Field notes from the rooms where enterprise AI gets decidedNext room: Singapore & New York · 13 Nov 2026
CIO Vision

Leadership priorities

Talent & culture: what enterprise AI leaders are working on

37%

of 731 themed leaders · 267 leaders

AI strategy
59%
Digital transformation
53%
Operational efficiency
48%
Analytics & decisions
38%
Talent & culture
37%
Growth & partnerships
31%
Data platforms
28%
Data governance
26%
Customer experience
21%
Share of 731 themed leaders, by theme

Source: 731 CIO Vision leader profiles with at least one priority theme, from 739 leaders in the series. Leaders can be counted in more than one theme.

Leaders building the skills, structures and culture an AI-ready organisation needs. The focus is on hiring, upskilling, change management and getting teams to adopt new ways of working.

Leaders working on Talent & culture

All 267 leaders
Anil PrasadArchaana PattabhiiDouglas HegleyEmmanuel Bloch-FischIpshita ChakrabortyMichael ShawRam ThilakRohan ChopraSreenivas BollinaSujjath AhmedViking WongAarti JoshiDevesh MaheshwariGeorge GormanKurt BrissettAndrew LiEsther WuMichael FlynnRomain BarraudSayali PimpalkarSiva VenkatVincent SeeBob SpeakmanBrian BennEthiraj PurushothamanJake ElsonMayur NarsudeMichael GuoPeter VennelRichard LeatonRob MilsteadShashank KadetotadSiddharth GoyalVarun TottempudiAdi RahmanBudiman R.Darwin PosoDavid LiswandiDr. Irvan Bastian AriefEndy LambeyFrenny NaHendyanto ChengHerman WidjajaMadhan SeduramanWahyu WicaksanaYonatan Kristiono GunadiAlice HuangBehlul SakaBijan VafaeiBo PengCathy KiriakosCynthia PekronErin MittenGunjan KheraHung JeeJoe LiuMichelangelo D' AgostinoRamon BaezSamir ShahVijay RajandramKohei NishidaLi ShiyingxueMasato TakagiMatsutani AdelaMoran GelberAlain BoeyDr. Muhsin HassanFabian Teja BoegershausenGaurav ZutshiLim Kim WuiZaki PondrenAdam WasylyshynAlexander ShvetsDave MurrayDavid KeyserJackie CaraballoKamal DistellManish NigamMaria LaverghettaRandy YanoshakSam McElhinneySid ChopraSubhasis BhattacharyaTrang NguyenVictor DavidsonAlejandro SchainGopal RenganathanGurpreet AtwalJeff MorrisonKetan BabariaMigen ShehuParas DoshiRajit SahaSamiksha GourSharad MathurSuresh TeckchandaniYogesh KandlurAmish ChadhaJoe ChoMike TurnerMruna AsooriNachiket DesaiSailesh Bharathwaaj KrishnamurthyShuchi AgrawalTheodore JagrupAanchal DattaAisha KabaAradhna C.Bradd BusickDavid HeGajendra Babu ThokalaJim SmittkampJohn KahanMegan C. BrownNirmala SistlaPrukalpa SankarRandi LevinSuresh PunnaDalveen G.David R. HardoonDeep ThomasKhalid NizamiKshitij MulayLakshmi VenkateshManolis PerrakisSam KwongSantosh NairTan Kwan ChongVijayarajan SundararajanVishnu NanduriWai Kit CheahAbhijeet KumarAndré Michel VargasChetan ThaparCrystal FloresEric KimGannon OsburnGoutham BudatiJamal MadniJames PowellJason BielawskiJeff JohnsonJessica EurichJon MorraMumtaz VauhkonenNaren RaviNathan WanNorma GrubbPaula SilvaRajan NarayananRakesh ReddyShahid MustafaSiddharth MehrotraSunil DaryananiYogesh JoshiAntje BustamanteEmma YorkGeeta MalhotraGeorge DawsonGerald SchmidtJP BhamuNatalie JakomisNoel OzoemenaPablo FernandezShruti Ahuja-RamamurthySudesh JogSunando DasYahya ZweiriAmine MansourArun Alex PhilipDaniil DemitrovDavid MillánDr. Ghanashyama MahantyDr. Hazem AhmedManish VaidyaRahamath MulabagalRizwan TufailRoman BesedaSachin KumarAchuth RaoBrian CarlsonCarlos AguilarClaire GubianDavid FapohundaJan ChoyJesús BarrasaJulia CherashoreLaksh VaswaniOran BarkaiRavikanth GadicherlaSandy BalkinSundari VeerabahuAdris MisraAndrew DouglasAndy Kiheung NamAnurag VoletiArvind BalasundaramArvind RajgopalAshish MishraAvijit ChatterjeeAvinash PemmaiahBenito SantoroBillie S.Carrie DonohueChirag AgrawalChris ChenDarren BullockDesmond GrantDmitry MensheninElizabeth BarayugaFerenc SzeliFrançois MillardGabi SteeleGanesh SivakumarGaurav ShahGeoff GodfreyGeorge WangGiorgio SuighiGreg ManarisGregory RyslikGuilherme Altieri do AmaralHamlet KhachatryanHari RaghumandalaIsaac KamaleshJason G. CooperJean de Saint MichelJulio PeironcelyJyoti MishraKatelyn JonesLohith DeshpandeMarco HoppenbrouwerMichael ArchuletaMichael FailorMichaela WallinMichelle CampbellMo ChaaraNiels MeijerOliver GomesPiper GuzmanPrasanna SeshadriPraveen MoturuPriscilla NagashimaRajesh SuraRajkumar BondugulaRichard LoweRobert GaragiolaSam BenediktsonSanjeeb ChaudhuriSaurav SumanScott BockheimSheeba Sultan HasnainSravan KasarlaSreenivas GadharSumit AroraTim RiddleUnais T.Veronica VilskiVijay JakkaVikram SinghVineesha SatwaniVishal ChawlaVishal GargWalid LassouedWaseem Akram SyedYahya YavuzChad GhosnILun H.

Conversations in the room

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.

Panel Discussion: Transforming Enterprises with AI - The 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: 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.

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: 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.

The Vision Talk: Global Data Office: Looking inward through a progressive, AI-driven lens

As AI reshapes enterprise decision-making, the Global Data Office must evolve beyond traditional control and compliance. This executive presentation examines the progression from managing data as an asset to enabling data-driven decisions and delivering trusted data products. It explores how business strategy should guide Data and AI priorities, how human oversight must reflect decision risk, and how bounded autonomy can be introduced responsibly. Four practical use cases: Data Cataloging, Continuous Compliance, Data Quality and Trust, and the Data Marketplace, illustrate how organizations can reduce friction, strengthen trust, and connect governance to measurable business outcomes.

Show all 28 conversations

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 keep up with, 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.

The Vision Talk : Agentic AI Is Not an Automation Strategy. It Is an Operating Model Question.

As organizations move from AI experimentation to agentic AI, treating agents simply as the next step in automation can prevent successful adoption. This talk explores why deploying agentic AI requires leaders to rethink the operating model, particularly around decision-making authority, accountability, and the data foundation that agents rely on. Through a relatable end-to-end customer journey in the property development industry, the session examines how agentic AI can transform customer service across multiple touchpoints and departments, while highlighting where these workflows can break down. The discussion will explore the key organizational decisions leaders need to make before putting their first AI agent into production.

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.

Open Roundtable: The Hidden Cost of AI at Scale [オープンラウンドテーブル：AIスケールの隠れたコスト]

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. [2026年のエンタープライズAIイニシアティブには、ロードマップには決して現れないコストが伴います――プレッシャーにさらされる従業員の信頼、ポリシーが追いつかないまま拡散するガバナンス不在のツール、そして統合戦略が生まれる前に積み重なったサイロ化されたシステム。このラウンドテーブルでは、リーダーたちが夜も眠れないほど悩む運用上の現実を深く掘り下げます。必要な人材を失わずにAI導入を推進する方法、もはや全容を把握しきれないものをいかにガバナンスするか、そしてスケールを想定して設計されていなかった基盤の上で、エージェンティックAIに向けてどう構築していくか――これらの問いに向き合います。]

Panel Discussion: Agentic AI and the Future of Enterprise Growth [パネルディスカッション：エージェンティックAIとエンタープライズ成長の未来]

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. [エンタープライズの成長の未来は、自律的な実行を可能にするエージェンティックAIの導入と密接に結びついています。このパネルでは、エージェンティックAIがビジネスプロセスの継続的な改善をどのように実現し、より速いイノベーションサイクルを通じて競争上の差別化を促進し、顧客体験を支えるかを検討します。リーダーたちは、エージェンティックAIのポテンシャルを最大限に活用するための強靭なエンタープライズアーキテクチャの構築方法について議論します。また、AIイニシアティブを組織目標と整合させ、倫理・ガバナンス上の課題に対応し、AI主導の変革に向けて人材を準備するための戦略についても考察します。]

