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, Rydges Resort, Hunter Valley
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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
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Two distraction-free days where the right people are in the room, and every touchpoint is engineered for genuine connection.
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11-12 March 2027
Rydges Resort, Hunter Valley
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
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 transformation and turbulence is not about knowing what the future will be, it's about understanding what you want your future to be and navigating your way there. This is not another event that will promise all the answers with little return, but you will be fortified with the right questions to ask, built from shared experience with your peers.
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 Rule. 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 or slipping back to the office, just two days of honest, peer-to-peer discussion where AI, Analytics, Data, Information, Privacy, Risk and Technology leaders define the AI adoption and operating model that's right for them.
The advisory board
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Dayle Stevens
Executive of AI Engagement and Advancement - Telstra
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Dr. Pedram Keshavarzian
Group Head of Data Science (AI / ML) - TPG Telecom
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Nipun Sharma
Chief Data & AI Officer - Komatsu Australia
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Lenka Bednarikova
Head of Artificial Intelligence & Advanced Analytics - Australian Retirement Trust
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Michelle Tucker
Head of Digital & CRM - AstraZeneca
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Sam Stark
Head of Capability - Data & AI - Endeavour Group
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Punitha Senniappan
Head of Architecture - Data and AI - SEEK
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Nea Dhillon
Director, AI Technology & Delivery - Victoria University
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Nick Barnett
AI Practice Lead - Aware Super
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Dr. Willem Paling
Executive Manager, AI & Analytics - IAG
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Dr. Katie Williams
Program Director: QLD Gov AI Executive Leadership Program - University of Queensland
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George Tranganidas
AI Product Manager - Cbus Super Fund
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Mitch Burger
Chief Insights Officer - Healthdirect Australia
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Every delegate is hand-picked. With attendance strictly limited to the most senior AI leaders from top organisations, you'll be in good company.
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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?
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?
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
The content offering
The AI Leaders Symposium is anchored not whether AI ownership will centralise or federate, but how much of your organisation's underlying structure, decision rights and accountability you're truly prepared to change for AI's benefits land, and how that sits alongside your adoption journey.
Four lenses anchor the Symposium's content, and they also appear as our Think Tanks topics across both days…
People & Processes
AI is changing what a job actually is, not just how many exist; you'll leave with a sharper view of what capability to build, which tasks inside a role are changing, and what it takes to build AI literacy across a workforce.
Data & Technology
AI ready use cases are only as strong as their data foundations, and that foundation rarely wins board funding; explore who really owns your infrastructure, and whether data sovereignty is a compliance afterthought or something you've genuinely built resilience around.
Adoption & Scaling
There's no template for the right operating model, only where you’re truly at in your own adoption journey; get concrete on how to make your most cautious business voices to say yes, and what trust requires once AI is customer facing.
Value & Measurement
Every AI leader is being asked to prove what their investment is actually worth; you'll get into how to measure value, defend the investment to a sceptical board, and work out where the economics are heading once vendor pricing stops being subsidised.
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.
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.