Southern California CHRO Community
Executive Summit
November 19, 2026 | The Waterfront Beach Resort
November 19, 2026
The Waterfront Beach Resort
Collaborate with your peers
Get together with Southern California's top CHROs to tackle shared business challenges and critical priorities facing your role today. Participate in this one-day, local program with peer-driven topics and interactive discussions with your true C-level peers.
Join your peers to discuss the most critical issues impacting CHROs today:
Future-Ready Leadership & Talent Strategies to Ensure Organizational Agility & Resilience
Transformative HR Technology & AI Integration to Drive Smarter Decision-Making
Building Adaptive Cultures for Change & Resilience to Thrive Amidst Constant Transformation
Southern California CHRO Governing Body
The Governing Body Co-Chairs shape the summit agenda, ensuring that all content is driven By CHROs, For CHROs®.
Governing Body Co-Chairs
Dina Barmasse-Gray
The Cheesecake Factory
Chief People Officer
Kari Durham
Skyworks
SVP, HR
Jeff Fraley
Big 5 Sporting Goods
SVP, Human Resources
Samantha Khoury
Los Angeles Lakers
Chief Administrative Officer
Michelle Kwait
Herbalife
CHRO
What to Expect
Interactive Sessions
Hear from CHRO practitioners and thought leaders on how they're solving critical challenges impacting your role today in Keynote sessions, and join smaller, interactive discussions with your peers in Breakout and Boardroom sessions.
Community Networking
Make new connections and catch up with old friends in casual conversations during dedicated time for networking designed to better acquaint you with your Southern California CHRO community.
Peer-to-Peer Meetings
Connect with like-minded peers in a private, one-on-one setting through Peer-to-Peer Meetings. You will be matched with peers in your community based on your shared interests and priorities.
Agenda
8:00am - 8:30am Registration & Breakfast
8:30am - 9:15am Gartner Keynote
Built to Perform ─ Delivering New Combinations of Talent and Technology
Brent Cassell
Vice President, Advisory, HR Group
Gartner
As CEOs reshape their organizations so that the blend of human and AI capability makes performance inevitable, CHROs are left with a paradox: building a workforce to deliver strategy when the work itself is undefined. Every major technology breakthrough, from electricity to the internet, required organizations to reorganize their people and processes around the technology before they saw a productivity benefit. Adaptive structures can enable speed and ownership, but only if organizations can supplement them with strong governance, clear communication and connections across the enterprise.
Join this session to learn how CHROs and their teams:
- Drive faster, clearer work decisions
- Anticipate future roles and skills
- Ready an unsettled workforce to perform in any context
9:15am - 9:40am Networking Break
9:40am - 10:25am Executive Boardroom
The Life Stage Retention Strategy
Hosted by Maven Clinic
Doreen Bortel
Chief Revenue Officer
Maven Clinic
Jose Aguayo
Chief People Officer
Vallarta Supermarkets
Today's workforce spans more generations, life stages and care needs than ever. As retirement ages shift and hybrid work reshapes expectations, CHROs are under pressure to build a benefits strategy relevant to a 26-year-old thinking about starting their family, as well as a 54-year-old managing menopause.
Join this roundtable to explore how leading employers are rethinking benefits design by:
- Using workforce data to assess your EVP — and where investment drives retention
- Supporting employees through the life stages that drive the most attrition
- Combining career-pathing and benefits strategy, so benefits become a retention lever
9:40am - 10:25am Executive Boardroom
Doing More with Less — Leveling Up Leadership Development
Tasmin Plater
Chief Human Resources Officer
Fifth Season
Leader and manager development is a top priority for CHROs, but oftentimes can be compressed due to budget constraints. How can HR leaders do more with less to ensure leadership development remains impactful, sustainable and aligned with evolving business needs?
Join this session to discuss:
- Maintaining speed and quality in leadership development
- Operationalizing a skills-centric approach
- Ensuring programs demonstrate meaningful ROI
10:25am - 11:10am Networking Break
10:35am - 11:00am Peer-to-Peer Meetings
Peer-to-Peer Meetings
Connect with like-minded peers in a one-on-one setting through Peer-to-Peer Meetings. You will be matched with peers in your community based on your shared interests and priorities.
11:10am - 11:55am Breakout Session
The Generational Advantage: Turning Friction into a Competitive Advantage
Hosted by O.C. Tanner
Ariane Hibo Ezeh
Workplace Culture Strategist
O.C. Tanner
Organizations with strong generational synergy are 9x more likely to report great work, but only 26% of employees experience this advantage. Generational differences are not obstacles, they’re opportunities often hidden by stereotypes. Drawing on research from the O.C. Tanner Institute on 5,700 employees across 17 countries, this session reveals how to turn generational friction into a strategic advantage.
Join this session to hear new research on:
- Decode generational contracts shaping today’s workforce
- Unlock five drivers of generational synergy
- Align recognition, wellbeing, and technology to generational needs
11:10am - 11:55am Executive Boardroom
Managing Humans, Agents and Everything Between
Hosted by Globalization Partners
Kari Durham
SVP, HR
Skyworks
With the continuous pull to automate with AI, the mechanics of how work gets done are being completely rewritten. How can HR leaders go beyond basic productivity hacks to build a robust tech + human workforce strategy meant for an ambiguous future?
Join this roundtable discussion to explore:
- Understanding the logistics of a workforce that includes autonomous agents
- Structuring a modern talent architecture that keeps humans in the loop
- Protecting a borderless workforce against governance and compliance risks
11:10am - 11:55am Executive Boardroom
Rethinking Succession for What’s Next
Erica Calhoun
Deputy Executive Director, Harbor Administration
Port of Los Angeles
In a volatile working landscape, developing a leadership bench for the next generation is crucial. But for CHROs and organizations to be successful, they must evolve from traditional, role-based succession planning toward agile, future-focused talent strategies.
Join this session to discuss:
- Building flexible pools, not pipelines
- Integrating development plans into talent reviews
- Developing for “ready enough”
11:55am - 12:30pm Lunch Service
Apply to Participate
Each application is carefully vetted to ensure members meet established criteria, preserving the quality of the network and enabling meaningful, peer‑level discussions among leaders from the world’s leading organizations.
Once you submit your application, a Community Program Manager will schedule a conversation to understand your priorities and interests and complete onboarding, including access to year‑round community events.
Location
Venue & Accommodation
The Waterfront Beach ResortValet Parking is COMPLIMENTARY
*Please pick up a validation sticker at the registration desk.
A block of rooms has been reserved at the The Waterfront Beach Resort at a reduced conference rate. Reservations should be made online or by calling (714) 845-8000. Please mention So Cal Executive Summit 2026 to ensure the appropriate room rate.
Deadline to book using the discounted room rate of $339 USD (plus tax) is October 26, 2026.
Your Community Sponsors
CHRO Thought Leader
Program Sponsors
Community Program Manager
For inquiries related to this community, please reach out to your dedicated contact.
