This year’s fast paced and exciting agenda is filling quickly as we finalize the new DataIQ 100 for 2026.
At this year’s 100 Summit, you will have the opportunity to:
The event starts at 1:00pm with registration and lunch. Take this opportunity to connect with senior data and AI leaders, setting the stage for a day of insightful discussions and networking.
The DataIQ 100 recognizes the leaders shaping the future of data and AI, and in 2026, their focus is clear. This keynote distils the defining priorities emerging from the latest cohort: shifting from experimentation to enterprise-scale execution, embedding responsible AI and governance as foundations, and proving measurable business value at the highest levels of the organization.
Drawing on direct insights from senior data and AI leaders, the session explores how operating models are evolving, why trust and accountability now sit at the center of AI strategy, and what it takes to move from promising use cases to sustained impact. Attendees will leave with a practical, forward-looking view of what data and AI leaders must prioritize in the year ahead, and what will increasingly define success in the C-suite.
In this fireside chat with the president of Blend and one of their clients (to be announced), gain insights into what true agentic orchestration looks like and the real business value realised from it. Unpack the evolution from pilots to successful autonomous AI operating in a real enterprise, and the frameworks that exist to make it happen.
Agentic AI promises autonomous, outcome-driven intelligence… but only if organisations can trust what they build. This keynote explores how a strong data foundation, combined with the right cultural shifts, enables AI systems to scale responsibly. It reframes AI transformation as a leadership challenge, where trust, governance, and empowered teams become the true accelerators of impact.
As AI investment accelerates, expectations from the C-suite are changing. This keynote focuses on how data and AI leaders are reframing their work around measurable business outcomes, including revenue, efficiency, growth, and customer impact. The session explores how leaders are aligning AI initiatives to strategic goals, communicating value in executive language, and building credibility through results rather than activity.
As AI investment accelerates, expectations from the C-suite are changing. This keynote focuses on how data and AI leaders are reframing their work around measurable business outcomes, including revenue, efficiency, growth, and customer impact. The session explores how leaders are aligning AI initiatives to strategic goals, communicating value in executive language, and building credibility through results rather than activity.
Each Knowledge Exchange roundtable will focus on an expertly curated scenario designed to address a challenge facing data leaders. Choose two tables based on the scenarios which most resonate with you. There will be two rotations, and each discussion will last 30 minutes. Come prepared to share your experiences and challenges as we collaborate to build actionable solutions for the future of data leadership.
Roundtable 1: How can CDO’s prove value to the board to achieve top-down, consistent buy-in?
Roundtable 2: How can CDO’s ensure adoption across the organization to ensure true transformation at scale?
Roundtable 3: What gaps exist between here and implementing agentic?
Roundtable 4: What can CDO’s do to instill a culture of confidence and literacy?
Roundtable 5: The people-side of the technological revolution: how can CDO’s build trust in their leadership?
Roundtable 6: How are CDO’s unlocking new revenue streams through innovation in data and AI?
Roundtable 7: How can we use incremental value to push forward the adoption of AI across the organisation?
Roundtable 8: Can Generative AI fix enterprise data chaos without breaking governance?
Roundtable 9: Can we use AI in data foundations to enhance outcomes?
This is your chance to network with peers, exchange ideas, and continue building connections in a relaxed, collaborative environment.
Roundtable 1: How can CDO’s prove value to the board to achieve top-down, consistent buy-in?
Roundtable 2: How can CDO’s ensure adoption across the organization to ensure true transformation at scale?
Roundtable 3: What gaps exist between here and implementing agentic?
Roundtable 4: What can CDO’s do to instill a culture of confidence and literacy?
Roundtable 5: The people-side of the technological revolution: how can CDO’s build trust in their leadership?
Roundtable 6: How are CDO’s unlocking new revenue streams through innovation in data and AI?
Roundtable 7: How can we use incremental value to push forward the adoption of AI across the organisation?
Roundtable 8: Can Generative AI fix enterprise data chaos without breaking governance?
Roundtable 9: Can we use AI in data foundations to enhance outcomes?
Be part of the exclusive group of attendees networking with the 2026 DataIQ 100. Enjoy a selection of drinks as we celebrate the achievements of the most influential people in data and AI.
An exclusive first-look at the 2026 list and the new power players across data and AI, including the Top Ten Reveal!
Ready to see Day 1 of DataIQ Summit disappear into a puff of smoke?
Blend360 is hosting an exclusive after party beneath the legendary House of Cards—hidden below the iconic Johnny Cash Museum—where cocktails are crafted, secrets are kept, and magic is very real in Music City.
Just six blocks from the JW Marriott (a quick stroll)… and suddenly, you’re somewhere else entirely.
