AI Leaders

Symposium

2027

A more sophisticated way to network with the enterprise leaders at the heart of AI transformation. Exchange matters.

  • 11-12 March 2027

    Rydges Hotel, Hunter Valley

  • 100+ handpicked enterprise leaders - each delegate researched to ensure relevance and personally invited.

    Primary titles: Head of AI, Chief Data Officer (CDO), Chief Technology Officer (CTO), Head of Digital Transformation, Chief Product Officer (CPO)

    Organisations: Australia's largest enterprise brands: financial services, retail, healthcare, government, telecommunications, resources, and professional services

  • Two distraction-free days where the right people are in the room, and every touchpoint is engineered for genuine connection.

Enquire Now

Introducing our foundation partners:

"Across the enterprise, we're seeing massive ambition around AI, with organisations starting to pivot from experimentation to integrating AI into the core of the business with a focus on scale and impact. As organisations look to unlock AI's full value, leaders should enable enterprise value by consciously weaving AI into the fabric of their business workflows and through the better coupling of people and machine intelligence."

Nitin Mittal, Deloitte Global AI Leader

Deloitte's 2026 State of AI in the Enterprise report

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AI Leaders Symposium

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By Ashton Media

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AI Leaders Symposium - By Ashton Media -

Your opportunity

The pressure is real. Australia's emerging AI leaders are being asked to move faster, upskill quicker, prove returns sooner, and govern more carefully, all at once; in a market moving quicker than any in recent history, against regulation still being written and boards that want proof, not pilots.

Leadership in times of disruption is not about knowing what the future is going to be; it's about understanding where you are, what you want your future to be, and navigating your way there.

But scaling is the hard part and where most Australian organisations are stuck. Just 14% are seeing revenue gains from AI, against 30% globally. The gap isn't ambition; it's execution.

Our event

Introducing Ashton Media's AI Leaders Symposium, an event that's refreshingly different. Invitation-only, capped in size, and held under Chatham House Rules. A sophisticated environment where the conversations go deeper, the relationships are real, and there's not a single exhibition booth in sight.

Set in the Hunter Valley, the two-day Symposium format removes everyone from the daily grind entirely. No distractions, no slipping back to the office, just two days of honest, peer-to-peer discussion among the people shaping enterprise AI in Australia.

Until now, there's been no meaningful place in Australia where the Heads of AI, Transformation, CDOs, CTOs and CIOs charged with implementing their organisation's Enterprise AI Operating Model come together to define the model that's right for them.

The advisory board

  • Dayle Stevens

    Executive of AI Engagement and Advancement - Telstra 

  • Dr. Pedram Keshavarzian

    Group Head of Data Science (AI / ML) - TPG Telecom

  • Nipun Sharma

    Chief Data & AI Officer - Komatsu Australia

  • Lenka Bednarikova

    Head of Artificial Intelligence & Advanced Analytics - Australian Retirement Trust

  • Michelle Tucker

    Head of Digital & CRM - AstraZeneca

  • Sam Stark

    Head of Capability - Data & AI - Endeavour Group

  • Punitha Senniappan

    Head of Architecture - Data and AI - SEEK

  • Nea Dhillon

    Director, AI Technology & Delivery - Victoria University

  • Nick Barnett

    AI Practice Lead - Aware Super

  • Dr. Willem Paling

    Executive Manager, AI & Analytics - IAG

  • Dr. Katie Williams

    Program Director: QLD Gov AI Executive Leadership Program - University of Queensland

  • George Tranganidas

    AI Product Manager - Cbus Super Fund

  • Mitch Burger

    Chief Insights Officer - Healthdirect Australia

  • Kinga Papp

    Enablement Lead - Product & AI

Our premium event format

In an industry cluttered with mediocre events, Ashton Media deliver a superior delegate and sponsor experience.

  • ⁠Hosted in the stunning Hunter Valley, away from the noise of the big city, this event is designed to encourage genuine connection building over two focused days.

  • Two days in the Hunter Valley means real time to connect. From curated dinners and wine experiences to golf and pickleball, and other unique hosted activities between sessions, every touchpoint is designed to turn introductions into long lasting professional relationships.

  • Every delegate is hand-picked. With attendance strictly limited to the most senior AI leaders from top organisations, you'll be in good company.

  • From keynotes to roundtables, every session is built around the challenges that AI leaders are grappling with at the moment, informed by our advisory board of experts in the industry.

Trusted & proven

The AI Leaders Symposium brings Ashton Media's retreat format behind Australia's most respected leadership events, to two immersive days built to foster genuine trust between the right people. This is not another trade show.

Sponsoring

Get in front of a hand-picked room of senior AI leaders. Build real relationships over two days with the decision-makers shaping AI adoption across Australia.

Who have we partnered with before?

Collection of logos of various technology and digital companies, including Adobe, Salesforce, Oracle, Google, Deloitte Digital, Zoom, AWS, Twilio, Deel, Dayforce, Braze, Qualtrics, Eightfold.ai, NICE, and Accenture Song, displayed on a black background.

Attending

Stay ahead of the curve with sessions built around the challenges leaders are currently facing with AI. Connect with peers who get it, in a setting that makes the conversations worth having.

Who has attended our events before?

Logos of various companies arranged in a grid on a black background, including Suncorp, A T, Allianz, Foxtel, Qantas, NRMA, Woolies X, ANZ, Commonwealth Bank, CSIRO, Asahi, Mirvac, Kaplan, Aware Super, and Optus.
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What our clients say

“We at Google decided to partner with Ashton Media for this event because of the exposure it gives us to the right stakeholders and leading brands in the market. The relationships that we create at these events and the experiences that we share with the delegates are invaluable.”

Jonny Burgess, Gemini Enterprise CX AI Specialist, Google Cloud

Google logo in white text on a black background.

The content offering

The AI Leaders Symposium will be anchored around the exploration of a core question: for most enterprise brands, will we see a centralisation of AI ownership into a specific business function?

Your AI operating model - build and evolve what enterprise AI deployment looks like for you

Cross-functional collaboration

The task of those who own Enterprise AI transformation is successfully deploying technology and building the people capabilites around it; the challenge is how to collaborate with the diverse needs function leaders have.

Governance & risk

Whatever level of centralisation your operating model has, risk and governance of AI will have to be owned by the AI leader; managing, evolving and adapting to what the future may hold will be crucial for any successful Enterprise AI transformation.

Different industry, same winning format

Ashton Media has operated in the events industry for 13 years. The AI Leaders Symposium is an all-new event, but follows our same winning format. Hear from partners and delegates from our previous events, about what makes our events so special.

More testimonials

Enquire today

This event will bring together an exclusive group of leaders responsible for their organisation's Enterprise AI Operating Model: Heads of AI, CDOs, CTOs, and CIOs from Australia's largest enterprise and government organisations.

If this sounds like you, we'd love to hear from you.

We're also always keen to hear from tech partners and consultancies who have something useful to offer our delegates. If that's you, get in touch today and let's explore how we can work together.