CIO Peer Forum® 2025

Explore how AI is transforming organizations in this engaging panel discussion with CIOs and industry leaders. Learn firsthand how these leaders are leveraging AI to tackle complex challenges, enhance decision-making, and deliver value. This session offers actionable strategies and real-world perspectives to inspire your own AI initiatives.

Join Thrive’s Dave Sampson, VP, Cyber Risk and Strategy as he reviews the current state of cyber risk as AI enters the workplace and what business leaders need to proactively consider to ready their organizations for an era of AI-driven innovation.

In a world driven by data, organizations are eager to unlock the promise of advanced analytics and Generative AI. But without a strong governance foundation, these initiatives often stall or worse, mislead. Recent research shows over 60% of organizations report poor data quality undermines their digital efforts, while the majority admit they’re underutilizing their data assets. This session cuts through theory to deliver actionable case studies for CIOs and IT leaders looking to establish practical, scalable data governance programs that deliver value. Tailored to the realities of Canadian mid-sized and enterprise organizations, the conversation will address: Navigating tool overload and fragmented tech stacks Embedding governance into cloud, hybrid, and multi-platform environments Balancing data quality, access, and speed to serve both innovation and compliance Creating operating models that drive accountability across IT and business Demonstrating quick wins to build momentum and executive buy-in You’ll hear real-world lessons and proven frameworks from Data Elephant, a Canadian data and AI consultancy helping organizations take a tactical approach to data governance success and foundations for innovation. Why Attend: Learn best practices on developing or refreshing your data governance strategy  Discover challenges and key lessons from real-world governance projects. Learn how to balance foundational data needs with high-impact, external-facing use cases.

Neel’s presentation will explore how to transform enterprise supply chains into intelligent, responsive ecosystems through AI and modern data integration platforms.

In today’s volatile global landscape, resilience and end-to-end visibility are essential for successful supply chains. It means more than just recovering from disruption—it’s about anticipating challenges, adapting with agility, and maintaining continuity under pressure. AI plays a pivotal role in building resilience by enabling predictive analytics, automating decision-making, and identifying patterns across vast, complex datasets. Yet to unlock AI’s full potential and enable end-to-end visibility, enterprises must first overcome data silos—fragmented information trapped within internal legacy systems and across their broader ecosystem of suppliers, distributors, and partners.

Learn how modern data integration tools can seamlessly connect data both within the enterprise and externally with trading partners, including smaller vendors who may lack advanced IT infrastructure.

The workplace is evolving at an unprecedented pace. Hybrid work, coupled with the rise of AI and automation, is fundamentally changing our approach to productivity, morale, and employee well-being. Organizations are striving to innovate and deliver results while carefully considering the impact of these technologies on their workforce. Technology leaders play a crucial role in shaping adaptive leadership strategies in this everchanging climate.

In this panel discussion, Technology Leaders will share their insights on navigating these challenges and adapting to the rapidly changing landscape. They will share their experiences and strategies for balancing technology advancements with the human element of today’s workplace.

Moderated by Kyoko Kobayashi.

Artificial Intelligence offers tremendous potential to streamline processes, enhance efficiency, and drive innovation. However, the key to successful AI adoption lies in putting people first. In this presentation, Jean-Paul Lalonde, Chief Information and Data Officer at the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada, shares insights and practical strategies for implementing human-centred AI solutions. Drawing from real-world experience, he will explore how organizations can foster AI literacy, empower teams, and leverage AI to enhance—not replace—human judgment and decision-making, ultimately leading to more impactful and sustainable outcomes.

In this talk, Dr. Joseph Geraci—scientist, entrepreneur, and architect of enterprise AI systems—explores the emerging frontier of Agentic AI and its transformative potential in corporate environments. Going beyond traditional machine learning and large language models (LLMs), Agentic AI refers to systems that can autonomously execute tasks, adapt dynamically to context, and orchestrate complex workflows across platforms.
We will explore locally deployed, agent-enabled middleware that allows enterprises to securely harness the power of AI without sending sensitive data to external servers while reducing costs. This talk also demonstrates how agentic systems can be designed to organize, contextualize, and structure internal data assets—making them not only intelligent assistants, but also scalable knowledge managers. Whether used for legal workflows, IT operations, or marketing automation, these agents reduce cognitive overhead while improving consistency, transparency, and decision support.

For most organizations, the key challenges in AI are around understanding and matching where and how AI can help the business and how to get started. The speed of the AI “Big Bang” has made it very challenging to use traditional enterprise project approaches. This session will focus on how to balance time to deliver value for the best use cases of AI against risk, cost and user adoption.

The presentation will feature a dynamic panel discussion showcasing examples from industry and government, on how data serves as the driving force behind AI’s ability to solve complex challenges and achieve unprecedented productivity. Highlights will include projects where AI has or will drive innovation and operational excellence advancing Canada’s infrastructures management and industries productivity. This session will also explore how these emerging technology projects are challenging traditional CIO functions, as data analytics are driven by Chief Data Officers. Where should AI leadership by driven from? This session will foster knowledge sharing to inspire progress and elevate national competitiveness.

Moderated by Lucie Loignon.

In the rapidly evolving digital landscape, the integration of Generative AI (GenAI) is revolutionizing leadership paradigms, particularly for Chief Information Officers (CIOs) and Senior Technology Leaders tasked with driving business transformation.

This panel brings together senior technology leaders, and recent graduates of the Rotman CIOCAN CIO Executive Leadership Program & CIO.D alumni, to explore how GenAI is reshaping the role of CIOs. Attendees will gain insights into how GenAI enhances strategic decision-making, streamlines operations, and fosters innovation within their organizations. The discussion will delve into recent Gen-AI successes, overcoming challenges in change management, and navigating the ethical and regulatory landscapes associated with AI initiatives.

This session is an essential event for technology leaders aiming to leverage advanced AI solutions to transform their businesses.