Session 1:
Breadth is the New Depth

Mike Bechtel

As Chief Futurist for Deloitte Consulting LLP, Mike and his team work to make sense of what’s new and next in tech. Their goal: Helping today’s leaders arrive at their preferred tomorrows slightly ahead of schedule.Mike began his career with Accenture Labs, where his team helped Fortune 500 clients put emerging technologies to profitable use. 12 years (and 12 U.S. patents) later, he was named the firm’s first Global Innovation Director, where he was charged with creating a strategy, process, and culture to foster company-wide intrapreneurship.

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Session 2:
How Habits Bring Transformation

Tracy Thurkow

Dr. Tracy Thurkow is a leading voice on behavior change and organizational culture. As head of Bain & Company’s Global Center for Culture & Behavior Change, she helps companies turn strategy into real-world results—by leaning in when it’s time to shift from designing the model to living the model.With a background in behavioral science and extensive experience advising senior leaders, Tracy knows that lasting transformation happens when people change how they work—and how they work together.Known for her clarity, empathy, and pragmatic style, she helps leaders translate strategy into action—especially in the pivotal moments when new habits take root. At the core of her work is a simple belief: organizations don’t change behavior—people do.

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Session 3:
Practical strategies for deploying agentic AI systems

Manoj Saxena

Called the “Father of IBM Watson” and a pioneer of “Trusted Artificial Intelligence” for his work on building ethical AI systems, Manoj Saxena is a leading practitioner, educator, and investor at the forefront of responsible AI innovation. Saxena is the founder and Executive Chairman of Responsible AI Institute, a seven-year-old non-profit dedicated to the adoption of Trustworthy and Ethical AI. He is also the founder of Trustwise, a generative AI safety software company on a mission to help companies build safe and cost-optimized generative AI solutions. Previously, he was the General Manager of IBM Watson and was Chairman of the Board at the US Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, San Antonio, where he served for six years.

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Session 4:
Integrating Gen AI into Your Existing Workflows

Klara Jelinkova

Dr. Klara Jelinkova is Vice President and University Chief Information Officer at Harvard University. She is responsible for information technology strategy, policies, and services that support the University's teaching, learning, and research mission, and business operations. Klara also leads Harvard University Information Technology (HUIT), Harvard’s central IT provider that serves more than 50,000 educators, students, and staff. She currently serves on several advisory boards of Fortune 500 companies and is a former member of the Internet2 board of trustees. Klara was selected as the Houston CIO of the Year in 2021, and for her work related to identity and access management she received the Internet2 Leadership Award in 2019. Klara holds a Doctorate in Education from Johns Hopkins University, a Master's in Education from Boston University, and a Bachelor's in Economics and Slavic Languages from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

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Session 5:
The World is Your Office:
Revolutionizing Productivity with Geographic Flexibility

Prithwiraj (Raj) Choudhury

Prithwiraj (Raj) Choudhury is a globally recognized expert on the future of work. Serving on the faculties at Wharton and Harvard Business School for over a decade, he studies the changing geography of work. His research focuses on management practices that support hybrid work, remote work, and work from anywhere (WFA); how companies, communities, and countries are competing for remote workers; and how AI and automation can help both desk workers and deskless workers work from anywhere. In 2023, Forbes included him in their Future of Work 50 list, and in 2024 he was named in the TIME-Charter 30 list of thought leaders shaping the future of work. He previously worked at McKinsey & Company and Microsoft and earned his doctorate from Harvard. His research has been cited by the BBC, CNBC, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Forbes, and Fortune, among other outlets. He has delivered keynotes and provided advice on the future of work to organizations as diverse as Google, the British Parliament, and the United Nations.

