Why has Lio Appointed Jared Petras to Lead US Growth?

Jared Petras has been appointed Head of US Growth for Lio, following his work with the company during his time at Walmart.

Lio (formerly askLio) empowers global enterprises with the world's most advanced AI procurement workforce. Through a coordinated network of specialised AI agents, Lio eliminates manual workflows to fundamentally redefine corporate procurement.

The appointment comes as Lio continues its growth journey, following on from US$30m in Series A funding that is helping the team accelerate product development and fuel its expansion into the US market.

From Walmart to Lio

The work has been reinforced by the appointment of Jared Petras as Head of US Growth. Jared joins the team from Walmart, where he worked as Senior Director of Digital Transformation for Procurement and led the company's work with Lio on an engagement which paved the path to him joining the company he had helped bring on board.

Now at Lio, Jared will spearhead the company's go-to-market strategy across North America – harnessing his network of Fortune 100 companies and a career full of experience in enterprise procurement.

Vision and timing

The appointment of Jared is a rare convergence of vision and timing. He has worked for years to develop a concept he described internally as an "agentic procurement neuronetwork", a system designed to understand users within their organisational context and autonomously execute work on their behalf.

After a long search for a company building that vision, he found it in a conversation with Lio CEO, Vladimir Keil. Shortly after, discussions about him joining the team began.

“I would not have made this move for any other company,” says Jared.

“I began my career as a buyer, progressed to leading global categories, and ultimately led digital transformation across Walmart’s global procurement operations.

“I’ve spent years navigating the complexity of procurement at scale, with experience spanning organisations of varying size and maturity. I understand what this problem actually feels like because I’ve experienced it first-hand across every level of procurement. I am bringing that perspective to Lio to help enterprises transition to a more autonomous, AI-driven procurement model and to continue shaping the product through a practitioner lens.”

“What Jared brings isn’t a rolodex. It’s credibility,” says Vladimir.

“He’s operated at the highest level of enterprise procurement, he’s seen what our agents do from the inside, and he thought about this problem long before he met us.

"That’s exactly the person you want opening doors in the US market.”

Scaling AI-driven procurement across the enterprise

Lio's multi-agent system manages billions in enterprise spend across Fortune 500 and Global 2000 companies, delivering an 85% reduction in manual work, 10% incremental savings and a 93% cut in BPO costs – all while maintaining 100% customer retention.

Unlike traditional copilots or surface-level SaaS solutions, Lio integrates seamlessly on top of existing ERP infrastructure, allowing enterprises to completely transform their procurement operations without costly rip-and-replace implementations.

Since launching in 2023, Lio's agents have managed billions of dollars in enterprise spend for dozens of Global 2000 and Fortune 500 companies worldwide.

Its rapidly expanding customer base features industry giants like Munich Re, the world's largest reinsurer; Brose, one of the world's largest family-owned automotive suppliers; and Novozymes, a global leader in biological solutions.

Beyond these leaders, Lio's technology is trusted by major enterprises spanning chemicals, postal services, retail, transportation, medical technology and pharmaceuticals.