The Forum At A Glance
From AI transformation and economic volatility to shifting consumer expectations, political uncertainty, and societal pressures, CMOs are being tested in every direction.
This closed-door forum convenes a highly curated group of 100+ leading CMOs and senior executives to tackle the most urgent challenges and embrace the opportunities that disruption creates. We’ll begin with foundational plenary discussions led by industry leaders Antonio Lucio, Lara Balazs, Gary Vaynerchuk, Jane Wakely, David Sable, Rishad Tobaccowala, and Tiffany R. Warren, and work together to determine what's working, parking lot what's not, and get excited about what's possible.
This event is now at capacity.
Enterprise Leadership in an Era of Transformation
The CMO role is evolving rapidly, shaped by the enterprise context. In some organizations, CMOs are the strategic architects of growth; in others, they must assert their place at the table as the voice of the customer. We will explore how CMOs align with the C-Suite to drive enterprise priorities, maintain authentic customer connection in an era when AI is reshaping research and insights, and build organizational resilience amid volatility. The focus is on strengthening the CMO as both a peer to the C-Suite and a strategic integrator—ensuring marketing remains a growth engine, not a support function.
Human and Machine: Redefining Culture
As agentic AI becomes an embedded part of marketing organizations (projected to account for 20% of teams within 2-3 years) CMOs face the dual challenge of rethinking capabilities and protecting culture. We will examine how to design organizations for the future, balancing in-house, outsourced, and AI-driven work, while fostering team cultures of trust, clarity, and adaptability. It will also address the growing strain on leadership stamina and mental health, exploring how to sustain high performance without sacrificing well-being. The focus is on creating environments where human creativity, empathy, and resiliency thrive alongside machine intelligence.
Redefining Growth and Marketing Fundamentals
Marketing is being rewired from the ground up. Brand building and advertising are facing new channels, discovery models, and consumer behaviors that demand agility and reinvention. We will explore how CMOs can redefine growth in a world where advertising shifts from traditional search to AI-driven discovery, where consumers expect brands to meet them across fragmented ecosystems, and where global competition plays by vastly different rules on data and regulation. The focus is on rethinking how success is planned, measured, and delivered—ensuring marketing remains both credible to the C-Suite and indispensable to enterprise growth.
Societal Impact, Cultural Credibility, and Ethical Leadership
In an era of heightened expectation and scrutiny, marketers face a defining question: should brands play a role beyond their commercial value, and if so, when, where, and how? CMOs now sit at the intersection of trust, culture, and commerce, balancing the expectations of consumers,e mployees, and communities with the responsibility to drive growth. The challenge is not to assume that role automatically but to discern when purpose truly aligns with authenticity, enterprise value, and stakeholder trust. Leadership now requires discernment, the ability to act or to choose restraint responsibly and sustainably in a world shaped by transparency, polarization, and AI transformation.
.png "Deborah Wahl (4)")
.png?width=1063&name=Diana%20Haussling%20(1).png "Diana Haussling")
.png?width=1000&height=1000&name=Fara%20Howard%20(1).png "Fara Howard (1)")
.png?width=938&name=Mark%20Kirkham%20(2).png "Mark Kirkham (2)")
.png?width=1000&name=Melissa%20Grady%20(1).png "Melissa Grady (1)")
.png?width=938&name=Nick%20Tran%20(4).png "Nick Tran (4)")
.png?width=1188&name=Rebecca%20Messina%20(2).png "Rebecca Messina (2)")
.png?width=1000&name=Shiv%20Singh%20(1).png "Shiv Singh (1)")
.png?width=400&height=400&name=Gary%20Vaynerchuk%20(1).png "Gary Vaynerchuk (1)")
-1.png?width=1063&height=1063&name=Jane%20Wakely%20(1)-1.png "Jane Wakely (1)-1")
.png?width=1125&name=Lara%20Balazs%20(1).png "Lara Balazs (1)")
.png?width=400&height=400&name=Rishad%20Tobaccowala%20(3).png "Rishad Tobaccowala (3)")
.png?width=813&height=813&name=Tiffany%20R.%20Warren%20(1).png "Tiffany R. Warren (1)")
.png?width=150&name=Claudine%20Cheever%20(2).png "Claudine Cheever (2)")
.png?width=150&name=Gary%20Vaynerchuk%20(1).png "Gary Vaynerchuk (1)")
.png?width=150&height=150&name=Jane%20Wakely%20(1).png "Jane Wakely (1)")
.png?width=150&height=150&name=Rishad%20Tobaccowala%20(3).png "Rishad Tobaccowala (3)")
.png?width=150&height=150&name=Tiffany%20R.%20Warren%20(2).png "Tiffany R. Warren (2)")
Carmel Valley Ranch
A Property fit for Exploration
We chose Carmel Valley Ranch as the home for this very important forum because environment shapes experience. Set on nearly 500 acres of rolling hills, oak groves, and vineyards along California’s central coast, the Ranch is more than a retreat—it’s a working ranch that embodies sustainability, renewal, and connection.
Participants will stay in all-suite accommodations spread across the hills and nestled among the trees, each with private balconies and fireplaces that create space for recharging and reflection. The Ranch’s farm-to-table focus means meals are not only shared but created from ingredients produced on-site—from goat cheese and honey to lavender, salt, and seasonal harvests.
Carmel Valley Ranch’s sustainable practices and intimate connection with the land offer more than comfort—they offer perspective, space to pause, connect and reset before turning back to the complex demands of Leadership in the Age of Disruption.
A room block with significantly discounted rates is available.
Carmel Valley Ranch is located 14 miles from the Monterey airport and about 2 hours from SFO.