What’s in the deck:
🃏 Spellbinding handcrafted cocktails & premium mocktails
🍽️ Full food service for lingering, laughing, and late-night bites
🎩 Live magic performances every 30 minutes
✨ Hidden surprises and sleight-of-hand moments around every corner
When: Wednesday, April 29 | 7:30–10:00 PM CDT
Where: House of Cards, Lower Level
119 3rd Ave S, Nashville, TN
All are welcome. Come for the magic, stay for the conversations.
The event starts at 8:00am with registration and breakfast. Take this opportunity to connect with senior data and AI leaders, setting the stage for a day of insightful discussions and networking.
The DataIQ 100 captures fundamental data and intelligence on how data offices are structured, staffed and service their stakeholders. This evidence set offers critical insights into the way data offices are set up, from the ratio of staff to their operating model, from proximity to the C-suite to the level of data maturity.
In this session, Paul will unveil the insights gained from this data set and the models it offers to all CDOs considering the right size, shape and impact they should pursue.
The role of the Chief Data Officer is evolving rapidly. No longer just tech stewards, today’s CDOs are expected to drive business strategy, enable AI at scale, and deliver measurable outcomes. This session explores how modern CDOs can bridge the gap between data and business value, influence the C-suite, and lead with both technical depth and strategic vision.
The most successful CDO’s understand how to communicate across the C-Suite, but this becomes tricky without understanding truly the motivations of colleagues across the board. In this session, unlock insights into the way members across the C-Suite think, and understand what they need from the CDO.
The structure of data and AI teams is undergoing fundamental change. In this keynote, we explore how organizations are evolving from centralized control to federated, enterprise-wide operating models. The session looks at how leaders are redefining ownership, aligning stakeholders across functions, and building shared foundations that enable scale without sacrificing coherence or accountability.
This is your chance to network with peers, exchange ideas, and continue building connections in a relaxed, collaborative environment.
Embrace Workforce AI to Build Opportunities for Employees
Discover how leading organizations are using AI to elevate human capabilities rather than displace them. This session covers real-world examples of AI-enabled productivity, new talent models, career paths, as well as ways to redesign roles around human strengths. Gain strategies for scaling augmentation responsibly while building employee confidence and enterprise-wide adoption.
Data Fluency at Scale: Making Insights Everyone’s Business
As organizations become increasingly data-driven, true impact comes when data fluency extends beyond analysts and IT teams. This session explores how to build a culture where data literacy is widespread, insights are accessible and decision-making is informed at every level. Learn how to scale data fluency across teams, embed it into daily workflows and empower employees to turn data into action. Join this session to discover proven strategies to make data everyone’s business and drive smarter outcomes across the organization.
This is your chance to network with peers, exchange ideas, and continue building connections in a relaxed, collaborative environment.
The Playbook on AI Agents and Workflows: What CDOs Must Prepare For
Many CDO’s would naturally jump at the chance to have an AI agent to work for them, but are CDO’s truly prepared to adopt an autonomous worker that makes decisions in isolation? This session explores the rules and guardrails needed to ensure supervision, once the decision is made to remove humans from the loop.
How to be an Agile CDO that Fuses Business and Data Strategies
CDO’s circumstances change often and rapidly, in the world of what it means to be a CDO as well as within their own organizations. In this session, explore what the North Star of data leadership looks like, and how it enables CDO’s to remain agile and thrive in any business environment.
This is your chance to network with peers, exchange ideas, and continue building connections in a relaxed, collaborative environment.
Panel & Q&A: Fuse AI with Organizational Vision to Ensure Success
Workshop: Building AI-Ready Data Foundations Without Waiting for a ‘Success Story’
Not every organisation has a polished AI success story, and that shouldn’t be a barrier to progress. This session explores what data leaders can do now to prepare for AI adoption while still on the journey. Topics include strengthening data foundations, improving operating models, and aligning stakeholders around practical next steps that enable future AI use cases without over-engineering or slowing momentum.
This is your chance to network with peers, exchange ideas, and continue building connections in a relaxed, collaborative environment.
Panel & Q&A: Driving Business Transformation with AI Capability and What’s Working with Agentic?
Panel & Q&A: How can we Successfully Innovate within Highly Regulated Environments?
Data platforms only create value when they are designed with clear demand, accountability, and outcomes in mind. In this session, we explore how modern CDOs can apply product thinking to data platforms; shifting from infrastructure delivery to value creation. Through a product lens, this session reframes platform strategy around business impact, adoption and sustained demand, offering practical principles for CDOs navigating scale, complexity, and executive expectations.
As organisations race to operationalise AI, the role of the data leader is rapidly evolving. This session explores why AI belongs at the heart of the CDO organisation (and what that looks like), what the first 90 days of AI leadership really demand and how generative AI has fundamentally reshaped our data and technology mental models. From defining the enterprise purpose of AI to rethinking talent and capability at scale, this keynote offers a practical, experience-led view of driving AI maturity when it matters most.
