In-Person

Philadelphia CIO Community

Executive Summit

October 28, 2026 | Philadelphia Marriott Downtown

October 28, 2026
Philadelphia Marriott Downtown

Collaborate with your peers

Get together with Philadelphia's top CIOs 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 CIOs today:

Leveraging AI to Drive Innovation While Ensuring Security and Compliance

Cultivating Resilient Leadership to Navigate Disruption and Drive Growth

Aligning Technology and Cybersecurity Investments With Strategic Business Outcomes

Philadelphia CIO Governing Body

The Governing Body Co-Chairs shape the summit agenda, ensuring that all content is driven By CIOs, For CIOs®.

Governing Body Co-Chairs

Joshua Beeman

University of Pennsylvania
Interim VP of IT & CIO

Vishi Viswanathan

Day & Zimmermann Group
SVP & CIO

What to Expect

Interactive Sessions

Hear from CIO 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 Philadelphia CIO 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

October 28, 2026

8:00am - 8:30am  Registration & Breakfast

8:30am - 9:15am  Gartner Keynote

Breaking the AI Productivity Trap — Outcome-Driven Transformation

Kyle Owen headshot

Kyle Owen

Sr. Principal Analyst

Gartner

AI budgets are soaring, but most organizations are stuck chasing faster tasks instead of meaningful results. The gap between investment and impact is widening — because the focus is on productivity rather than outcomes. How leaders can shift from incremental gains to real business value by anchoring AI efforts to what matters most?

In this keynote, you’ll learn:

  • Choosing a business outcome before deploying AI
  • Building cross-functional teams to drive process redesign
  • Anchoring transformation with shared, outcome-focused OKRs

9:15am - 9:40am  Networking Break

9:40am - 10:25am  Breakout Session

Rethinking Security for Agentic AI — From Control to Orchestration

As AI agents start acting across business environments, data becomes the true control surface. These agents require broad access to data, identities, and business processes, creating new risk patterns as sensitive data and outbound actions converge at machine speed. This is a control shift. CISOs must modernize their data approach to adopt agentic AI confidently while maintaining oversight.

Join this session to discuss how to:

  • Detect emerging risk behaviors in autonomous AI
  • Build a data-centric and intent-aware security model
  • Establish the CISO as the orchestrator of scalable AI and business growth enabler

9:40am - 10:25am  Breakout Session

Data Governance — Driving Business Value Together

Ryan Rathbun headshot

Ryan Rathbun

CISO

DuPont

Who should really own data governance, and how do you build on legacy work without getting stuck? Join a candid conversation on making governance a shared, business-driven effort that goes beyond just security or IT.

In this session, we’ll discuss:

  • Defining clear ownership and accountability for data governance
  • Building cross-functional partnerships beyond security and IT
  • Tackling legacy tech and hygiene for real-world progress

9:40am - 10:25am  Executive Boardroom

Traditional ERP is Dead — What's Next?

Eric Helmer headshot

Eric Helmer

EVP & Global CTO

Rimini Street

Helane Stein headshot

Helane Stein

EVP & CIO

Brixmor Property Group

Agentic AI is transforming work and prompting leaders to rethink traditional suites and modernization strategies. This boardroom will examine how agentic AI is unbundling ERP responsibilities, reshaping process orchestration and enabling smarter service layers.

Join fellow CIOs to explore:

  • The rise of service layers, workflow engines and AI agents
  • What’s replacing monolithic ERP models
  • Key assumptions to challenge when evaluating vendor roadmaps

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

Is Your Enterprise Ready for AI?

Kevin Reardon headshot

Kevin Reardon

VP, Advisory & Architecture

Island

As generative AI and enterprise platforms reshape the workplace, organizations must balance innovation and productivity with protecting sensitive data and ensuring compliance. CIOs and CISOs face challenges from the rapid adoption of GenAI applications—often outside IT or security oversight—which can introduce risks like data leakage, policy gaps, and new vulnerabilities.

Join this session to discover:

  • How to align AI adoption with enterprise goals and effective governance
  • Strategies to identify and mitigate risks from shadow tools and unmanaged AI
  • Designing policies for safe, scalable AI integration and ongoing compliance

11:10am - 11:55am  Breakout Session

Activating Unstructured Data and Agents in the Enterprise

Ravi Malick headshot

Ravi Malick

SVP & Global CIO

Box

The shift from basic AI assistants to autonomous agents is reshaping the enterprise, turning passive tools into scalable workflows. Real advantage emerges when intelligence is grounded in an organization’s unique, proprietary content. As leaders move beyond early experiments, the priority becomes breaking down silos and establishing governance that ensures agents operate on a reliable foundation.

Join this interactive session to learn how to:

  • Prioritize measurable growth beyond LLM hype
  • Connect content to unlock meaningful AI performance
  • Understand the monetary and labor opportunity costs of AI transformation

11:10am - 11:55am  Executive Boardroom

Executive Boardroom hosted by Cloudflare

Greg Driscoll headshot

Greg Driscoll

CIO

Penn Mutual Life Insurance

 

11:10am - 11:55am  Executive Boardroom

Executive Boardroom hosted by Veeam

 More details coming soon.

