CIO Vision Chicago 2026

Registration & Coffee

Welcome & Introductions

Introduction to the CDO Vision Series, its core objectives, and the key themes driving the day's strategic discussions.

The Vision Talk: AI Transformation - New Ways Of Working

The next phase moves AI beyond pilots into how the enterprise actually runs. Priorities follow business value and ROI, starting with supply chain, customer service, order entry, and software development. A dedicated enablement team drives delivery on a foundation of disciplined buy-versus-build decisions, a secure platform and AI-ready data products. Tiers of training builds an AI-first culture, while live governance policies keep adoption responsible and fast.

Panel Discussion: Beyond the Business Case: When Does AI Investment Actually Pay Off?

Every senior leader is under pressure to show that AI spend translates to business value, but the path from investment to measurable outcomes is rarely linear. This panel brings together executives to share unfiltered perspectives on how they are defining, measuring, and communicating success for AI at the enterprise level, holding their organizations accountable to results, and making the tough call on when to double down, pivot, or walk away. From navigating board expectations and financial scrutiny to recalibrating strategy when pilots don't deliver, panelists will discuss what it genuinely takes to turn AI ambition into sustained competitive advantage. This is not a conversation about technology. It is about leadership, accountability, and the strategic choices that separate AI leaders from AI laggards.

Networking Break

Panel Discussion : Transforming Industries with AI: Enterprise Success Stories

As AI adoption expands from experimentation to enterprise-level implementation, understanding sector-spanning success stories becomes essential. This panel will explore how AI drives operational efficiency, smarter decision-making, and personalized experiences at scale. Leaders will discuss methods to align AI initiatives with business goals and address pressing issues around ethics, governance, and workforce adaptation. Panelists will examine methods for turning AI insights into actionable strategies that impact business performance.

Panel Discussion: Agentic AI and the Future of Enterprise Growth

The future of enterprise growth is closely tied to the adoption of agentic AI, which offers capabilities far beyond traditional AI by enabling autonomous execution. This panel will examine how agentic AI enables continuous improvement in business processes, drives competitive differentiation through faster innovation cycles, and supports customer experiences. Leaders will discuss how to build resilient enterprise architectures that fully leverage agentic AI’s potential. They will also explore strategies for aligning AI initiatives with organizational goals, addressing ethical and governance considerations, and preparing the workforce for AI-driven transformation.

Open Roundtable: The Hidden Cost of AI at Scale

Enterprise AI initiatives in 2026 carry costs that never appear on roadmaps - workforce trust under pressure, ungoverned tools spreading faster than policy can follow, and fragmented stacks that accumulated before anyone had a consolidation strategy. This roundtable examines the operational realities that keep leaders up at night: how to drive AI adoption without losing the people you need, how to govern what you can no longer fully see, and how to build toward agentic AI when the foundation beneath it was never designed to scale.

Lunch & Networking