Preview the Columbus AI Week Agenda | September 10-11, 2026

Written By Zack Huhn
Preview the Columbus AI Week Program Agenda | Enterprise Technology Association
Enterprise Technology Association

Ohio AI Congress  ///  Program preview

Preview the Columbus AI Week Program Agenda

Two summits, three stages and more than sixty-five sessions. Here is the full program for September 10 and 11 at Vitria on the Square, plus the special programming happening around it.

Enterprise Technology Association  ·  Agenda current as of August 27, 2026

September 10 & 11, 2026Dates
Vitria on the SquareVenue
Columbus, OhioCity
ETA + JobsOhioPowered by

2Days

3Stages

65+Sessions

90+Speakers

3Certificate tiers

What is Columbus AI Week

Two summits. Three stages. One state getting AI ready.

Columbus AI Week brings the Ohio AI Congress to Vitria on the Square for two days of leadership programming, hands-on workshops and applied case studies. Day One is the AI Leadership Summit, built for the executives, policymakers and ecosystem builders setting Ohio's direction. Day Two is the AI for Business Summit, built for the teams putting AI to work inside real organizations.

Both days run three concurrent stages, and every attendee moves freely between them. Speakers come from across the state and around the country, spanning Ohio's research universities, its fastest-growing AI companies and the global technology firms investing in the region. Programming is produced by the Enterprise Technology Association in partnership with JobsOhio as part of the AI Ready Ohio initiative.

Day One

AI Leadership Summit

Thursday, September 10

Policy, capital, workforce and ecosystem strategy, closing with the invitation-only Speaker, Sponsor and VIP Reception.

Day Two

AI for Business Summit

Friday, September 11

Agents, operating models and enterprise deployment, opening with the Women in AI and Business Breakfast.

How the program is organized

The three tracks

AI Leadership

Main Stage

Policy, capital, workforce and ecosystem strategy. Keynotes and firesides with the people building Ohio's AI super sector, from the statehouse to the shop floor.

AI Learning Lab

Stage Two

Hands-on workshops you can act on Monday morning. Copilot masterclasses, agent-building labs, upskilling frameworks and the human side of AI transformation.

Applied AI

Stage Three

Working systems and real deployments. Retail and commerce, healthcare, identity, governance, edge computing and enterprise agents, told by the teams who shipped them.

Beyond the main stage

Special programming

Columbus AI Week opens the evening before the conference and keeps going after the last session each day. These are the rooms where the introductions happen.

Community Happy Hour

Wednesday, September 9, 5:00 PM

Columbus AI Week opens the night before the conference. Doors open wide as the broader Columbus tech, startup and workforce community gathers with speakers and attendees for an open evening of conversation.

Women in AI and Business Breakfast

Friday, 8:00 AM, Main Stage

A two-hour networking breakfast presented by JobsOhio, convening women leading AI adoption across Ohio business, government and education. Hosted by Summer Crenshaw with Elise Meyers, Tracey Sigers, Nicole McCain, Connie Matthews and Cecilia Chiderski.

Speaker, Sponsor and VIP Reception

Thursday, 5:00 PM

An invitation-only reception for speakers, sponsors, partners and VIP guests immediately following Day One programming. The room where introductions turn into partnerships.

CAIO Luncheon and Roundtable

Thursday, 11:30 AM, Stage Three

A closed-door working lunch for Chief AI Officers and senior AI leaders, hosted by Big Kitty Labs with Jon Salisbury and Tushar Kulkarni.

On the floor

Interactive experiences on site

Tesla

Featured presentation plus an on-site vehicle and technology experience.

Path Robotics

Physical AI on display. See how adaptive robotics is changing Ohio manufacturing, alongside a Main Stage keynote from Matthew Randle.

Sponsor Showcase

Demos, live agent builds and hands-on stations across the venue throughout both days.