11:55am - 12:30pm  Lunch Service

12:30pm - 1:05pm  Keynote

Governed Enablement - Translating AI Risk into Board-Level Confidence

Jay Chaudhry headshot

Jay Chaudhry

CEO, Chairman & Founder

Zscaler

AI is now a board-level priority - and a board-level risk - placing CIOs and CISOs in the spotlight to demonstrate active, measurable management of AI exposure. Organizations are translating governance into enforceable controls and transparent reporting, replacing stopgap blocking with runtime guardrails. What are strategies that CIOs and CISOs can take back to their own organizations to establish clear decision rights, provide actionable risk metrics, and foster confidence among executive sponsors and boards, all while enabling safe and scalable AI adoption?

Join this session to learn:

  • Establishing clear decision rights for accountable AI adoption
  • Replacing stopgap blocking with enforceable, runtime guardrails
  • Providing boards with transparent, actionable risk metrics

1:05pm - 1:30pm  Break

1:30pm - 2:15pm  Breakout Session

Breakout session hosted by Rubrik

 More details coming soon.

1:30pm - 2:15pm  Executive Boardroom

Executive Boardroom hosted by Concentric AI

Vishi Viswanathan headshot

Vishi Viswanathan

SVP & CIO

Day & Zimmermann Group

 More details coming soon.

1:30pm - 2:15pm  Executive Boardroom

Discuss Cost Optimization with Your Peers

Chase Hudson headshot

Chase Hudson

CISO

Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia

Join this interactive discussion with fellow CIOs & CISOs on cost optimization to exchange perspectives, explore common challenges, and uncover practical ideas and strategies you can apply within your organization

2:15pm - 3:00pm  Networking Break

2:25pm - 2:50pm  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.

3:00pm - 3:45pm  Gartner Boardroom

Trust-Driven Leadership

How do you make cybersecurity risks real for a board with little IT background? Join this session to discuss how to transform board conversations by focusing on context, clarity, trust, and business impact — not just metrics. Learn how building trust, along with innovation, automation, and storytelling, can empower leaders to make smarter decisions and drive meaningful change, even in a lean environment.

In this interactive session, we’ll discuss:

  • Translating technical risk into board-level language
  • Innovating with AI to automate and optimize security
  • Building trust and framing “why” and “why now” for leadership buy-in

3:00pm - 3:45pm  Executive Boardroom

Non-Human Traffic — What the Edge Sees First

Antonio Crespo headshot

Antonio Crespo

CISO, Americas

Arkema Inc.

Half your traffic is already bots, and most are working against you. While boards debate AI threats, the real attacks are quietly unfolding at your network’s edge. This session uncovers what’s happening now—and what leaders can do about it.

In this session, you’ll learn:

  • Spotting new AI-powered bot and fraud tactics
  • Pinpointing KPIs that signal real risk reduction
  • Reframing AI risk as a measurable traffic challenge

3:45pm - 4:00pm  Networking Break

4:00pm - 4:35pm  Keynote

Leading Through Uncertainty — Strategies That Work

Vijay Mehra headshot

Vijay Mehra

VP, CIO

U.S. Steel

Disruption is constant, but resilient organizations turn uncertainty into opportunity. Today’s CIOs and CISOs are redefining leadership — moving beyond technical silos to shape cultures that adapt, recover, and grow. This panel brings together peer perspectives on building operational resilience, communicating risk, and aligning vision across the enterprise.

In this panel, you’ll hear:

  • Ways to align executive teams around risk, value, and business priorities
  • Approaches for defining vision and operating models that drive enterprise resilience
  • Tactics for fostering adaptive, learning-driven cultures across leadership

4:35pm - 4:45pm  Closing Comments and Prize Drawing

October 28, 2026

We look forward to seeing you at an upcoming in-person gathering

Gartner cares about the health and safety of our community. If you are feeling unwell, please refrain from attending the conference. At this time, Gartner does not have any health-related requirements in place for attendance. Should this change, we will follow up with updated guidance.

Location

Venue & Accommodation

Philadelphia Marriott Downtown

A block of rooms has been reserved at the Philadelphia Marriott Downtown at a reduced conference rate. Reservations should be made online or by calling 800-320-5744. Please mention Gartner Philadelphia Executive Summit to ensure the appropriate room rate.

Deadline to book using the discounted room rate of $280 USD (plus tax) is October 5, 2026.

Your Community Sponsors

Global Thought Leaders

CIO Thought Leader

CISO Thought Leaders

Key Sponsors

Program Sponsors

Community Program Manager

For inquiries related to this community, please reach out to your dedicated contact.

Spencer Bisgaard

Senior Community Program Manager

541-912-0183

spencer.bisgaard@gartner.com