The Data & AI Leaders Summit: What It Is and Who It's For
The Data & AI Leaders Summit runs September 21–23, co-located with TDWI Transform 2026 in Anaheim. It's worth explaining what it actually is, because "summit" can mean a lot of things.
This one is a three-day, single-track program built around three themes: AI governance and strategy on day one, delivering AI with measurable ROI on day two, and data foundations for AI on day three. The structure is deliberate — each day builds on the one before, and the themes reflect where a lot of leadership conversations are actually stuck right now.
The format inside each day includes research briefings from TDWI's analyst team, expert sessions, a panel, and a working workshop. The workshop piece is what tends to distinguish this from a passive conference experience. You're not just listening to someone describe a framework — you're applying it to something. The day one workshop, for example, is focused on designing a risk management plan for AI.
Case studies from organizations like Apple, Emirates, Telus, General Motors, Boston Dynamics, and more are woven into the program. Whether those are relevant to your context depends on your industry, but the underlying challenges they're addressing — data quality, governance at scale, proving value to the business — tend to translate.
Each day comes with a certificate for the day's topical focus, which some attendees find valuable for internal reporting or professional development documentation.
The Summit is aimed at CDOs, VPs of Data, analytics directors, and business leaders who are responsible for AI decisions rather than building the pipelines themselves. If you're more on the technical side, the main conference masterclasses will likely be a better use of your time. If you're the one making the case to the C-suite, or you are the C-suite, the Summit is designed with that in mind.