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In Person | Sydney, Australia

MIT CISR AsiaPac Int'l Exec. Forum 2026

March 26 & 27, 2026

During our upcoming AsiaPac International Executive Forum, to be held this year in Sydney, Australia, MIT CISR team members Peter Weill, Stephanie Woerner, Barb Wixom, Alan Thorogood and others, including MIT Sloan Professor Roberto Fernandez, will share recent research project findings. With a focus on the local, they will share examples and case studies of firms in the Asia-Pacific region.

Throughout the event, we will ask especially accomplished business executives to share key insights from their experiences into how they have realized significant value from digital. Overall, we have designed the Forum to give participants many opportunities to engage with and learn from MIT CISR researchers and with other participants. The complete agenda is below.

Who should attend?

Senior technical and business leaders, especially MIT CISR member organization CIOs and C-suite executives with a technology interest, will find value in attending this event. (See the current list of MIT CISR consortium members below.) Key liaisons at our member organizations manage registration. Please contact Chris Foglia if you have any questions about this program or need contact information for your organization's key liaison.

MIT CISR event participants during session

More details...

This event is for MIT CISR consortium members and a small number of invited guests. You must be logged-in to the website to register for the event.

Please contact Chris Foglia if you have questions.

Our Agenda

March 26, 2026

8:00 AM–6:30 PM, AEDT

8:00 AMCheck-in and Welcome Coffee/Tea
8:30 AMWelcome and Introduction
Alan Thorogood
8:45 AMDesigning an Organization for High Data Liquidity
Barbara Wixom
Big organizations, especially those with big aspirations for leveraging AI technology, increasingly need data assets with high data liquidity (i.e., ease of data asset reuse and recombination) to achieve their aims. In this session, Barb will describe the multi-year journey of Caterpillar during which the company made significant changes to data architecture, development processes, operations, and organizational design. Today the company successfully builds and monetizes highly liquid data assets as a part of the organization’s standard operations.
10:00 AMA conversation between CBA CIO Rodrigo Castillo and Peter Weill
In this session, Peter Weill will discuss CBA's enterprise-wide transformation with CBA Chief Technology Officer and CIO Rodrigo Castillo.
10:30 AMBreak
11:00 AMBusiness Models in the Agentic AI Era
Peter Weill
In 2018 MIT CISR published a book “What's your digital business model?” based on several years of survey and case study research. This year we will present a provocative business model framework on how we anticipate firms will make money in the agentic AI era. Given the pace of technological change, this research is more speculative and is based on conversations amongst MIT CISR researchers and our community of experts. Peter will present the framework and then facilitate a lively discussion amongst the attendees about what the future will bring.
12:30 PMLunch
1:30 PMEnterprise IT Operating Models in the AI Era
Alan Thorogood
This session unpacks the risks, benefits, and costs associated with each of four IT operating models. Alan will share how leading organizations’ IT functions support business units whose performance is heavily IT and AI dependent. Their business leaders innovate with digital while IT empowers by moving up the technology stack and building tech platforms outwards to serve new business needs. Together, we'll discuss the future of IT functions’ processes, people, information, and technology.
3:00 PMBreak
3:30 PMScaling Enterprise AI Maturity for Bottom-Line Impact
Stephanie Woerner
MIT CISR introduced a four-stage enterprise AI Maturity framework in 2024 to help enterprise leaders make sense of the AI landscape and identify how to create value from the technology. Our latest survey results show that enterprises are making significant progress in their AI Maturity with positive financial impacts associated with progressing from stage 2 to stage 3. In this session, Stephanie will share the new results and show what it takes to mature from stage 2 to stage 3.
5:00 PMWrap Up and Feedback
Alan Thorogood
5:15 PMNetworking Reception

