This opening session sets the tone for the day by engaging directors and CEOs in a shared leadership conversation about how organizations govern AI as it accelerates from experimentation to enterprise impact. Rather than focusing on specific use cases and debating winners and losers, the discussion will center on the board–management partnership: how C-Suites and Boards stay aligned as AI reshapes how decisions are made, who makes them, and how quickly consequences materialize when the pace of change outstrips traditional oversight models.
The format is deliberately interactive. A panel of CEOs will frame a small number of foundational questions—about pace, accountability, escalation, and governance boundaries—and then turn the conversation to the room. Attendees will break into short table discussions to reflect on how these tensions are playing out inside their own organizations, before returning to the panel to surface patterns. The session culminates in a shared view of the leadership agenda boards and CEOs must own together in 2026: how to move with urgency while strengthening—not eroding—the trust that underpins long-term value.
Board member, Sunrun, TrueBlue; Advisor, Sway Ventures; Former Technology Executive, HP Inc.
Fmr. Chief AI Officer, Avanade; Author, The Handbook for Chief AI Officers and We the People: Human Purpose in a Digital Age
This highly interactive session will help directors and CEOs pinpoint where AI is creating—or quietly eroding—value faster than boards expect. A panel of experts will frame the conversation with pointed questions: why some companies escape pilot purgatory while others stall, which business models are already shifting under AI pressure, and what early signals indicate an initiative is drifting off course.
Then the real work begins. After each panel exchange, participants will break into rapid table discussions to pressure-test the ideas against their own organizations—surfacing hidden value, diagnosing barriers to speed, and debating which AI bets should be accelerated or abandoned. It’s a working session designed to connect expert perspective with real-world boardroom implications by sparking debate and challenging leaders to look differently at where competitive advantage will emerge next.
Questions You’ll Answer:
Chief Technology Officer, Capital Access Platforms, Nasdaq
Head of AI and Modern Data Strategy, Amazon Web Services
Imagine this:
These aren’t hypotheticals—they’re happening now. Throughout the day, short AI Interstitials will spotlight startups already redefining these markets—collapsing cost structures, resetting customer expectations, and moving from prototype to scale in weeks, not years. Each interstitial offers a focused glimpse into where disruption is taking hold—and why boards and CEOs of large enterprises cannot afford to move slowly as AI rewrites the competitive landscape.
Chief Technology Officer, Capital Access Platforms, Nasdaq
Head of AI and Modern Data Strategy, Amazon Web Services
AI systems are shifting from tools that support human work to agents that initiate actions, make decisions, and coordinate across systems. Some already operate at speeds and levels of autonomy that sit outside traditional management and review processes.
If an AI agent takes an action that materially affects customers, regulators, or markets, who is accountable and how would the board know it happened? This briefing clarifies why agentic AI introduces a fundamentally different governance challenge than earlier automation and where existing oversight models fall short. It sets the context for a deeper, hands-on working session later in the day.
Chief Technology Officer, Capital Access Platforms, Nasdaq
Head of AI and Modern Data Strategy, Amazon Web Services
During lunch, attendees select one of three concurrent workshops designed for deeper, application-focused learning in smaller groups.
This workshop gives directors a clearer, more practical way to oversee AI risk without getting pulled into technical detail. Using real examples of model drift, explainability gaps, and third-party vulnerabilities, we’ll examine where governance frameworks often break down—and the essential questions boards should be asking before approving or scaling any AI initiative. You’ll also explore how to set the right reporting rhythms with management so issues surface early, not after the fact. Attendees will leave with a board-ready AI Risk Dashboard template that offers a simple, repeatable way to evaluate exposure, track controls, and strengthen oversight in a fast-moving regulatory environment.
As interest in agentic AI accelerates, boards face a new strategic question: not whether agents are possible, but where they make sense. Boards are increasingly being asked to approve initiatives without a clear strategic frame for why agents are being deployed—and to what end. This workshop will help directors and CEOs evaluate the strategic business case and operating implications for agentic AI before questions of oversight, controls, and accountability arise. The discussion will focus on when agentic AI should be viewed as workforce augmentation rather than automation, how operating models and organizational design must adapt, and why architectural choices—such as sovereign or enterprise-controlled agents—matter more than most boards realize. We’ll focus on the questions boards should be asking management at the decision stage: what problem is truly being solved, what human roles are being changed, and what dependencies are being created that may be difficult to unwind later.
This workshop will help directors and CEOs understand how AI is reshaping roles, skills, and organizational dynamics—and what it will take for their workforce to keep pace. We’ll explore where AI is accelerating work and where it’s creating friction, helping you identify the cultural, incentive, and capability shifts required to ensure teams adopt AI with confidence rather than fear. The discussion will surface critical talent gaps that can slow or derail AI strategies and clarify how boards should evaluate whether management’s workforce plan is truly credible. Attendees will leave with a 12-Month Workforce Readiness Plan to guide board discussions on reskilling, change enablement, and building an AI-ready culture.
Participants will break into a second set of concurrent workshops to look at what boards must be asking next.