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Session 6:
Master Human-Centered Design to Avoid Digital Transformation Failure

Julie Stanford

With over 25 years of industry experience, Julie is the founding Principal of Sliced Bread Design, a user experience design agency. Under her leadership, the agency has successfully launched products for 100s of clients including large companies like Google, AmEx and Silicon Valley unicorns like ChargePoint and Climate.com. In 2023, Julie expanded her horizons by co-founding eDNA Explorer, a startup that leverages bioinformatics and AI for cutting-edge management of natural resources. She is also a Human-Computer Interaction Lecturer in the Stanford Computer Science department where she has been teaching extensively on user centered design for the last 15 years, including courses focused on Design for AI.

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Session 7:
Systems Leadership in the Time of Increasingly Rapid Change

Robert Siegel

Robert is the author of The Systems Leader, The Brains and Brawn Company, served as lead researcher for Andy Grove’s best-selling book, Only the Paranoid Survive, and is the co-inventor of four patents. He served in various management roles at Intel Corporation, including an executive position on their Corporate Business Development team, in which he invested capital in startups that were strategically aligned with Intel’s vision. Robert has authored or co-authored over 115 business cases and led primary research on Google, Charles Schwab, Daimler, AB InBev, Box, Stripe, Roblox, Target, AngelList, 23andMe, C3.ai, Majid Al Futtaim, Softbank, Tableau, PayPal, Medium, Autodesk, Minted, Zuora, Axel Springer and Michelin, amongst others. He holds a BA from UC Berkeley and an MBA from Stanford University.

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Session 8:
Building Mindsets, Culture, and Frameworks for the AI Revolution

Conor Grennan

Conor Grennan is Chief AI Architect at NYU Stern School of Business, where he builds regenerative AI fluency across the institution. He is also the CEO and Founder of AI Mindset, an AI consulting company that trains professionals, leaders and organizations on a new and effective framework for generative AI. Conor has worked with teams across the industry, including at OpenAI, McKinsey, NASA, Google, PWC, ServiceNow, JP Morgan, DaVita Healthcare, Providence Health, BlueCross/BlueShield, American Securities, WelshCarson Private Equity, and more. He is also a NY Times #1 international bestselling author, published in 15 languages, and a sought-after keynote speaker. His AI insights have been featured in Entrepreneur, the Washington Post, BBC, Forbes, Business Insider, Vox, and other media. He co-hosts the AIApplied Podcast (top 20 in Business News) and has over 80k followers on LinkedIn that track generative AI insights.

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Session 9:
Harnessing AI to Make Faster, Smarter Decisions

Geoff Woods

Geoff Woods is the #1 international bestselling author of The AI-Driven Leader, host of the AI-Driven Leader podcast and the Founder of AI Leadership where he empowers leaders to harness AI, escape operational overwhelm, and think strategically to accelerate growth. As the former Chief Growth Officer of Jindal Steel & Power, his guidance helped their market cap grow from $750 million to over $12 billion in four years. He also co-founded the training and consulting company behind The ONE Thing, where he coached and advised companies with annual revenues from $10 million to $60 billion.

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Session 10:
Emotional Resilience for Leaders

Marissa Alert

Dr. Marissa Alert is a licensed clinical health psychologist, speaker, and consultant who specializes in transforming workplaces through innovative stress management and burnout prevention strategies. As the CEO of MDA Wellness, a boutique consulting firm, she seamlessly blends her extensive clinical, research, and corporate experience to offer practical, science-backed solutions that can be implemented immediately. As a recognized thought leader in workplace mental health, Dr. Alert's insights have been featured in Forbes, Newsweek, Yahoo Life, and Authority Magazine. She was also a contributing author of the book, Race Forward: The Health Equity Guide for Employers, a valuable resource for leaders navigating diversity and inclusion in the workplace. Dr. Alert earned her bachelor's degree in Psychology from Dartmouth College and a doctorate in Clinical Psychology from the University of Miami. She completed her predoctoral internship at Brown University and a post-doctoral fellowship at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

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Session 11:
Master AI Disruption to Empower Your Workforce

