In-Person

Seattle CIO Community

Executive Summit

December 1, 2026 | Grand Hyatt Seattle

December 1, 2026
Grand Hyatt Seattle

Collaborate with your peers

Get together with Seattle'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:

Lead Strategic Technology Alignment to Establish an AI Operating Model

Manage Costs Strategically to Maximize Business Value

Elevate Cybersecurity as a Core Driver of Business Value, Resilience and Growth

Seattle 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

Lutz Beck

Daimler Truck North America
CIO

Charu Jain

Alaska Airlines
SVP, Merchandising & Innovation

Laurent Rotival

Cambia Health Solutions
EVP & 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 Seattle 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

Restoring Transparency and Trust in AI‑Driven Systems

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, 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

Rethinking Governance for Rapid Tech Shifts

AI’s rapid evolution has exposed gaps in traditional governance frameworks, challenging CISOs to embed adaptable, resilient structures that can withstand future technological disruptions. Proactive governance enables organizations to stay ahead of compliance and risk while maintaining operational agility.

Join this session to discuss:

  • Assessing and updating governance frameworks to address AI-driven changes
  • Aligning zero trust principles to ensure adaptive controls for continuous risk management
  • Preparing teams and processes for the next wave of disruptive technologies

Navigating Complexity — The New CIO and CISO Mandate

CIOs and CISOs are facing expanding responsibilities as organizations adopt AI, address cyber threats and modernize operations. Today’s leaders must not only manage a rapidly shifting risk landscape but also deliver meaningful strategic business value.

Join this interactive session to explore:

  • Balancing growth, innovation, risk, and resilience in a complex environment
  • Strengthening the CIO/CISO partnership to drive enterprise-wide impact
  • Making faster, more informed decisions amid uncertainty and continuous change

Leading When Control Is Distributed

As enterprises adopt platform models, cloud ecosystems, and agentic AI, control increasingly shifts away from centralized ownership. Executives must lead through intent, governance, and alignment rather than direct oversight. The ability to balance autonomy with accountability now defines effective leadership, execution, and resilience.

Join this boardroom discussion to explore:

  • Setting guardrails that enable speed without sacrificing control
  • Leading teams and systems when decision‑making is distributed
  • Reinforcing accountability and trust across technology, security, and AI

Future-Proofing IT Talent

 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


Keynote Sessions

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

Leading Through Uncertainty — Strategies That Work

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


Breakout Sessions

GenAI— A Generational Paradigm Shift

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 

Modernization Moves That Matter

Technology leaders are reimagining what’s possible by integrating AI and modernizing technology to unlock new opportunities. Discover how a product-led approach and strategic innovation can drive meaningful, scalable change across any organization.

In this session, we’ll discuss:

  • Embedding AI for seamless, in-context user support
  • Modernizing legacy systems for agility and resilience
  • Leveraging innovation and integration for lasting impact


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

Grand Hyatt Seattle

A block of rooms has been reserved at the Grand Hyatt Seattle at a reduced conference rate. Reservations should be made online or by calling (402) 935-5352. Please mention Gartner Seattle Executive Summit to ensure the appropriate room rate.

Deadline to book using the discounted room rate of $209 USD (plus tax) is November 9, 2026.

Your Community Sponsors

Global Thought Leaders

CISO Thought Leaders

Key Sponsors

Community Program Manager

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

Ashley Coryell

Sr. Community Program Manager

9712197920

ashley.coryell@gartner.com