1682: the business of innovation conference

Light breakfast, coffee, networking, sponsor experiences, and time for attendees to get settled.

Keith Scandone, O3

A quick welcome and framing of the day around AI for All of Us.

5 minutes

Steven Brady, Barnes Foundation

A brief opening perspective connecting the Barnes, art, creativity, and the ways AI is changing how we create, interpret, and experience the world around us.

5 minutes

Mike Gadsby, O3XO

A look at how AI is shifting technology creation closer to the people who understand the business problem—and what organizations need to do to turn individual experimentation into scalable capability.

• The shift from IT-led development to individual initiative

• What Claude, ChatGPT, and AI-powered building platforms have unlocked

• Speed, accessibility, and better alignment to business problems

• Shadow AI, governance, and accountability

• Turning experimentation into organizational capability

25-minute presentation

5 minutes

Mike Pitone, Wawa

A highly visual transformation story about how Wawa moved from isolated customer and operational issues toward a scalable system for identifying and prioritizing friction.

• Mapping more than 550 customer and operational friction points

• Separating systemic friction from isolated issues

• Using AI to categorize, organize, and prioritize information

• Helping executives visualize organizational complexity

• Moving from individual fixes to a scalable decision-making system

25-minute presentation + 10-minute Q&A

Coffee, networking, sponsor experiences, and demos.

20 minutes

Startup Finalist #1

The first finalist takes the stage to introduce the company, explain the opportunity, and make the case to the Venture Awards judges.

8 minutes

2 minutes

Marjon Dean, ServiceNow

A practical conversation about what has to happen inside a large organization before AI can move beyond pilots and experimentation.

• Data and technology foundations

• Governance, security, and responsible adoption

• Moving beyond isolated pilots

• Employee adoption and organizational change

• Turning experimentation into measurable business value

25-minute fireside chat

5 minutes

Rick Nucci, Guru

A look at what happens as organizations move from copilots toward agents, why trusted enterprise knowledge becomes increasingly important, and how AI is changing the traditional SaaS model.

• Moving from copilots to agents

• What happens to traditional SaaS

• Why enterprise knowledge becomes more important as AI improves

• Context, permissions, and trusted information

• Embedding AI into everyday workflows

• What successful enterprise AI adoption actually requires

25-minute presentation + 10-minute Q&A

Lunch, networking, sponsor experiences, demos, and Venture Awards judging.

• Guru Breakout Room: Meet the Guru team and explore their approach to enterprise AI, knowledge, search, and agents.

• Barnes Gallery Access: Attendees can explore the Barnes collection.

• Venture Awards Judging: Judges continue reviewing the startup finalists.

60 minutes

Ethan Mollick

A wide-ranging conversation about where AI stands today, how people and organizations are actually using it, and what leaders should be paying attention to as these tools become part of everyday work.

• How people are actually using AI today

• Where organizations are ahead and where they're falling behind

• How AI changes productivity and expertise

• What leaders misunderstand about adoption

• The changing relationship between humans and AI

• What executives should be preparing for next

30-minute fireside

5 minutes

Christina Clark, HubSpot

AI is changing how people discover companies, evaluate products, and make buying decisions—often before they ever reach a traditional search result or company website.

• The evolution from SEO to AEO

• How AI is changing product and brand discovery

• Becoming part of the answer

• How the buyer journey is changing

• Measuring AI visibility and business impact

25-minute presentation + 10-minute Q&A

Startup Finalist #2

The second finalist takes the stage to share the company story, opportunity, and case to the judges.

8 minutes

2 minutes

Danny Fisher, West Shore Home

A counterpoint to the idea that every AI problem should be solved with a frontier LLM.

• Building 25+ proprietary image-recognition models

• Why GPT and Claude aren't always the best solution

• Changing how 700 design consultants collect data

• Build versus buy versus frontier models

• Scaling technology through hypergrowth and acquisitions

• Why operational change is critical to AI adoption

25-minute presentation + 10-minute Q&A

Coffee, networking, sponsor experiences, demos, and another opportunity to explore the Barnes galleries.

20 minutes

Ophir Samson, Greenhouse

A practical look at how voice AI and conversational interfaces are changing recruiting, screening, and the candidate experience.

• Conversational applications versus traditional recruiting forms

• Creating a more natural candidate experience

• Improving screening and recruiter efficiency

• Trust, transparency, and fairness

• Where recruiting interfaces may go next

25-minute presentation/demo + 10-minute Q&A

Brett Norton, Buffalo Construction
Moderator: Mike Gadsby

A leadership-level conversation about AI from the perspective of someone responsible for running a business rather than building AI technology.

• Where executives see real opportunity

• What leaders actually need from AI

• Employee adoption and organizational change

• Balancing experimentation with risk

• ROI and business expectations

• Where AI belongs—and where it doesn't

25-minute fireside

The last Venture Awards finalist takes the stage before the judges make their final decision.

2 minutes

Lazar Jovanovic, Lovable

Closing the day with a look at where AI-powered building is headed, combining real-world examples and live demonstrations to show how quickly the distance between an idea and a working product is collapsing.

• How AI changes who can build software

• Moving from idea to working prototype faster

• Live demos and real-world examples

• Enterprise adoption and best practices

• Experimentation versus production

• What AI-powered building means for the future of work

25-minute presentation/demo + 10-minute Q&A

Announcement of the 2026 Venture Awards winner and a quick close to the formal program.

5 minutes

Cocktails, conversation, and networking with speakers, sponsors, and fellow attendees in the Barnes Foundation’s Annenberg Court and Terrace.