Bhavesh Dayalji

In his role as Chief Artificial Intelligence Officer, Bhavesh is responsible for developing and implementing S&P Global’s AI vision and strategy. In this role, he champions responsible and effective development and deployment of AI to accelerate innovation across S&P Global and for its customers.As Kensho CEO, he has worked to drive Kensho’s growth by deploying products at the world’s largest financial institutions and among the U.S. Intelligence Community. Prior to Kensho, Bhavesh was a senior leader in Deloitte’s strategy and M&A practice. He was the engagement leader for many high-profile C-suite clients, advising them on M&A strategy, leading due diligence efforts and developing growth strategies in the financial services industry.

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Session 12:
The Robotics Revolution: Solving Real-World Challenges Across Industries

Dr. Steve Cousins

Dr. Steve Cousins is the Executive Director of the Stanford Robotics Center. He founded Relay Robotics, formerly Savioke, serving as CTO and CEO, where he led the development and deployment of Relay – an autonomous delivery robot that works in human environments to help people. Steve was previously President and CEO of Willow Garage and is a founding board member of the Open Source Robotics Foundation. Steve received the IEEE/IFR Award for Invention and Entrepreneurship in Robotics and Automation award in 2017. Steve did his PhD in Computer Science at Stanford University.

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Session 13:
Advanced AI Prompt Engineering Techniques
for Senior Leaders

Don Cameron

With over 26 years of experience at Stanford University, Don Cameron is the Instructional Design Lead for Stanford Technology Training.He specializes in enhancing collaboration and communication skills within the Stanford community, designing and teaching dynamic courses such as Smartsheet, Google Apps, and AI prompt engineering.His innovative approach focuses on optimizing workflows and processes to empower individuals and teams in their daily tasks.

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Session 14:
Chatbots, Content, and Crisis Comms: How AI is Changing the Game

Pete Pachal

Pete Pachal is the founder and CEO of The Media Copilot, a newsletter and podcast about how generative AI is changing the media. He also instructs journalists and communications professionals how to use AI tools through online courses, and he has consulted with publishers such as The Washington Post and the BBC. Pete is a longtime journalist, previously holding senior roles in global newsrooms such as CoinDesk and Mashable. As a thought leader in tech, crypto, and AI, he’s appeared on Fox News, CNN, and The Today Show.

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Session 15:
Generative AI: The Legal Minefield Every Executive Must Navigate

Mark Lemley

Mark Lemley is the William H. Neukom Professor of Law at Stanford Law School. He teaches intellectual property, patent law, trademark law, antitrust, the law of robotics and AI, video game law, and remedies. He is the author of 11 books and 214 articles, including the two-volume treatise IP and Antitrust. His works have been cited more than 350 times by courts, including 19 times by the United States Supreme Court, and more than 45,000 times in books and academic articles, making him the most-cited scholar in IP law and one of the ten most cited legal scholars of all time. He has published 9 of the 100 most-cited law review articles of the last twenty years, more than any other scholar, and was the third most cited legal scholar in the world from 2016-2020.

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Session 16:
The Path to AGI (Artificial General Intelligence)

John K. Thompson

John Thompson is a global AI leader and bestselling author with 37+ years of experience in AI, data science, and advanced analytics. As the former Global Head of AI at EY, he led groundbreaking initiatives, including the world’s largest private LLM-based chat service for 300,000+ employees. He has advised Fortune 500 leaders at Gartner, CSL Behring, and Dell, driving real-world AI adoption.A pioneer in Causal AI and Generative AI, John has written multiple bestselling books on AI strategy, analytics leadership, and data privacy. His expertise spans deep learning, predictive modeling, and AI-driven transformation.

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Partnership

If you want to explore partnership opportunities with the Future of Leadership Summit, email Cherry at cherry@futureofleadershipmedia.com

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Sponsorship

If you want to explore sponsorship opportunities with the Future of Leadership Summit, email Cherry at cherry@futureofleadershipmedia.com

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