2026 Chicago CIO Community Executive Summit

CIOChicago CIO CommunityChicago CIO Programs

Collaborate with your peers

Get together with Chicago'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:

Driving Business Outcomes Through Agentic AI and Board Alignment

Navigating Ecosystem Modernization and Aggressive Rationalization

Optimizing Technology Investments for Strategic Agility and Resilience

Governing Body Co-Chairs

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 Chicago 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

Executive Boardroom Sessions

Traditional ERP is Dead — What's Next?

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

Architecting the Future — Operationalizing AI for the New Customer Experience

AI and automation are no longer just tools for efficiency; they’re central to shaping enterprise strategy. By embedding AI into core processes, organizations can transform customer engagement, empower employees, and drive measurable business outcomes.

Join this boardroom session to discuss:

Accelerating enterprise operations with AI-driven automation
Elevating customer experience by responding to changing business needs
Scaling transformation securely with compliant, AI-enabled solutions

The Triple Threat — Cybersecurity, AI and Global Upheaval

As technology advances and global uncertainty grows, cyber risk has become inseparable from business risk. CIOs must lead the charge in building resilient organizations by leveraging AI, preparing for disruptions and ensuring that security is woven into every business decision.

Join this session to discuss:

Approaches for building cyber resilience in the face of sophisticated threats and geopolitical disruptions
Strategies for integrating cyber risk management into digital transformation initiatives
Best practices for using AI in risk monitoring, breach detection and minimizing exposure

Breakout Sessions

Rewired for Results — Integrating Care, Culture, and Technology

How a CIO improved digital engagement and operational performance by driving innovation, fostering cultural transformation, and adopting a business-focused strategy, setting new standards for user experience and industry leadership.

Activating Unstructured Data and Agents in the Enterprise

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

Apply to Participate

Already a Member? Sign In

Apply to participate in the Chicago CIO Community Executive Summit.

Gartner facilitates exclusive, C-level communities by personally qualifying and understanding the priorities, challenges and interests of each member.

Our selective approach maintains the high quality of the network and ensures top-level discussions with peers from the world’s leading organizations.

Each application will be reviewed, and once your participation is confirmed, you will have access to year-round community programs.