CIO 100 Leadership Live Chicago: Event Agenda
Get ready for a full day of actionable insights, expert sessions with IT leadership, and valuable networking opportunities focused on enterprise innovation, AI, and technology. The full agenda for CIO 100 Leadership Live, Chicago's premier CIO conference, is in process and more updates are coming soon!
Tuesday, October 13
AI may be dominating the enterprise agenda, but the success of those investments increasingly depends on what sits underneath them. Join fellow technology leaders for a candid discussion about the data, architecture and governance foundations required to move AI beyond experimentation and into meaningful business use. We’ll explore how organizations are navigating legacy complexity, creating trusted context for AI, aligning stakeholders and making the foundational investments needed to operationalize AI at scale.
Sponsored by Zoho
Pre-registration required. Register here.
Grab breakfast and coffee, find a seat, and meet the people you’ll be learning alongside all day.
Hear from CIOs who’ve been in the chair, the decisions that defined them, the projects that nearly broke them, and the lessons they wish someone had handed them earlier. Curated excerpts from the CIO Leadership Live interview series, selected because they’re honest and insightful.
Includes interviews with: Annie Baymiller, EVP & Global CIO, Owens Corning; Chris Nardecchia, CIDO, Rockwell Automation; Sastry Durvasula, Chief Operating, Information & Digital Officer, TIAA; Bob McCowan, Former CIO, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals and Deborah Youmans, VP & CIO, MITRE
Today’s bold CIOs are rewriting the rules of business transformation, and they’re doing it in real time, under real pressure, with real stakes. Join us to hear from a select group of courageously innovative technology leaders who will share the successes that are moving their organizations forward, along with the learn-from-failure moments that are reshaping their playbooks. These leaders help stakeholders rethink everything, from culture and talent, to how we work and architect the future of the business, to leveraging new operating models and technology strategically. No theory. No platitudes. No pretenders. Just practitioners speaking to practitioners, with candor, humility, and practical wisdom you can use to lead your team and company through transformation in the age of AI.
Most organizations have already invested in AI. The challenge now is why the value isn’t spreading — and what it actually takes to change that. When AI stalls, it’s rarely the technology. It’s engineering and design problems — operating models not built for continuous evolution, data that isn’t connected and the hidden costs of scaling AI, including unplanned tokenization and infrastructure spend, that erode value before it compounds.
PwC leaders and a client peer explore what it takes to move from AI strategy to running and evolving the intelligent enterprise in practice — from operating model and workforce changes to how you build production-grade systems and measure engineering performance that moves the business forward.
Coffee, vendor conversations, and the hallway discussions that can be just as engaging as the sessions. Take the time. These unplanned moments often become the ones you remember most.
Transformation rarely goes according to plan. CIOs break down the real costs behind major initiatives, including budget overruns, organizational friction, and failed bets. This session focuses on what leaders learned the hard way and how they course-corrected to deliver results that stuck.
AI has dramatically lowered the barriers to building software, putting powerful development tools into the hands of employees across the business. For CIOs, the challenge is no longer simply enabling AI, it’s creating the governance, operating models, and guardrails that allow innovation to scale without sacrificing control. Join this conversation with Retool’s COO Mike Blank to explore how technology leaders are redefining the role of IT as software creation becomes democratized across the enterprise.
Join a conversation of your choice to listen, learn and share experiences around the table.
Open Data Infrastructure: Building an AI-Ready Data Foundation, hosted by Fivetran
Unlocking AI ROI with TBM-Driven Cost Visibility, hosted by Apptio
Balancing Innovation Speed with Data Risk in a Modern Enterprise, hosted by Perforce Delphix
Enjoy lunch with fellow leaders, and connect with our sponsors to explore solutions that can support your most pressing challenges.
The next generation of leaders are invited to this curated career development and networking luncheon designed specifically for high-potential technology leaders who are not yet in the C-suite, but well on their way.
Pre-registration required.
AI agent adoption has moved from experimentation to productization at scale, which introduces both innovation and risks stemming from AI. This session examines the threats at play and how CISOs can unlock business growth while securing their organizations at machine speed and ultimately maintain trust with customers. Learn how organizations are balancing speed, innovation, and security in high stakes environments. Come with questions.
The AI conversation often focuses on what organizations need to build next but CIOs are also responsible for decades of applications, data, infrastructure, and technical debt already in place. This discussion explores how leaders are modernizing the enterprise application estate without disrupting the business, make legacy data usable for AI, and decide what to rebuild, replace, integrate, or leave alone as AI changes the technology roadmap.
Top investors share where they are placing bets, which technologies are overhyped, and what signals CIOs should pay attention to. This session helps technology leaders separate real innovation from noise and align their roadmaps with where the market is heading. Come with questions!
The pace of change is accelerating. In this closing conversation, CIOs reflect on what’s coming next, from AI economics to organizational redesign. Attendees will leave with a clear sense of priorities and the decisions that will define success in the near future. Come with questions!
The day’s conversations don’t have to end here. Drinks, connections, and chat with attendees and speakers.