Who is on stage

Featured keynotes and presentations

  • Day One

    From Automated to Adaptive: Bringing Physical AI to Manufacturing

    Matthew Randle · Path Robotics

  • Day One

    Building Ohio's AI Super Sector and AI Ready Ohio

    Payal Thakur · JobsOhio

  • Day One

    The State of AI Policy in Ohio and Across the United States

    Zachary Heck · Taft

  • Day One

    Confidence Is the ROI: What Happened When We Taught AI to People Who Were Told It Was Coming for Their Jobs

    Tom Bush · Actual Reality

  • Day One

    Securing the Cognitive AI Era: Cybersecurity Beyond Generative AI

    Dr. Zag ElSayed · ETA

  • Day Two

    Building Operational Agents Using Claude Code

    Chris Thomas · YNDR

  • Day Two

    The Future of Enterprise AI and Agentic Systems

    Todd James · Aurora Insights

  • Day Two

    AI Is Changing the Team. Is It Changing the Leader?

    Alejandro Azuola

The full program

Both days, all three stages

Sessions run concurrently on the Main Stage, in the AI Learning Lab and in Applied AI. Pick a day to see everything scheduled on it.

Day One · Thursday, September 10

AI Leadership Summit

Main Stage

AI Leadership

  1. Welcome Reception, Coffee and Networking

    Open Networking

  2. Welcome to the Ohio AI Congress @ Columbus AI Week

    Summer Crenshaw, Zack Huhn, Jon Salisbury

    Welcome · ETA

  3. The State of AI Policy in Ohio and Across the United States

    Zachary Heck

    Featured Speaker · Taft

  4. From Automated to Adaptive: Bringing Physical AI to Manufacturing

    Matthew Randle

    Keynote · Path Robotics

  5. Building Ohio's AI Super Sector and AI Ready Ohio

    Payal Thakur

    Keynote · JobsOhio

  6. AI, Workforce, and Ohio's Path Forward

    Elise Meyers, Matt Waldo

    Featured Fireside · JobsOhio

  7. Building Ohio's AI Ecosystems: One Region At A Time

    Josette Riep, Payal Thakur, Ray Waite, Tom Bush

    Featured Fireside · ETA

  8. Open Networking Break

    Open Networking

  9. Open Networking Luncheon

    Lunch

  10. AI Access, Impact, and Action in Central Ohio

    Arjun Kaarat, Swarna Solanki, Tracey Sigers, Hope Yin

    Featured Fireside

  11. Confidence Is the ROI: What Happened When We Taught AI to People Who Were Told It Was Coming for Their Jobs

    Tom Bush

    Keynote · Actual Reality

  12. AI and the Future of Education in Ohio

    Josette Riep, Ravi Tenati, additional panelists to be announced

    Featured Fireside · ETA

  13. AI for Nonprofits and Impact Driven Organizations

    Nick Davis, additional panelists to be announced

    Featured Fireside · ETA

  14. Navigating AI Governance, Security, and Trust Across the Enterprise

    Jim Ford, Jack Jin, Eric Zielinski, Connie Matthews

    Featured Fireside

  15. AI, IP, and What You Own in the AI Age

    Vance VanDrake, Shannon Villalba

    Featured Fireside · Frost Brown Todd

  16. AI Governance Featured Presentation and Fireside

    Connie Matthews

    Featured Presentation · ETA

  17. Securing the Cognitive AI Era: Cybersecurity Beyond Generative AI

    Dr. Zag ElSayed

    Featured Presentation · ETA

  18. Beyond the Chatbot: Deploying Autonomous, Zero-Trust AI Agent Fleets in Mission-Critical Healthcare Supply Chains

    Mukul Agochiya

    Featured Presentation

  19. Main Stage Programming Concludes

  20. Speaker, Sponsor and VIP Reception

    Special Programming

Stage Two

AI Learning Lab

  1. Who Grades the AI? Building Enterprise AI You Can Actually Trust

    Surbhi Jha

    Lunch and Learn · NVIDIA

  2. Microsoft Copilot Masterclass: Level One

    Scott Phillips

    Workshop · Nexigen

  3. Microsoft Copilot Masterclass: Level Two

    Scott Phillips

    Workshop · Nexigen

  4. The AI Operating Model: How CEOs Should Really Run an AI-Native Enterprise

    Mike Walker

    Workshop · ETA

  5. Upskilling Your AI Playlist: Mixing Yesterday's Skills with Tomorrow's Technology

    Tracey Sigers

    Workshop · ETA

