Navigate26: Scenes and Highlights from NYC

The “true north” of travel and expense (T&E) has shifted. On Wednesday, May 13, hundreds of architects of world-class T&E programs gathered at The Glasshouse in New York City to stop reacting to industry shifts and start steering through them.

From big‑picture trends to product innovation previews, Navigate26 packed a full day of ideas, announcements, and inspiration. Below are some photos of the day, followed by a recap of the main moments and takeaways from the stage in New York City.

Scenes from NYC

Full Session Recap

9:30 a.m. — Welcome

Speaker: Ariel Cohen, Co-Founder & CEO, Navan

“This year was a pivotal year for Navan and the entire industry,” said Ariel, as he opened Navigate to a packed room. “First, we recently turned 11 — the same year that we took Navan public. It’s also the year that more customers have joined our platform than ever, in a pace that keeps accelerating.”

He continued: “Business travel is the most important part of running a business. .... We can no longer afford to use outdated systems and old models.”

9:40 a.m. — State of the Industry

Speaker: Michael Sindicich, President, Navan

Michael set the tone for the day with a recap on the State of the Industry.

“For the past 7 years in a row, we’ve run a survey in tandem with Skift of thousands of business travelers and T&E managers,” he said. “And 90% of those surveyed agreed that meeting in person is always more effective than meeting virtually. The key word there is always.”

Michael also recapped this winter’s East Coast storms and how they drove an 82% spike in support chats. Our AI agent Ava:

• Handled 30K+ chats
• Resolved 55% without a human
• Kept CSAT at 80%+

“At Navan, we believe there should not be any excuse that there’s disruption happening in the world and we can support you,” he said.

10 a.m. — Customer Panel: Operating at Scale in a New Era of T&E

Speakers:

• Christy Orazi, Chief Data and Financial Operations Officer, MUFG
• Sarah Harse, Indirect Sourcing Executive, GE HealthCare
• Jerome Barley, Head of Global Travel & Expense, DoorDash
• Ofer Ben-David, Chief Operating Officer, Navan

Senior leaders from global enterprises compared how they’re modernizing travel and expense in an environment where the mandate is to do more, move faster, and still keep employees happy. They shared how they’re rethinking T&E as a strategic lever rather than a back-office utility — using real-time data, automation, and tighter policy controls to manage risk across dozens of countries and currencies.

Panelists dug into the practical trade-offs between control and experience, and how they’ve simplified booking and expensing for travelers while consolidating data for finance. They also discussed how AI and integrated platforms are helping them standardize processes, improve compliance, and uncover savings that go far beyond simple rate reductions.

A recurring theme: The organizations that win are the ones treating T&E as an engine for growth — supporting faster sales cycles, stronger customer relationships, and better employee satisfaction.

11:15 a.m. — Product Keynote

Speakers:

• Dane Molter, SVP, Travel Marketplace, Navan
• Yuval Refua, Chief Product Officer, Payments & Expense, Navan

Dane and Yuval showed how the latest Navan product innovations will elevate the user experience, streamline admin operations, and maximize program value.

They showed how Navan plans to 10x T&E:

• On the traveler side, Dane and Yuval previewed AI-powered expensing that feels “invisible”: 73% of Navan card transactions require zero manual work today. In fact, one user submitted 24 receipts in just 56 seconds using Expense Chat. For booking, they demoed a conversational AI experience that can understand preferences like “hip neighborhoods,” search across millions of properties and global flight/rail/car options, and complete bookings — all while taking policy into account.
• For leaders, they introduced an AI Audit Engine that reviews every transaction in real time using 45+ configurable checks — a tool that’s already caught more than 53,000 cases of excessive tipping this year. Dane and Yuval also unveiled the new Admin Companion: an AI coworker that lets admins query their program in plain language, surface where spend is leaking, and benchmark against peers. Soon, this engine will even be able to simulate and execute policy changes — always with humans in control.

“Our philosophy is that we will always provide your users with an incredible experience, as that is ultimately what drives program adoption,” said Dane.

1:15 – Breakout Sessions

Speakers:

• Kathy Burdge, Senior Manager, Global Travel & Expense, Adobe
• Juan Francos, Regional Manager, Digital Sales, United Airlines
• Cheryl Reynolds, Vice President, Distribution Partnerships, Hertz
• Chris Wilding, Senior Vice President, Air Distribution, Sabre
• Kate McCarthy, SVP, Product Design, Navan
• Jamie Moore, SVP Strategic Business Transformation, MiTek
• Jason Wong, SVP, Finance & Treasurer, Claritev
• Katarina Axenfeld, Senior Director of Procurement, Nasdaq
• Julia Jansen-Mannes, SVP Account Management and Customer Success, Navan
• Eric Rhode, Head of Travel & Expense, OpenAI
• Lisa Mackay, Global Travel & Expense Manager, Pinterest
• Michelle Fontaine, Director of Global Travel & Events, Okta
• Kim Hamer, Chief Travel Advisory Officer, Navan
• Emily Vanidestine, Head of Financial Operations, Snap Inc.
• Laura Torsiello, Associate Director, Global Accounts Payable, Bumble
• Georgii Sokolianskyi, Global Head of Operations, Uber for Business
• Brandon Flood, Chief Accounting Officer, Navan

In the afternoon breakouts, travel and finance leaders split into two tracks to dig deeper into the future of T&E.

