In-Person

Dallas CIO Community

Executive Summit

November 3, 2026 | The Westin Irving Convention Center at Las Colinas

November 3, 2026
The Westin Irving Convention Center at Las Colinas

Apply to Participate

Governing Body Agenda Location Sponsors Contact

Governing Body Co-Chairs

Sumit Anand

Academy Sports + Outdoors
CIO

Mike Anderson

Netskope
Chief Digital & Information Officer

Sandeep Dave

CBRE
Chief Digital & Technology Officer

Todd Kackley

Textron
VP & 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 Dallas 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

November 3, 2026

morning afternoon

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

8:30am - 9:15am Keynote

Strategy Wins When Culture Works

Kevin Smith

Senior Director Analyst

Gartner

CIOs and technology leaders are driving a majority of organizational change, but even the strongest plans can fall prey to Culture. Success depends on how rapidly both IT and the organization can embrace new directions, own the change and implement new ways of working. When leaders intentionally shape Culture, they can turn it into a strategic asset that accelerates execution and strengthens performance across the enterprise.

Join this keynote to learn about:

Strengthening culture to support strategic change
Engaging peers and employees in new ways of working
Balancing planning and execution with engagement and collaboration

9:15am - 9:40am Networking Break

9:40am - 10:25am Breakout Session

Discuss Enabling an AI-Fluent Workforce with Your Peers

Join this interactive discussion with fellow CIOs and CISOs on Enabling an AI-Fluent Workforce to exchange perspectives, explore common challenges, and uncover practical ideas and strategies you can apply within your organization

9:40am - 10:25am Breakout Session

Driving AI Results – From Experimentation to Business Impact

Cris Kibbee

CIO

MV Transportation, Inc.

As AI investments accelerate, CIOs are under pressure to demonstrate tangible returns. Join Cris Kibbee, CIO of MV Transportation, as he shares how he was able to prioritize high-value use cases, align technology with business strategy, and create a foundation for scalable, responsible innovation that delivers lasting competitive advantage.

Join this session to explore:

Prioritizing AI use cases that move business metrics
Aligning AI strategy with organizational goals
Building a scalable framework for AI-driven innovation

9:40am - 10:25am Executive Boardroom

Traditional ERP is Dead — What's Next?

Eric Helmer

EVP & Global CTO

Rimini Street

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

When AI Moves Faster Than Trust — Control, Integrity, and Recovery

Jason Cook

Field CTO Americas

Rubrik

AI is scaling faster than organizations can control. As systems act autonomously across data and workflows, the real risk is loss of control, integrity, and recoverability. Establishing operational trust ensures systems are governed, impact is contained, and operations are restored when failure occurs.

Join this session to explore how to:

Maintain control as AI systems act autonomously
Ensure integrity of data and decisions under real-world conditions
Recover to a clean, trusted state when AI-driven systems fail

11:10am - 11:55am Breakout Session

The Agentic Era — Securing Your Enterprise

Rich Campagna

SVP, Product Management, Network Security

Palo Alto Networks

AI is transforming from a helpful tool to a true enterprise gamechanger. But with new power comes new risks. Is your AI security platform keeping up with rapid innovation?

Join this session to uncover:

Managing risks from autonomous AI agents and “vibe coding”
Protecting productivity in browser-based workspaces
Building a unified control plane for AI security and governance

11:10am - 11:55am Executive Boardroom

Deploying Autonomous Systems at Scale

Andrej Durasinovic

VP SSG Segments, Channel

Lenovo

As AI adoption accelerates, organizations face a new era of autonomous action. Agentic AI can reason, plan, and execute across workflows, but few have successfully scaled these systems.

In this session, you’ll discuss:

Balancing speed, security and trust for autonomous AI
Moving agentic AI from pilot to production
Scaling agentic AI responsibly

11:10am - 11:55am Executive Boardroom

Restoring Transparency and Trust in AI‑Driven Systems

Bob Wambach

VP, Market & Customer Insights

Dynatrace

As enterprises shift from human‑driven to human‑supervised operations, AI has introduced new forms of complexity that traditional monitoring can’t explain. The challenge is no longer whether systems are up and running, but whether leaders can clearly understand how decisions are made, where risk accumulates and why performance or cost changes in unexpected ways.

Join this session to discuss:

Where visibility breaks down in AI‑driven, hybrid and multi‑cloud environments
Why “nothing is down” no longer means systems are operating as intended
How CIOs re-establish transparency and trust as autonomous actions scale

11:55am - 12:30pm Lunch Service

12:30pm - 1:05pm Keynote

The CIO Blueprint for AI Security

George Moser

Global CXO in Residence

Zscaler

As attackers leverage AI to move faster than ever, traditional security strategies are falling behind. CIOs are now tasked with defending their organizations at machine speed, requiring a shift from reactive patching to proactive, autonomous protection. Leading enterprises are adopting continuous risk governance and measurable guardrails to ensure accountable AI adoption. CIOs are tasked with aligning business strategy with security outcomes and deliver board-level visibility into risk and remediation, all while enabling innovation.

