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CH 4 · 5 SESSIONS WEDNESDAY

Transition to Executive

Making the leap to senior leadership: enterprise AI strategy, executive influence, and leading at scale.

TRANSITION PROFESSIONAL TO EXECUTIVE IN TECHNOLOGY

Who it is tailored for

  • Senior ICs and managers preparing for director-level and executive roles
  • Leaders responsible for AI strategy, risk or product at scale
  • Anyone positioning for the next level of scope

WED, OCT 28 · IN THE ROOM · CENTRAL TIME

Your Wednesday on this channel

Wednesday covers AI as a strategic decision layer, building influence through innovation and intellectual property, a mainstage panel of women IT executives, an operating model for AI-era product leadership, and the shift from operational to strategic roles.

  1. Doors, welcome and setupHEADPHONES OFF

    Find a seat, get on the wifi, sign in to your own vGHC account and pick a channel.

  2. Open hour

    A slow start to the day. Settle in, or borrow a session from another channel.

    On at this hour: Agentic Public Health Copilots (technical) · Engineering the Quantum Era (CH 1) · I’m Doing Great Work. Why Am I Not Moving Up? (CH 2)

  3. AI as a Decision Layer: Redefining Trust, Risk, and Competitive Advantage

    For senior leaders: AI as a strategic layer that governs trust, access and risk continuously, and how to evaluate that kind of transformation.

    Runs during the lunch hour, 12:00 to 1:00.

    Session page in the GHC catalog

  4. The Inventor’s Edge: Building Executive Influence through Strategic Innovation

    Turning everyday problem-solving into patents and intellectual property, and using that portfolio to build influence at the leadership table.

    Session page in the GHC catalog

  5. Community block with Angie and MarkHEADPHONES OFF

    A session of our own, led by the organizers. Topic to be announced.

  6. Forging the Future: Limitless Ambition in the Digital Age

    A mainstage panel of women executives at USAA on ambitious goals in IT and the role of women leaders in shaping the industry.

    Starts while the community block is still running and ends at 3:05, with an open stretch until 4:00. To stay for the whole community block, take the technical alternative at 3:00 instead.

    Mainstage, broadcast to virtual attendees

    TECHNICAL ALTERNATIVE · 3:00 PMBridging Bytes and Biology: Automating 3D Anthropological TopographyThe architecture behind a web app that turns 3D point clouds of teeth into automated measurements for anthropology research.Session page in the GHC catalog

  7. AI Is Rewriting Product & Program Leadership: What Leaders Must Do Differently in 2026

    An operating model for leading AI-powered products: evaluation-first development, cross-functional governance and scaling agents without sprawl.

    Session page in the GHC catalog

  8. Navigating from Operational to Strategic: Ops Hero to Strategy Star

    For women moving from operational to strategic roles: building a strategic portfolio, a pivot plan and the visibility to back it up.

    Also on CH 2 Early ProfessionalSession page in the GHC catalog

    TECHNICAL ALTERNATIVE · 5:00 PMThe Solo Explorer’s Guide to SRE: Navigating the Unknown with AIIncident response as exploration: using AI in alerting to find error patterns and move from firefighting to prevention.Session page in the GHC catalog

  9. De-brief/Happy HourHEADPHONES OFF

    What did you hear that you will use? We compare notes on the day, then carry on at [HAPPY HOUR LOCATION].

A technical alternative is a deeper technical session in the same hour. Watch it instead of the listed session and the rest of the day still fits.

THE REST OF THE WEEK

Keep going on your own

We are only in the room on Wednesday. The track runs all week, and these are its other sessions.

TUE, OCT 27

  • Opening Plenary

THU, OCT 29

FRI, OCT 30

Titles, times and session links come from the conference’s virtual catalog as we compiled it on July 13, 2026. Check your vGHC account for the current schedule.