March 27, 2026

8:30 AM–4:15 PM, AEDT

8:30 AMWelcome Coffee/Tea
9:00 AMNavigating Uncertainty: Learning in the AI Era
Roberto Fernandez
Especially in the current fluid and rapidly changing business environment, the ability to manage risk and uncertainty is a key leadership skill. New research from the exciting field of brain science has yielded important insights about the challenges that leaders face when making decisions under conditions of risk and uncertainty. We will raise awareness of the pitfalls leaders typically encounter, and suggest ways enterprise leadership can manage the challenges of risk and uncertainty.
11:00 AMBreak
11:30 AMManaging Digital Colleagues
Peter Weill
As AI is becoming more embedded in enterprises, we are asking the questions “What is a digital colleague?” and "How should they be managed?" There are already companies with digital colleagues joining human teams, managing other digital colleagues, and sometimes managing human colleagues. At MIT CISR we have collected data from 125 global technology leaders of large companies to understand how they are managing digital colleagues and their aspirations and implemented organizational changes so far. As part of this session, Peter will share results and facilitate a conversation of how the group is using digital colleagues.  
12:45 PMLunch
1:45 PMHands-on with AI Governance: Designing Adaptive Guardrails
Barbara Wixom
As organizations become more AI-fueled and pursue complex digital business opportunities, they must have a new system of guardrails that enable them to innovate quickly yet safely. Leaders must also prove that every data byte and model run is acceptable under tightening regulations and stakeholder scrutiny. How do you steer confidently when the road itself keeps shifting? In this hands-on session, teams of participants will engage in a case teaching experience to explore emergent governance dynamics and solutions. Along the way, Barb will share results from this year’s ‘acceptable data use’ and ‘governing agentic AI’ research projects. (30-minute break included.)
4:15 PMWrap Up and Feedback
Alan Thorogood

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Hand on steering wheel

MIT CENTER FOR INFORMATION SYSTEMS RESEARCH (CISR)

Founded in 1974 and grounded in MIT's tradition of combining academic knowledge and practical purpose, MIT CISR helps executives meet the challenge of leading increasingly digital and data-driven organizations. We work directly with digital leaders, executives, and boards to develop our insights. Our research is funded by member organizations that support our work and participate in our consortium. 

MIT CISR Patrons
AlixPartners
Avanade
Cognizant
Collibra
IFS
​
MIT CISR Sponsors
ABN Group
Alcon Vision
ANZ Banking Group (Australia)
AustralianSuper
Banco Bradesco S.A. (Brazil)
Banco do Brasil S.A.
Barclays (UK)
BNP Paribas (France)
Bupa
Caterpillar, Inc.
Cemex (Mexico)
Cencora
CIBC (Canada)
Commonwealth Superannuation Corp. (Australia)
Cuscal Limited (Australia)
Dawn Foods
DBS Bank Ltd. (Singapore)
Doosan Corporation (Korea)
Ericsson (Sweden)
Fidelity Investments
Fomento Economico Mexicano, S.A.B., de C.V.
Genentech
Hunter Water (Australia)
International Motors
Jewelers Mutual
JPMorgan Chase
Kaiser Permanente
Keurig Dr Pepper
King & Wood Mallesons (Australia)
Mater Private Hospital (Ireland)
Nasdaq, Inc.
National Australia Bank Ltd.
Nomura Holdings, Inc. (Japan)
Nomura Research Institute, Ltd. Systems Consulting Division (Japan)
Novo Nordisk A/S (Denmark)
OCP Group
Pacific Life Insurance Company
Pentagon Federal Credit Union
Posten Bring AS (Norway)
Principal Life Insurance Company
Ralliant
Reserve Bank of Australia
RTX
Saint-Gobain
Scentre Group Limited (Australia)
Schneider Electric Industries SAS (France)
Tabcorp Holdings (Australia)
Telstra Limited (Australia)
Terumo Corporation (Japan)
UniSuper Management Pty Ltd (Australia)
Uniting (Australia)
Vanguard
WestRock Company
Wolters Kluwer Financial & Corporate Compliance
Xenco Medical
Zoetis Services LLC
​
Find Us
Center for Information Systems Research
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Sloan School of Management
245 First Street, E94-15th Floor
Cambridge, MA 02142
cisr@mit.edu
617-253-2348