Generative AI is rapidly becoming a quiet but powerful partner in board oversight—helping directors synthesize complex materials, compare strategic scenarios, and challenge management’s assumptions with greater precision. In this practical, hands-on session, we’ll show how boards are incorporating AI into their meeting preparation, committee work, and strategic reviews without crossing the line into management territory.
The focus is on governance, not software: simple prompts that elevate oversight, examples of how AI can streamline agenda prep and risk reviews, and the boundaries directors must uphold to avoid accuracy, confidentiality, and over-reliance pitfalls. You’ll leave with a practical “Boardroom AI Quick-Start Guide” outlining the 5 highest-value, lowest-risk ways directors can begin using AI immediately.
AI is transforming cybersecurity on both sides of the equation—giving defenders new tools while dramatically increasing the speed, scale, and sophistication of attacks. This workshop will help directors and CEOs understand how AI is changing the threat landscape, from automated phishing and deepfakes to AI-driven vulnerability discovery and response. We’ll examine how attackers are exploiting organizational lag, where traditional cyber controls fall short, and what boards should expect from management as AI becomes embedded in security operations. Participants will leave with a clearer view of how AI alters cyber risk oversight, what “AI-ready” cyber governance looks like, and how boards can pressure-test resilience before an incident exposes gaps.
AI is rapidly reshaping how deals are sourced, evaluated, and integrated—often in ways boards don’t fully see. This workshop explores how leading companies are using AI to accelerate diligence, surface hidden risks, assess cultural and operational fit, and improve post-deal integration outcomes—while also examining where over-reliance on AI, poor data quality, or weak governance can quietly undermine deal value. Attendees will leave with a practical lens for evaluating when AI strengthens M&A decisions—and when it introduces new, often invisible, risks.
In this 45-minute immersive, high-pressure simulation, attendees will step directly into a boardroom confronting an unfolding AI incident—one with real operational, ethical, and reputational consequences. You’ll receive a rapid-fire briefing, assess incomplete and conflicting information, and work as a “board” at your table to determine the company’s next move under time constraints and stakeholder scrutiny. As the scenario evolves, new facts, risks, and pressures will surface—forcing you to confront the judgment calls real directors face as AI systems misfire, drift, or behave unpredictably.
Each table will identify oversight gaps, debate the immediate decisions the board must make, and map how each option will either build or erode trust with customers, employees, regulators, and investors. The session will conclude with a debrief, comparing how different “boards” responded and extracting what this means for strengthening AI governance, reporting, and crisis readiness in your own organization.
CEO and Founder, Global Data Innovation; Author, Trust: Responsible AI, Innovation, Privacy and Data Leadership
AI regulation—both in the U.S. and abroad—is collapsing the distance between “we’re monitoring this” and actual board liability. This briefing will cut through the noise to focus on what matters most for public-company directors and executives: the enforcement trends already underway, the provisions of the EU AI Act that will hit U.S.-listed companies first, and the accelerating expectations emerging from the SEC, FTC, DOJ, and state attorneys general.
This isn’t a legal update—it’s a line-of-sight warning. You’ll walk away with a clear understanding of where regulators are concentrating scrutiny, where your disclosures and board processes are most exposed, and what must change now to avoid becoming the next headline example of AI oversight failure.
CEO and Founder, Global Data Innovation; Author, Trust: Responsible AI, Innovation, Privacy and Data Leadership
Throughout the day, short AI Interstitials will spotlight startups already redefining these markets—collapsing cost structures, resetting customer expectations, and moving from prototype to scale in weeks, not years. Each interstitial offers a focused glimpse into where disruption is taking hold—and why boards and CEOs of large enterprises cannot afford to move slowly as AI rewrites the competitive landscape.
CEO and Founder, Global Data Innovation; Author, Trust: Responsible AI, Innovation, Privacy and Data Leadership
As AI systems begin to initiate actions, interact with other systems, and adapt in real time, boards face a new oversight challenge: governing decision-making that occurs at machine speed, beyond traditional review cycles.
Using simplified demonstrations and real-world scenarios, we examine how AI agents already act inside organizations, including initiating actions, coordinating across systems, and escalating or failing to escalate issues with real financial, operational, and reputational impact. Participants will then assess these scenarios from a boardroom perspective, focusing on decision boundaries, human control, auditability, escalation, and accountability.
The session surfaces the core governance questions agentic AI creates around authority, controls, reporting, and fiduciary responsibility before these systems quietly scale.
Partner, Freshfields
Counsel, Freshfields; Former Investigative Counsel, US House of Representatives
What does it take to build AI at scale inside a complex, global enterprise? In this closing fireside conversation, we’ll sit down with a senior leader from a global organization that has successfully integrated AI across its business—from customer experience and operations to risk management and governance.
We’ll explore the strategic blueprint behind their transformation: how the board and C-suite aligned on priorities, how the company built trust into every stage of its AI development, and how leadership balanced innovation, risk, and culture to deliver measurable business results.
This conversation will pull together the themes of the day with a real-world example of what it looks like to lead responsibly at speed.
Chair, Deloitte US
President & Chief Legal Officer, Salesforce
This final discussion ensures every participant leaves with an actionable commitment tied directly to board leadership.
Questions You’ll Answer: