CEO MONTHLY / JUNE 2026 8 n a mission to unlock local agency procurement through a marketplace that saves both time and the taxpayer’s dollars, Civic Marketplace offers a platform that empowers government procurement offices to make purchases simpler, without sacrificing legal compliance. This cutting-edge technology brings transparency and efficiency to the world of public service delivery, and access to its network of diverse and reliable vendors helps to support local economies whilst preserving the trust that is so important in this environment. Its marketplace, which it has co-designed and bolstered through the power of AI, sees proven and highly-rated vendors matched with local government agency contracts. With government procurement suffering from the same challenges regarding outdated systems, inefficient processes, and limited staff, this is a win-win situation benefiting procurement leaders and vendors alike, not to mention the people who ultimately benefit from the goods and services. “We are the only platform that has a modern UX and is simultaneously compliance-safe, AI-native, smallvendor accessible, and ecosystemoriented. The category we’re creating is enormous – and we’re the only team positioned to lead it.” Built to close the gap that other platforms in the market seem incapable of doing, Civic Marketplace’s redefining solution can be attributed to the bright minds behind it, especially that of CEO Al Hleileh. A visionary entrepreneur, civic innovator, and the cofounder of Civic Marketplace, Al is now a twotime founder with a strong track record of scaling mission-based ventures, thanks to the strategic foresight and relentless execution he brings to the table. This makes him a great leader in the world of public procurement. Procurement may be his latest venture, but it is far from Al’s first taste of leadership and scaling in the wider realm of technology and data analytics. For instance, prior to launching Civic Marketplace in late 2023, Al played a major role in heading up technology and data analytics for Delivery Associates, a London-based consultancy specialising in impact for governmental and social impact organisations. AI-Powered Procurement Platform for Local Government Today, procurement faces outdated technology, understaffed teams, and a discernible lack of innovation. Leaders in this space end up spending too much of their time on compliance and ticking boxes, and vendors struggle to get noticed and navigate the complexities of this changing landscape. Civic Marketplace helps to remedy both of these problems, and we caught up with Al Hleileh, its awardwinning CEO, in the wake of his recognition as the Most Influential CEO 2026 – Public Procurement (UK & USA). Al’s expertise in digital transformation and data-driven decision making in particular contributed to some monumental case studies for the company, and his leadership was marked by actionable insights, optimised performance, and maximum impact for its clients, all thanks to his leveraging of analytic data. This is just one example, as he also shaped product and analytics strategy at Spring (formerly Teespring), a Californiabased, verticalised commerce platform spanning the entire supply chain, from ideation to delivery. Besides these impressive former placements, Al’s contributions to data-driven governance have been widely recognised, with his work being featured in the likes of ‘City Heroes: Celebrating Data and Analytics Innovators’, a web post created by the National League of Cities and focusing on how cities like Fort Worth, San Jose, and Knoxville are all leading the charge when it comes to leveraging data to create efficient and responsive public services. Al has also worked on hands-on projects in Youngstown, OH, and Stanford, CT. Stanford actually holds a particularly strong place in Al’s heart, as he received an MBA from there in 2012 and has since returned to the university for a collaboration that saw them utilise SafeGraph foot traffic data to help the city optimise its peak-hour monitoring and vaccine penetration analysis, ultimately demonstrating how cities can harness the power of analytics to improve decision making on a massive scale. These experiences all feed into his leadership of Civic Marketplace, and Al’s data-driven approach sees procurement streamlined and governments and small businesses supported with actionable insights that help transform their operations for the better. The result is a company that is forever changing the way communities connect, collaborate, and contract, as well as securing economic opportunities through technology and analytics. Civic Marketplace thus stands as a category-defining force in the field of procurement and beyond. O Contact: Al Hleileh Company: Civic Marketplace Web Address: https://www. civicmarketplace.com/?r=0
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