In-Person

Indianapolis CIO Community

Executive Summit

November 12, 2026 | Hyatt Regency Indianapolis

November 12, 2026
Hyatt Regency Indianapolis

Join fellow CIOs for a day of peer connections, peer perspectives and Gartner insights

The Gartner Indianapolis CIO Community Executive Summit is the community’s signature event, bringing together CIOs for a full day of immersive, peer-driven discussions and curated networking. Connect with peers who share similar priorities, exchange real-world experiences and gain data-driven insights from Gartner analysts. Walk away with practical solutions, validated strategies and valuable connections, giving you greater confidence to lead through change.

Participate in discussions on the most critical issues impacting CIOs today:

Building Trusted AI Capabilities Through Governance and Accountability

Strengthening Identity and Cybersecurity Foundations for a Changing Threat Landscape

Protecting the Enterprise While Building Resilience and Accelerating Innovation

Indianapolis 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

Jay Bhat

Franciscan Health
Administrative Director, Information Security

Brett Flora

Elwood Staffing
CTO

Nirav Shah

Midcontinent Independent System Operator Inc
Chief Digital & Information Officer

Dustin Wilcox

S&P Global
CISO

What to Expect at an Executive Summit

Gain New Perspectives from Peers

Hear from CIO practitioners and thought leaders on how they're solving critical challenges impacting your role in Keynote sessions, and participate in smaller, interactive discussions with your peers in Breakout and Boardroom sessions.

Strengthen Your Peer Network

Catch up with familiar faces and build new relationships in your Indianapolis CIO Community through dedicated networking time in an intimate environment and curated, one-on-one conversations with peers matched based on shared priorities and interests.

Leverage Gartner Insights

Gain data-driven insights and field-tested best practices from a Gartner analyst in the opening Keynote, setting the context for peer conversations throughout the day on the most critical topics affecting your role.

Agenda

November 12, 2026

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

8:30am - 9:15am  Keynote

IT 2030 - The Journey to Democratized Technology

Matthew Colletti headshot

Matthew Colletti

Gartner Analyst

Gartner

Technology is no longer created solely within IT, creating both new opportunities and new challenges for technology leaders. As innovation expands across the enterprise, leaders must balance speed, security, governance, and resilience while supporting business goals. This shift requires technology leaders to guide technology decisions beyond the boundaries of IT.

Join this keynote to learn how to:

  • Enable secure innovation across AI-powered teams
  • Modernize platforms and governance for agility and resilience
  • Strengthen leadership influence and accountability



9:15am - 9:40am  Networking Break

9:40am - 10:25am  Breakout Session

Defending Against Agentic AI Threats

Jeff Crume headshot

Jeff Crume

Distinguished Engineer, CTO IBM Security - Americas

IBM

As enterprises rapidly adopt AI agents to enhance automation, productivity, and security, they face a new challenge of significant security risks of misconfigured, overprivileged, or compromised. CIOs and CISOs must rethink identity, access, and trust models to account for non-human actors operating across complex environments with elevated permissions and broad reach.

Join this session to:

  • Examine real-world AI-agent-driven incidents and structural vulnerabilities they expose
  • Reevaluate identity, access, and trust frameworks at scale
  • Explore building layered defenses with governance, continuous monitoring, and human oversight

9:40am - 10:25am  Executive Boardroom

Thriving Through Global Disruption

Tiffany Smith headshot

Tiffany Smith

Chief Security Officer & Head of IT Operations

Farm Credit Mid-America

Travis Cornett headshot

Travis Cornett

CISO

Toyota

Geopolitical uncertainty is driving up technology costs while expanding cyber and AI-related risks. As tariffs, supply chain disruption and global instability reshape decision-making, CIOs and CISOs must look beyond short-term fixes and build strategies that remain resilient through continued change.

Join this session to discuss: 

  • Anticipating technology cost increases and investment impacts 
  • Mitigating cyber and AI risks in a volatile global environment 
  • Balancing near-term pressures with long-term resilience and growth 


9:40am - 10:25am  Executive Boardroom

Leading Forward — The CIO/CISO Evolution

Brian Gray headshot

Brian Gray

VP & CIO

MedPro Group

Jake Courter headshot

Jake Courter

Director of Enterprise IT Services, Deputy CISO

MedPro Group

The CIO and CISO roles have evolved from operational leaders to strategic business partners shaping growth, resilience and innovation. As responsibilities continue to expand, leaders across career stages offer a unique perspective on where these roles have been, where they are today and where they are heading next.

