Schedule at a Glance
All Times are Eastern Standard • Times are Subject to Change
Tuesday, October 20, 2026
| Start | End | Title | Speaker(s) |
|---|
| 07:40am |
08:00am |
Login and Registration |
|
| 08:00am |
08:10am |
Conference Welcome and Kickoff |
Jeff Miller
President, SPCEA |
| 08:10am |
09:00am |
Keynote Session – From Cost Estimating to Cost Influence: Building an Impactful Cost Engineering Function |
Justin Quackenbush
Sr. Manager, Cost Engineering, Lucid Motors
|
| 09:00am |
09:05am |
Session Break |
|
| 09:05am |
09:45am |
Procurement Industry Trends & How Cost Engineering Can Help |
Lily Thomas
Principal Consultant, aPriori
|
| 09:45am |
09:50am |
Session Break |
|
| 09:50am |
10:30am |
Connecting the Dots on Cost: Forward-Looking Profitability Across the Product Lifecycle |
Nikhil Rastogi
Co-Founder & CEO, Vianta
|
| 10:30am |
10:45am |
Break |
|
| 10:45am |
11:25am |
Cost Engineering as a Benchmarking Partner |
Dan West
Cost Engineer, Advanced Vehicle Development, General Motors |
| 11:25am |
11:30am |
Session Break |
|
| 11:30am |
12:10pm |
Thriving in the Age of Constant Change |
Simona Pappalardo
Leadership & Culture Coach, Coaching With Simona |
| 12:10pm |
12:15pm |
Session Break |
|
| 12:15pm |
12:55pm |
The Cost Engineer Who Never Existed |
Omkara Cheetrala
Cost Estimation Software Implementation Expert |
Wednesday, October 21, 2026
| Start | End | Title | Speaker(s) |
|---|
| 08:00am |
08:10am |
Contributor of the Year Awards |
|
| 08:10am |
08:50am |
The Real EMS Cost Structure: Where PCBA Procurement Teams Systematically Leave Value on the Table |
Susanna Besate
Global Category Manager - Electronics, Eldor |
| 08:50am |
08:55am |
Session Break |
|
| 08:55am |
09:35am |
How We Actually Use AI: A Practitioner Panel |
Derrick Basler
Mike Quinn
Sandra Boniface
Jeff Miller, Facilitator |
| 09:35am |
09:40am |
Session Break |
|
| 09:40am |
10:20am |
Negotiating with Should-Cost Models: Partnering with Procurement to Capture Measurable Savings |
Mark Lotto
Principal Consultant, Product Cost Solutions |
| 10:20am |
10:35am |
Break |
|
| 10:35am |
11:15am |
Next-Gen Cost Intelligence through reliable AI and Automation |
Oliver Crombach
VP Sales, Tset |
| 11:15am |
11:20am |
Session Break |
|
| 11:20am |
12:00pm |
The Should-Cost Paradox: Why Accurate Models Don't Always Win the Negotiation. |
MM Kuppusamy
Global Cost Engineering Manager, Ballard Power Systems |
| 12:00pm |
12:05pm |
Session Break |
|
| 12:05pm |
12:45pm |
How AI Is Disrupting Cost Engineering and Procurement |
Amir Shahneshin
PartSpace
|
| 12:45pm |
12:50pm |
Conference Wrap-up |
Jeff Miller
President, SPCEA |
Use the hashtag #CECG2024 on Linkedin.
Conference Brochure
Stay Connected with the Conference
Connect with fellow attendees and stay up to date on the latest news from the Cost Engineering Global Conference by following SPCEA on LinkedIn. Join the conversation and share your insights using the hashtag #CEGC2025.
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