Panel Discussion : Transforming Industries with AI: Enterprise Success Stories [パネルディスカッション：AIが産業を変える――エンタープライズ成功事例]

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. [AI導入が実験段階からエンタープライズレベルの実装へと拡大する中、業界を横断した成功事例から学ぶことの重要性が増しています。このパネルでは、AIが業務効率の向上、より高度な意思決定、そして大規模なパーソナライズされた顧客体験をどのように実現しているかを探ります。リーダーたちは、AIイニシアティブをビジネス目標と整合させる方法、倫理・ガバナンス・人材適応といった課題への対応策について議論します。AIから得られるインサイトを、ビジネスパフォーマンスに直結する実行可能な戦略へと転換するアプローチを考察します。]

Panel Discussion: Beyond the Business Case: When Does AI Investment Actually Pay Off? [パネルディスカッション：ビジネスケースを超えて――AI投資はいつ、どのように成果をもたらすのか？]

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. [AI投資がビジネス価値に結びつくことを示すプレッシャーは、すべてのシニアリーダーが直面する現実です。しかし、投資から測定可能な成果への道筋は、決して一直線ではありません。このパネルでは、エンタープライズレベルにおけるAIの成功をどう定義し、測定し、発信しているか――そして、組織に結果への責任を持たせ、投資を継続するか、方向転換するか、撤退するかという難しい判断をどう下しているか――について、率直な視点を共有します。取締役会の期待への対応、財務的な精査、パイロットが成果を出せなかった際の戦略の再構築まで、AI ambitionを持続的な競争優位へと転換するために何が本当に必要かを議論します。これはテクノロジーの話ではありません。リーダーシップ、説明責任、そしてAIリーダーとAI後進者を分ける戦略的選択についての対話です。]

The Vision Talk : AI Mind, Human Soul

AI is transforming organizations, but technology alone does not create lasting value. Drawing on insights from AI Mind, Human Soul and global research, this keynote explores how leadership, governance, people, and responsible AI come together to build intelligent, trusted organizations that move beyond digital transformation to deliver sustainable business impact and measurable outcomes.

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.

Open Roundtable : Building the AI Native Organization

AI-native organizations thrive because they adapt and evolve continuously through AI at every level. By integrating machine learning and automation across operations, they achieve real-time insights and autonomous decision-making that traditional firms can’t match. This panel will examine the cultural, technical, and leadership shifts required to make AI not just a tool, but the foundation of business strategy and execution. How enterprise leaders are using AI to differentiate in the market, gain competitive intelligence, and anticipate future trends.

Vision Talk: Organizational Transformation: From Idea to Impact

Organization transformation sounds exciting and important, but can remain an abstract concept if there isn't a practical understanding of how to achieve it. This presentation will discuss how to move theory to impact for CIOs and IT Leaders looks to move their lead their organizations into the future. Topics will include AI, governance, strategy, alignment, and more

Open Roundtable: Building the AI Native Organization

Becoming an AI-native organisation isn't just about adopting new technology; it's a transformation spanning people, data, and strategy. It starts with culture: shifting AI from a specialist tool to an embedded capability that augments every role. Even with the right mindset, AI is only as powerful as the data beneath it. The real value often lies hidden in the connections between data silos, not within them. Organisations that uncover and reason across these relationships unlock insights that flat, siloed data cannot reveal. Get culture and connected data right, and competitive advantage follows.This roundtable explores the journey from AI adoption to AI-native, examining the cultural shifts required, the data architectures that enable it, and how organisations that master both will outpace the competition.

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: The Boardroom Conversation - How CXOs Shape AI Strategy

As AI becomes central to business transformation, its direction is increasingly being shaped in the boardroom. No longer just a technology initiative, AI strategy now sits at the intersection of leadership, culture, and enterprise vision. This discussion will explore how CEOs, CDOs, and CIOs can align on defining AI priorities, balancing innovation with governance, and ensuring measurable business outcomes. The panel will also examine how executive collaboration can bridge the gap between experimentation and enterprise-wide adoption—turning AI from a tool into a core driver of competitive advantage.