• On the travel side, panelists unpacked how the business travel marketplace is shifting — from new distribution models and direct connections to changing supplier strategies — and what that means for program design, content access, and traveler choice. They then explored how to move beyond viewing travel as a pure cost center, sharing playbooks for winning executive buy-in, building “stickiness” with frequent travelers, and turning trips into a lever for growth, loyalty, and long-term value.
• On the finance side, leaders focused on how AI, macro uncertainty, and “do more with less” mandates are reshaping the function. Sessions examined how to use T&E as a strategic advantage: standardizing processes across entities, surfacing real-time risk, and using automation to reduce manual work from spend to close.

A recurring theme across both tracks: The organizations that are pulling ahead are those using integrated, AI-driven T&E to improve control and compliance while simultaneously delivering a better experience for travelers and stakeholders.

3:10 p.m. — AI Keynote: Intelligent T&E

Speaker: Ilan Twig, Co-Founder & CTO, Navan

Ilan walked on stage to roaring applause and began his talk by drawing on his 91‑year‑old father’s life to frame a bigger point: The gap between major revolutions has collapsed from tens of thousands of years to just a few. In the last two decades alone we’ve gone from mobile (2007) to AI (2016), generative AI (2022), agents (2025), and now OpenClaw (2026).

Key moments from his talk:

• Travel’s most recent revolutions: Pre‑internet, the top 5 travel agencies were worth about $10B combined; today’s leading OTAs are worth roughly $220B, thanks to the internet and mobile. That growth gave travelers 24/7 access to hundreds of options — but also made them do all the filtering, changing, and fixing themselves.
• Why raw LLMs aren’t enough: Generative AI promised to “replace everything,” but Ilan was blunt about why that hasn’t happened: Hallucinations, jailbreaks, attention limits, and bias mean you can’t safely put plain LLMs in charge of mission‑critical travel decisions.
• Agentic AI in the real world: Navan’s answer is agents, not chatbots. Ava, Navan’s AI travel agent, has been live since 2023 — handling 8,000 chats per day with zero wait time, 80%+ CSAT (on par with human agents), and fully resolving 55% of support interactions — by orchestrating more than 200 specialized tools across the Navan Cloud.
• From features to responsibilities: Ilan demonstrated TravelClaw, built on OpenClaw concepts, which doesn’t just respond to prompts — it takes responsibility for outcomes. “TravelClaw is autonomous. … Fundamentally what it is about is being responsible to anticipate problems and come up with solutions,” he said.

He closed by reiterating: “We had a vision from day one. What drives us is what’s best for the user. As new technologies show up, it’s my role to explore how we can use it.”

4 p.m. — Navigating the Future of Global Travel: In Conversation With Shai Weiss

Speakers:

• Shai Weiss, Board Member, Navan; Former CEO, Virgin Atlantic
• Erika White, Chief Marketing Officer, Navan

From helping to turn Virgin Atlantic into one of aviation’s most admired challenger brands to joining Navan’s board, Shai has spent his career at the front lines of disruption. In our fireside chat, he shared why he believes travel is the “ultimate team sport,” why AI will supercharge — not sideline — the industry, and how a clear mission can unite teams through any turbulence. Here are a few standout moments from the conversation:

• On leading through disruption: “A team that is united around a singular mission cannot be divided.”
• On what AI really means for travel: “Travel is not going anywhere. AI is only going to enhance the travel industry.”
• On the power of in‑person connection: “Travel is the big unlock. It’s our job to prove to people that engaging and selling are intertwined with being face‑to‑face.”
• On why business travel is more important than ever: “People still do business with people, therefore travel for corporations is not going away.”

5 p.m. — Closing Remarks

Speaker: Michael Riegel, Chief Customer Officer, Navan

Michael closed out Navigate by returning to the theme that ran through the entire day: the power of being together. “There’s nothing stronger than in-person connections,” he told the audience, underscoring why travel — and getting people in the same room — matters more than ever in a digital-first world.

He then left the room with one final reveal: Navigate is going global. Navan will bring the event to Paris in October 2026, gathering travel and finance leaders from across Europe and beyond. Details are coming soon.