Join this session to learn:

Aligning business strategy with real-time risk governance
Implementing measurable guardrails for accountable AI adoption
Delivering board-ready visibility into AI risk and remediation progress

1:05pm - 1:30pm Break

1:30pm - 2:15pm Breakout Session

Frontier AI Models — When Attack Speed Outpaces Operations

Brent Midwood

Sr. Director of Product Management

Tanium

AI can now find and exploit a vulnerability in minutes — faster than any patch cycle or IT team can respond. For CIOs, this is a business risk, not just a security issue: the gap between attack speed and response speed can now disrupt operations. This is where autonomous remediation comes into play.
Join this session to learn:

Why the gap between attack speed and IT response is now a business risk
How automatic remediation cuts risk without more headcount or work
What this shift means for how you prioritize risk, budget and technology

1:30pm - 2:15pm Executive Boardroom

Discuss Operationalizing AI with Your Peers

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

1:30pm - 2:15pm Executive Boardroom

From AI Experimentation to Enterprise Value — Building, Governing, and Scaling AI

AI has made building software faster and more accessible than ever. The challenge for CIOs is no longer proving what AI can do, but determining what to build, how to govern it, and how to scale AI across the enterprise in a way that drives meaningful operational and business impact.

Join this boardroom to discuss:

Moving AI initiatives from experimentation to production and measurable business value
Governing AI-built and vibe-coded applications as more teams across the business become builders
Balancing business-led innovation with the visibility, control, and guardrails needed to scale AI across the enterprise

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 Breakout Session

Future-Proofing IT Talent

Melissa Bruner

SVP & CIO

Populus Financial Group

As business priorities evolve and skill demands shift, CIOs are rethinking how teams are built, developed, and sustained. This interactive discussion will explore practical approaches to reskilling existing talent, attracting and integrating new hires, and designing adaptable team structures that can scale with changing needs. Join peers to share what's working, what's not, and how you're preparing your organization for the future.

Join this interactive session to discuss:

Attracting and retaining talent in an increasingly competitive market
Designing team structures, roles, and career paths that support business agility
Expanding workforce capabilities through talent development and growth pathways

3:00pm - 3:45pm Gartner Boardroom

From Technical Resilience to Business Resilience

Bill Zielinski

Executive Partner

Gartner

As disruption becomes the norm, resilience is no longer just an IT responsibility. CIOs must build resilience as a strategic capability that strengthens agility, reduces risk, and enables business growth. How are top CIOs practicing practical approaches to embedding resilience across the enterprise and turning uncertainty into opportunity?

Join this session to explore:

Aligning resilience efforts with business priorities
Strengthening organizational agility and risk management
Turning disruption into a catalyst for growth and innovation

3:45pm - 4:00pm Networking Break

4:00pm - 4:35pm Keynote

Foundation First - The Leadership Blueprint for Transformation

Chris Cox

Chief Technology & Digital Officer

Keller Williams Realty

Technology alone doesn't drive transformation. Leadership does. As Keller Williams advances its AI strategy, Chris Cox has demonstrated how CIOs can build the technology, data, partnership, and cultural capabilities required to capitalize on the next wave of innovation. Are you positioning your organization to adapt, innovate, and capitalize on emerging opportunities?

Join this session to explore:

Evaluating build, buy, and partner decisions for speed and scale
Leveraging ecosystem partnerships to unlock greater business value
Maintaining a strong, unified culture through organizational and operating model change

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

4:45pm - 6:00pm Governing Body Reception

Governing Body Reception

Finish the day sharing lessons learned with your peers over light fare and drinks at this closing reception hosted by your governing body members.

November 3, 2026

morning afternoon

Apply to Participate

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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.

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Community Member Criteria

To maintain the highest standard of peer‑level connections and discussions, members must meet the following criteria:

• Enterprise-wide C-Level or

• Business unit or regional C-Level responsible for:

- Private sector: $500M+ in revenue

- Public sector: 1,000+ employees

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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

The Westin Irving Convention Center at Las Colinas

A block of rooms has been reserved at the The Westin Irving Convention Center at Las Colinas at a reduced conference rate. Reservations should be made online or by calling 972-505-2900. Please mention Gartner CIO Executive Summit to ensure the appropriate room rate.

Deadline to book using the discounted room rate of $369 USD (plus tax) is October 12, 2026.

Reserve Room