Join this session to discuss:

  • Reflecting on how CIO and CISO responsibilities have evolved over time
  • Navigating growing expectations from boards, executives and stakeholders
  • Envisioning the future of technology and security leadership


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

AI Governance That Enables Innovation

Marquita Bowles headshot

Marquita Bowles

Head of Technology and Cyber Risk

Sallie Mae

As AI adoption accelerates, organizations need governance that enables scale without slowing innovation. Learn how cross-functional teams are building transparent governance models, operationalizing AI lifecycle and agent oversight, and aligning AI initiatives to business value, risk management, and strategic objectives.

Join this breakout session to learn more about:

  • Enabling responsible AI adoption through cross-functional governance and clear accountability
  • Balancing innovation, business value, cost, and risk at scale
  • Establishing repeatable AI lifecycle and agent governance practices that support enterprise adoption


11:10am - 11:55am  Executive Boardroom

Leading Under Pressure—Sustaining Performance in a Demanding Environment

Ingrid Lohneiss headshot

Ingrid Lohneiss

Manager, IT Security Risk & Compliance

Dole Food

CIOs and CISOs are navigating relentless pressure as cyber threats, digital transformation initiatives, and stakeholder expectations continue to intensify. As demands grow, leader wellbeing is emerging as a business imperative that can influence decision-making, talent retention, and organizational performance. If technology leaders are responsible for safeguarding organizational resilience, how can they ensure their own resilience remains intact?

Join this interactive discussion to explore:

  • Practical habits for reducing leadership strain and preventing burnout
  • Maintaining resilience, focus, and effectiveness under pressure
  • Sustainable practices that support stronger decisions and long-term performance

11:10am - 11:55am  Executive Boardroom

Discuss Enabling an AI-Fluent Workforce with Your Peers

Rob Blucker headshot

Rob Blucker

VP, CISO

Everence

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

11:55am - 12:30pm  Lunch Service

12:30pm - 1:05pm  Keynote

Rethinking Security for the Age of Agents

Agents are becoming the biggest opportunity in the enterprise, and the biggest adversary. They read your data and act under borrowed identities, at a speed no human review process was built to match. The old question in security was how to keep bad actors out. The new one is more complex: how do you create and manage the biggest risk in your own enterprise, the agents you deployed on purpose?
Join this keynote to hear about:

  • Establishing a framework where data, identity, and agent security operate as one system
  • Shifting from asking whether you can trust your agents to determining what access they can be trusted with
  • Balancing innovation and risk by creating visibility needed to understand agent activity

1:05pm - 1:30pm  Break

1:30pm - 2:15pm  Breakout Session

GenAI— A Generational Paradigm Shift

Madhu Shashanka headshot

Madhu Shashanka

Cofounder, Chief Scientist and Co-CTO

Concentric AI

Generative AI has rapidly evolved from a curiosity into a core driver of enterprise productivity. But as employees embrace its ability to generate content, code, and insights on demand, a new reality is emerging: data security is now the defining challenge of AI adoption. Organizations that recognize this shift early and proactively adapt their data security strategies will be best positioned to innovate with confidence. 

Join this session to discover: 

  • What makes GenAI fundamentally different and its impact on business operations and risk  

  • Where unintended data exposure and downstream consequences can arise  

  • How to adopt AI responsibly without slowing innovation 

1:30pm - 2:15pm  Executive Boardroom

Taming Shadow AI

Mark Gabel headshot

Mark Gabel

CISO

Cherokee Federal

John Macrina headshot

John Macrina

CTO

NCAA

Employees are adopting AI faster than organizations can govern it, creating blind spots around data, security, and compliance. For leaders, the challenge is balancing innovation with control, enabling teams to move quickly without introducing unnecessary risk.