The Vision Talk: Agentic AI: From Hype to Value

As Agentic AI matures, enterprise focus is rapidly shifting from PoCs to scalable implementations that drive measurable ROI. This keynote cuts through the hype to give C-suite leaders a clear-eyed view of what Agentic AI is, and isn’t, why so many initiatives fail to cross into production, and what distinguishes organizations already turning early momentum into compounding value. Attendees will leave with a practical vision for where agentic systems fit, what conditions enable success, and how to approach adoption with the right balance of ambition, governance, and business discipline.

The Vision Talk : Government and the Inevitable AI Change

This talk explores how most organizations frame AI as a question of tools, models, or scale, while the practical issue is much deeper—understanding data, setting up processes, and ensuring people can use them proficiently. Without clear governance, defined data limits, and agreement on how things should be used, adoption creates risk instead of benefit and erodes trust. The future of AI depends not on speed of implementation, but on fulfilling the prerequisites that make adoption structured, dependable, and capable of delivering measurable value.

Open Roundtable : Building the AI-Native Organisation

AI-native organizations thrive because they adapt and evolve continuously through AI at every level. By integrating machine learning and automation across operations, they achieve real-time insights and autonomous decision-making that traditional firms can’t match. This panel will examine the cultural, technical, and leadership shifts required to make AI not just a tool, but the foundation of business strategy and execution. How enterprise leaders are using AI to differentiate in the market, gain competitive intelligence, and anticipate future trends

Panel Discussion : The Boardroom Conversation - How CXOs Shape AI Strategy

As AI becomes central to business transformation, its direction is increasingly being shaped in the boardroom. No longer just a technology initiative, AI strategy now sits at the intersection of leadership, culture, and enterprise vision. This discussion will explore how CXOs can align on defining AI priorities, balancing innovation with governance, and ensuring measurable business outcomes. The panel will also examine how executive collaboration can bridge the gap between experimentation and enterprise-wide adoption—turning AI from a tool into a core driver of competitive advantage.

Panel Discussion : The Boardroom Conversation - How CEOs, CDOs and CIOs Shape AI Strategy

As AI becomes central to business transformation, its direction is increasingly being shaped in the boardroom. No longer just a technology initiative, AI strategy now sits at the intersection of leadership, culture, and enterprise vision. This discussion will explore how CEOs, CDOs, and CIOs can align on defining AI priorities, balancing innovation with governance, and ensuring measurable business outcomes. The panel will also examine how executive collaboration can bridge the gap between experimentation and enterprise-wide adoption—turning AI from a tool into a core driver of competitive advantage.

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.

Vision Talk: From AI Strategy to AI-Native Execution:

The evolution of the data and AI leader’s scope - from data warehousing and BI to generative and agentic AI - and why this shift fundamentally changes expectations of impact and accountability. How governments can deliver a quantum leap in citizen experience by moving beyond bolted-on AI toward truly AI-native platforms, and the realities of doing this at scale in a regulated environment. Key lessons from execution: building AI talent at scale, resisting technology hype cycles, and anchoring AI transformation in outcomes, trust, and disciplined operating models.

The Illusion of AI Productivity — Why AI ROI Slips Away—and Four Enterprise Stories That Solved It

In this keynote-style talk, Rémy Thellier confronts the “illusion of AI productivity”—the growing gap between individual time savings and enterprise-level ROI. While AI adoption is accelerating, most organizations still struggle to translate usage into measurable economic outcomes. The core argument is simple: ROI doesn’t fail because models aren’t good enough; it fails because workflows, governance, operating models, and measurement systems aren’t redesigned to capture value. To move from pilots to profit, Rémy is joined by four guest leaders from four of Snowflake’s most strategic AI/ML ecosystem partners. Together, they present a series of customer stories showing how enterprises convert AI from isolated productivity boosts into measurable financial impact—by embedding AI into governed data foundations, integrating it directly into operational workflows, and tying initiatives to concrete economic levers: cycle-time reduction that accelerates revenue, external spend compression, and operational risk reduction. Examples include an agentic application for IT software license management that identifies waste and automates reclamation, and a centralized, AI-powered marketing & sales decision engine that unifies signals across channels to improve pipeline quality, conversion, and execution speed. Designed for CDOs and CAIOs, the session delivers pragmatic shortcuts to results: repeatable patterns, proven metrics, and implementation playbooks that help leaders move beyond “hours saved” to board-ready outcomes—faster time-to-value, safer scale, and durable ROI.

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