven culture is more than meeting targets. It’s about creating an environment where teams focus on outcomes, deliver value, and adapt as business needs change. In this round table, we’ll discuss how ITIL can support this culture today and share thoughts on what future ITIL updates can bring to help leaders and teams keep raising the bar.

 

Driving Results Through AI Recruiter Agent

Tim Robbins, VP of Sales, ConverzAI

Explore how AI Recruiter Agents are transforming staffing by automating workflows and enhancing candidate engagement to deliver faster and more hires. In this interactive session, you’ll hear how staffing leaders are adopting AI-powered solutions, exchange best practices with peers, and discuss strategies for selecting the right technology partners. Walk away with actionable ideas, new insights, and connections to help your teams thrive in the evolving staffing landscape.

 

Future-Proofing Compliance: AI, Contracts, and Employee Handbooks

Chris Leddy, Partner, Becker LLC

As staffing companies navigate rapid changes in technology, regulation, and workplace expectations, compliance risks are evolving faster than ever. This session will explore how emerging tools like artificial intelligence are reshaping compliance obligations, what to watch for when drafting and negotiating staffing contracts, and how to update employee handbooks to reflect today’s legal and cultural landscape. Attendees will gain practical strategies to proactively identify risks, implement policies, and ensure their organizations remain agile, compliant, and future-ready.

 

Healthcare Benefits as a Competitive Edge

Jim Janesky, Principal, Forest Hills Advisory LLC

Discuss how supplemental healthcare plans can create a competitive and economic edge for your company.  LLH Healthcare offers supplemental plans that are zero co-pay for telemedicine, prescriptions, mental health and coaching.  The plans also increase the take home pay for the employee while lowering taxes for the employer.  Designed for staffing firms, the offering can increase recruitment and retention of employees, which creates a competitive edge versus employers that don't offer the plans.

 

Scaling Revenue Without Headcount: Agentic AI + Data Enrichment

Liran Kotzer, CEO, Woo

Growth usually means adding recruiters — but what if it didn’t? This session examines how agentic AI and enriched ATS data can help staffing firms scale revenue without scaling headcount. We’ll cover where automation can free up recruiters’ time, how data enrichment sharpens outreach, and what a recruiter’s day looks like when AI is doing the heavy lifting.

 

Stop renting your talent funnel

Travis Arnold, CEO / Co-Founder, Boostie

Are traditional marketing tactics still cutting it?

Candidate acquisition costs are rising, applicant quality is dropping, and candidates expect a frictionless experience. This roundtable digs into what’s broken in talent marketing and how to fix it. We’ll explore how to engage passive candidates, reactivate dormant ATS talent, and stop renting your talent funnel so you can take control. Discussion will focus on reducing wasted spend, improving candidate quality, and aligning marketing with recruiter priorities. Participants will share what’s working, what’s not, and what’s next, from smarter targeting to measuring ROI across the funnel. Designed for marketing, recruiting, and operations leaders, this session will challenge assumptions and spark fresh ideas to modernize your approach. Expect a candid, solutions-oriented conversation and leave with actionable strategies to attract better candidates and hire faster.

 

The Silent Revenue Killer: Misalignment Between Sales, Marketing, and Tech

Lesly Cardec, CMO and SVP, Recruiting, ClearEdge

Sales and marketing teams should be working in lockstep with each other, with technology being the glue that binds them together, but the reality is often different. In this discussion, we’ll talk about what today’s buyer’s journey looks like and how cross-functional collaboration is now a requirement, as well as dive into how to synchronize messaging, leverage technology, and drive measurable growth.