Join this boardroom to discuss:

  • Containing Shadow AI through secure, governed experimentation
  • Creating controlled AI environments that support business innovation
  • Protecting enterprise data while enabling AI adoption


1:30pm - 2:15pm  Executive Boardroom

Beyond the Deal

Matt Belanger headshot

Matt Belanger

CIO

Republic Airways

Jay Stanley headshot

Jay Stanley

VP, IT

Heartland Food Products Group

JK Pareek headshot

JK Pareek

Chief Information & Digital Officer

Allison Transmission

For today's CIOs and CISOs, the real challenge begins after the transaction closes. As acquisitions increase in size and complexity, technology leaders are being called on to unify systems, cultures and security strategies while helping the business capture value faster and operate at a global scale.

Join this session to discuss:

  • Accelerating integration while minimizing risk
  • Reimagining operating models for global scale
  • Refining and optimizing operating models for greater scale


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

The AI Accountability Challenge

Kemas Ohale headshot

Kemas Ohale

VP, Global Information Security

Lippert Components

As AI becomes embedded across the enterprise, CIOs and CISOs are working alongside business and board leaders to define effective governance and shared accountability. In this interactive session, teams will explore real-world AI scenarios to uncover how organizations can align policy, decision-making and response responsibilities before issues arise.

Join this interactive breakout session to discuss:

  • Defining shared accountability for AI across technology, security and business teams
  • Establishing governance models that support responsible AI adoption at scale
  • Aligning proactive policies with coordinated response strategies

3:00pm - 3:45pm  Executive Boardroom

Resilience Under Pressure — Lessons From Critical Infrastructure

Jay Bhat headshot

Jay Bhat

Administrative Director, Information Security

Franciscan Health

As AI, cyber threats and operational complexity continue to reshape risk, CIOs and CISOs are shifting from prevention-focused strategies to enterprise resilience. The challenge is ensuring critical services can withstand disruption, operate through failure and recover quickly while balancing limited resources and growing business expectations.Join this session to discuss:

  • Prioritizing critical business capabilities and continuity outcomes
  • Strengthening resilience through cross-functional leadership and recovery planning
  • Enabling operational continuity amid AI-driven risks and evolving threats

3:00pm - 3:45pm  Executive Boardroom

Bridging the Boardroom Gap

Andrew Burhans headshot

Andrew Burhans

VP, Team Manager

Gartner

AI has accelerated board expectations, requiring CIOs and CISOs to contribute far beyond technology execution. As board directors develop stronger views on innovation, cyber risk and business resilience, technology leaders must bridge the gap between technical realities and business priorities to shape enterprise strategy together. 

Join this session to discuss:

  • Elevating technology leadership into enterprise leadership 

  • Bridging board expectations with organizational realities 

  • Influencing strategic decisions beyond the technology agenda

3:45pm - 4:00pm  Networking Break

4:00pm - 4:35pm  Keynote

AI at Scale: What We'd Redo

Ratnakar Lavu headshot

Ratnakar Lavu

Executive Vice President and Chief Digital Information Officer

Elevance Health

As enterprises move from AI pilots to scaled deployment, CIOs and CISOs are rethinking early decisions around applications, data, workforce readiness and governance. Drawing on his experience leading AI transformation at Elevance Health, Ratnakar Lavu will share lessons learned, what he'd approach differently and why success now depends on enabling people as much as technology while preparing for the rise of agentic AI. 

Join this keynote to learn more about: 

  • Reimagining AI strategies beyond isolated pilots and point solutions 
  • Modernizing application portfolios and data foundations for scale 
  • Strengthening governance, identity and guardrails for autonomous agents 


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

November 12, 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

Hyatt Regency Indianapolis
More Information

A block of rooms has been reserved at the Hyatt Regency Indianapolis at a reduced conference rate. Reservations should be made online or by calling 1-888-591-1234. Please mention Gartner Executive Summit to ensure the appropriate room rate.

Deadline to book using the discounted room rate of $229 USD (plus tax) is October 20, 2026.

Your Community Sponsors

Global Thought Leaders

CISO Thought Leader

Key Sponsors

Community Program Manager

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

Sam Flaherty

Senior Community Program Manager

208-871-6409

samantha.flaherty@gartner.com