  6. Beyond the Training: A Framework for Leading the Human Side of AI Transformation

    JP Graulty

    Workshop · Skillspot

  7. Whose Job Is It Now? Redesigning Roles After AI, Not Just Workflows

    Sarah Slavik

    Workshop · Skillspot

  8. AI Isn't Replacing You. Someone Using AI Might.

    Ebony Hall

    Breakout Session · ETA

Stage Three

Applied AI

  1. CAIO Luncheon and Roundtable

    Jon Salisbury, Tushar Kulkarni

    Lunch and Learn · Big Kitty Labs

  2. Agentic Commerce: How AI Is Transforming Retail and eCommerce

    Ryan Lunka

    Breakout Session

  3. From Generative AI to Intelligent Commerce: The Next Evolution of Retail

    Ashish Keshri

    Breakout Session · Salesforce

  4. Scaling AI in Retail

    Charisma Glassman

    Breakout Session · ETA

  5. Lead AI to Business Impact

    Ben Nussbaum

    Workshop · Overlook AI

  6. Inside the AI Rocket Ship: The Humans, Data, and Decisions Shaping AI

    Sarah Marilyn

    Breakout Session

  7. Who Dunnit: AI Identity Attribution

    Ruchi Batra

    Breakout Session · US Bank

  8. The Model Did Exactly What It Was Asked: What Two Real Breaches Just Taught Us About Governing AI

    Eric Zielinski

    Breakout Session

  9. Building an AI Healthcare Guide: Enforcing Determinism in a High-Risk Domain

    Rohan Bhandari

    Breakout Session

  10. The Architecture of Motion: Harnessing Physical AI for Next-Era Bio-Robotics

    Dr. Yishay Falick

    Breakout Session

AI Ready Ohio certificates

Earn credit hours while you attend.

Every session and workshop at Columbus AI Week carries credit hours toward an AI Ready Ohio certificate. Check in, attend, and your hours are tracked automatically.

  1. Explorer

    Foundational AI literacy. Earned through general session attendance.

  2. Professional

    Applied skills and workflow competency. Earned through Learning Lab and Applied AI workshops.

  3. Leader

    Strategy, governance and organizational readiness. Earned through leadership track programming.

Speakers

From across the state and around the country

More than ninety speakers join the Ohio AI Congress across two days, drawn from Ohio's research universities, its public sector and economic development institutions, its startup and services community, and the global technology companies investing in the region.

Ohio research universities

  • The Ohio State University
  • University of Cincinnati
  • Bowling Green State University
  • Ohio University
  • Miami University

Technology and industry leaders

  • NVIDIA
  • Google
  • Microsoft
  • Salesforce
  • Tesla
  • AWS
  • US Bank
  • Path Robotics
  • JobsOhio
  • Taft
  • Frost Brown Todd

Plus founders, chief AI officers, general counsel, workforce leaders and public sector executives from Columbus, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Toledo, Dayton and beyond.

Thank you to our partners

Columbus AI Week is built by its community

Columbus AI Week 2026 is powered by the Enterprise Technology Association and JobsOhio, with special thanks to our presenting sponsors and to the many partners, universities and community organizations making this program possible.

Presenting sponsors

  • Big Kitty Labs
  • Nexigen
  • Tesla
  • Path Robotics
  • Overlook AI
  • Frost Brown Todd
  • YNDR
  • LogicMonitor

Partners and supporting sponsors

  • JobsOhio
  • Taft
  • NVIDIA
  • Google
  • Salesforce
  • AWS
  • US Bank
  • Actual Reality
  • Skillspot
  • Synapsa
  • Aurora Insights
  • USAII
  • Enterprise Technology Association

and many more.

Join us in Columbus

The program is live and the agenda is still growing. Sessions, speakers and times are subject to change as we confirm the remaining slots, so check back before you build your schedule.

Register for Columbus AI Week
Enterprise Technology Association

September 10 & 11, 2026 · Vitria on the Square, Columbus, Ohio · hello@joineta.org

Zack Huhn
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