The Calgary CIO/AI Leaders Forum is an exclusive, half-day summit designed for senior technology and executive leaders who are ready to move beyond AI hype and deliver secure, scalable, and measurable enterprise value. As the role of the Chief Information Officer shifts from managing infrastructure to architecting the future of business strategy, this event provides a closed-door environment for peers to tackle the complex realities of modern digital transformation.

We will move past the experimentation phase to examine the architectural, cultural, security, and risk-based frameworks necessary to operationalize intelligence responsibly. From fortifying cyber resilience and optimizing cloud economics to unlocking the disruptive potential of agentic workflows, this forum is dedicated to the leaders shaping the future of work and technology in Western Canada.

From Experimentation to Production: Scaling AI Safely
This panel will explore what it takes to move beyond pilots and proofs of concept to operationalizing AI responsibly—across architecture, governance, security, data strategy, and business alignment. Leaders will discuss the technical, organizational, and risk-management challenges that emerge as AI adoption scales across the enterprise.

Transformational and Change Efforts: Why Do They Fail?
As the winner of the 2022 Orbie Leadership Award and past Orbie and other awards, Al Lindseth has been a thought leader within the energy sector and IT profession for many years. Incredible risk and disruption are driving the need for companies to adapt and drive transformational and change efforts, but the track record and return on these investments are horrible.  Success requires different skill sets.  Traditional approaches are not transformative or agile enough.  Focusing on technology-driven disruption or change efforts and using a specific example around AI, Al will posit five specific reasons why these larger efforts and general attempts to wrestle with change and risk fail - with a goal for attendees to learn how to avoid these issues with the right approach.

The Rise of Agentic AI: Redesigning Work, Not Just Automating It
This panel will explore how AI agents are reshaping workflows, decision-making, operating models, and workforce expectations. Leaders will discuss where agentic AI is creating real enterprise value, where organizations are overestimating readiness, and what must change to scale these capabilities responsibly.

Balancing Innovation, Risk and Cost in the AI Era
As organizations accelerate modernization and AI adoption, leaders face increasing pressure to innovate faster while managing cyber risk, operational complexity, talent shortages, and economic uncertainty (e.g. cloud costs). This panel will explore how top organizations are making investment decisions, prioritizing initiatives, and aligning technology strategies to measurable business outcomes.