The Digital Transformation Roadmap: 5 Steps to True Organizational Change

DAVID ROGERS

Faculty, Columbia Business School
Author, The Digital Transformation Playbook

Digital transformation is an imperative in today's continuously disruptive times—yet 70% of digital transformation efforts fail. That's because too many business leaders view these efforts as technology problems rather than the organizational challenges they truly are. It doesn't have to be that way. David will discuss critical questions of leadership, culture, innovation, and governance; identify the root causes of DX failure; and offer a five-step roadmap to rebuild any organization for a future of continuous transformation.

Building a Brand when Developers Influence EVERYTHING

KHALID EL KHATIB

Chief Marketing Officer, Stack Overflow

Moderator: ARCHANA BHARATHAN

Director of Outcomes, Tamer Center, Columbia Business School

As the importance of developers to both B2C and B2B companies grows, Khalid will share insights from leading marketing at one of the world's most important developer brands and explain why every marketer needs to care about the developer audience today. What is needed to build and maintain community among this influential, cutting-edge, and notoriously opinionated group?

Keeping Your Spirits Up

RODNEY WILLIAMS

President, Diageo Beer Company and President, Diageo Canada

Fresh off his latest initiative developing and launching Guinness 0 (it really can be a meal now), Williams will share insights from his long leadership roles in the spirits category on product innovation, sustainability, changing consumer behavior, and the challenges of brand building in a more highly regulated industry.

The Now and Future of Retail

EMILY ESSNER ‘09

Chief Marketing Officer, Saks

EMILIE AREL ‘13

CEO and President, Casper Sleep

Moderator: BERND SCHMITT

Robert D. Calkins Professor of Business, Columbia Business School

Everything about our retail buying experiences continues to be in a state of flux. This discussion with Emily and Emilie will bring together one of the oldest retail brands in the US with one of the pioneering direct-to-consumer start-ups to talk about the continuing needs of omnichannel experiences, changing consumer behavior post-pandemic, and how technology continues to affect brand building.

Business in the Era of Climate Change

BRUCE USHER

Professor and Faculty Director, Columbia Business School
Author, Investing in the Era of Climate Change

Climate change will affect every aspect of our lives and every industry in every country. Businesses will face growing pressure to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, creating new challenges and opportunities for business leaders and for investors. This transformation of the global economy will create winners and losers as businesses struggle to adapt to a rapidly changing environment.

Emotional Connections: Lessons from the World of Entertainment

DANIELLE LEE ‘04

President, Warner Music Artist & Fan Experiences
Warner Music Group

Moderator: FRANTZ CAYO ‘00

Director, 100/50 Celebration
Columbia Business School

It is well known that human decisions aren’t based solely on reasoning. In partnership with the School’s 100/50 Celebration, Danielle will share insights from a career at Vevo, Spotify, the NBA, and now Warner Music Group about how brands of all kinds can learn from the emotional connections that are at the core of entertainment brands.

Communications-Driven Leadership and Impact

SALLY SUSMAN

Executive VP and Chief Corporate Affairs Officer, Pfizer
Author, Breaking Through

Moderator: SANDRA NAVALLI ‘03

Executive Director, Tamer Center, Columbia Business School

Sally will share stories and insights from her new book Breaking Through: Communicating to Open Minds, Move Hearts, and Change the World which explores how more effective communication can transform our personal and professional lives and drive leadership efforts to promote positive impacts on business and society.

Designing the Future

BRIAN COLLINS

Co-founder and Chief Creative Officer, COLLINS

Brian Collins is a designer, entrepreneur and educator, and the co-founder of COLLINS – a transformation design firm that has worked with clients such as Spotify, Disney, Nike, Twitch and Sweetgreen. In this session, Brian shares unconventional rules business leaders can draw on to build better and irresistible futures for themselves, their team, and their customers. 

The Future of Advertising

POOJA MIDHA ‘07

EVP & General Manager, Effectv

LAUREL ROSSI

Chief Marketing Officer, Infillion

Moderator: JENNY FERNANDEZ

Lecturer of Marketing, Columbia University

As continuing shifts in media consumption go on – ever shifting social media use, chatbot integrations into search, the growth of subscription content of all kinds – brands and media entities need to effectively combine both creative ideas and the use of data and analytics to both reach and make an impact with consumers.

The Acceleration of AI

X. EYEÉ

Product Manager, Responsible AI, Google

AVIAD ALMAGOR

VP, Technology Innovation, Trimble

ELIZABETH “LIZ” KIEHNER

Chief Growth Officer, Nortal

Moderator: JAMES BARROOD

CEO and Founder, Innovation+
Author, Entrepreneurship and Innovation

While the growth of artificial intelligence has been on the radar for several years, the incorporation of chatGPT into the Bing search engine (and the immediate dovetail integration from others) has supercharged attention to the issue. This panel will discuss a range of issues around how AI is being applied with both consumers and within the business and built world and what must be done to balance its potential and its safety for society.

Brand Language for Humans

DAWN LERMAN

Professor of Marketing and Executive Director, Center for Positive Marketing, Fordham University

Choosing the right language to express your brand in the marketplace has never been more important. Dawn Lerman addresses the need for creative, expressive brand language in the age of ChatGPT and shares tips and tools for building consumer-brand connections through language.