In a time where ownership of AI and technology is unclear, Transformation has a clear position – guiding that ownership and communicating alignment between the board and the people of the business. This exact challenge of creating a scalable, unified enterprise approach to AI and transformation strategy, with people at the heart, is what we will be addressing at the summit this year, and in this opening panel.

- As AI reshapes executive priorities, how must the role of the Chief Transformation Officer evolve to remain central to enterprise leadership in 2026?

- How do we create governance guardrails for AI without slowing momentum or creating friction in a democratised approach?

- How can we identify which AI initiatives have the potential to scale, as part of a measurable enterprise strategy?

- How are we defining the long-lasting value that Transformation provides, and does this need to be redefined?

- Is Transformation driving strategy or influencing it?

- What do transformation leaders need to change if they want to be the ones leading technology transformation?

- How to overcome the mundane requirement to upskill as a leader (and not just impose this on our teams)?

- How do we switch from 'business change' to future-proofing the business?

In transformation, we don't always get it right. The statistic gets brought up often, that 80% of transformations are unsuccessful– whether this number is correct or not, I think most leaders can testify to the fact that there are often times when we will feel like our decisions have led to some kind of failure. Join this session to:

- Learn how to be more open about discussing failures with other business leaders

- Explore how to foster an innovation culture by allowing for failures within transformation for all stakeholders

- Understand failure communication to senior leaders, to frame failures as learning experiences internally

- Hear some failure case studies from Mike, and how he overcame these to enable successful transformation

Co-creation can be a process or a mindset, and the absence of one with the presence of the other could still be what is stumping Transformation leaders in realising the full potential in gaining stakeholder buy-in through co-creation. Co-creation is also an opportunity for leaders to balance both top-down and bottom-up leadership, without having to draw a hard line on the approach they take. Join this session to understand what this looks like in practice for transformation leaders:

- What does co-creation look like in transformation beyond feedback sessions?

- How do we involve stakeholders early enough to shape outcomes, not just validate them?

- What impact does co-creation have on adoption and long-term sustainability?

- How do we balance co-creation with the need for direction and control?

- How do we align process, people, AI, and data under one Transformation vision, rather than treating them as separate initiatives?