May 6, 2026 · Scheman Building, Ames, IA
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Summit Agenda

May 6, 2026 - Scheman Building, Ames, IA

A full day exploring how AI is being applied across Iowa's industries, bringing together business leaders, practitioners, and technology experts.

What to expect:

  • A keynote and five rounds of breakout sessions across five industry tracks
  • Facilitated discussions with experts from each track, designed for direct attendee interaction
  • Networking opportunities throughout the day
  • AI-powered tools to help you plan your day
8:00 AM

Registration & Full Breakfast

Room 220-230-240

9:00 AM

Opening Address

Paul Gormley

9:20 AM
Keynote Address

When the Smartest in the Room is No Longer Human

Jacey Heuer

10:20 AM

Breakout Session 1

10:20 AM - 11:05 AM

AI Demo
From Chatbot to Builder: Turning AI Into a Daily Collaborator Inside Real Projects Andrew Severin
Rm 220-230-240
Business Systems and Data
The AI-Human Edge: Accelerating Human Mastery in the Age of Intelligent Systems Bill Schmarzo
Rm 250-252
Marketing and Sales
Using AI to Drive Customer Clarity, Stronger Messaging, and Smarter Sales Decisions Tara Allen
Rm 260-262
Production and Operations
Industrial AI Success Stories: Because Even My Title Needed Machine Learning Dominique Hain
Rm 275
Leadership and Workforce
Is Your Business AI-Ready? The Human-Centered Domains That Determine Success or Failure Dave Machovsky, Kacy Webster
Rm 204-208
11:15 AM

Breakout Session 2

11:15 AM - 12:00 PM

AI Demo
Stop Automating Broken Processes: How to Redesign Your Business Operations for the Age of AI Agents Meegan Campbell, Adam Engel
Rm 250-252
Business Systems and Data
Facilitated Discussion: Business Systems & Data These facilitated discussions will not be recorded or transcribed to ensure participant privacy.
Rm 220-230-240
Marketing and Sales
Beyond the Chatbot: Navigating the Next AI Frontiers Rachel Holmes
Rm 260-262
Production and Operations
Tabular Foundation Models Meet Manufacturing: A Practical Exploration Aditya Balu
Rm 275
Leadership and Workforce
Shadow AI: When Everyone Becomes a Data Leak Waiting to Happen Aaron Warner
Rm 204-208
12:00 PM

Lunch and Insight Exchange

Paul Gormley

1:00 PM

ISU President's Address

David Cook

1:20 PM

Breakout Session 3

1:20 PM - 2:05 PM

Business Systems and Data
Success Story #1 - Prospect Summarization in CRM using AI to Enable Sales Conversion Levi Sperry, Dinakar Kesavapillai
Rm 250-252
Business Systems and Data
Success Story #2 - A Non-Coder's Experience using AI to Create Enhancement Software Hans Koehnk
Rm 250-252
AI Demo
Building Enterprise-Scale RAG Chatbots Using Azure AI Foundry Mehul Bhuva
Rm 260-262
Marketing and Sales
Facilitated Discussion: Marketing & Sales These facilitated discussions will not be recorded or transcribed to ensure participant privacy.
Rm 220-230-240
Production and Operations
AI Attribute Intelligence: Automating Detection, Extraction, and Standardization at Scale Zach Dygert, Justin Claycomb, Melissa Hollis
Rm 275
Leadership and Workforce
AI Security Is Not a Brand: Governance, Risk, and the Reality Behind “Safe AI” Doug Jacobson
Rm 204-208
2:15 PM

Breakout Session 4

2:15 PM - 3:00 PM

Business Systems and Data
Using Lean Thinking to Unlock Real ROI in AI Brandon Carlson
Rm 250-252
Marketing and Sales
AI Search Optimization Explained: Leveraging the Shift in Search Visibility Neal Rabogliatti
Rm 260-262
AI Demo
Close the GenAI “Learning Gap”: Self‑Improving AI Without Fine‑Tuning Ben McHone, Matt Vincent
Rm 275
Production and Operations
Facilitated Discussion: Production & Operations These facilitated discussions will not be recorded or transcribed to ensure participant privacy.
Rm 220-230-240
Leadership and Workforce
Ready or Not: Change and Adaptation to AI and the Future Organization Celina Peerman
Rm 204-208
3:10 PM

Breakout Session 5

3:10 PM - 3:55 PM

Business Systems and Data
Operationalizing AI for Sales Excellence Neeraj Singh
Rm 250-252
Marketing and Sales
The Strategic Stack: Overcoming AI Slop Travis Arndorfer
Rm 260-262
Production and Operations
Success Story #1 - Vision AI Efforts in Attribute Detections and Measurements Vijay Kalivarapu
Rm 275
Production and Operations
Success Story #2 - Natural Language Search for Member Benefits Nick Nystrom
Rm 275
AI Demo
M365 Copilot Rollout: Driving Adoption and Impact at Pella Curtis Winegar
Rm 204-208
Leadership and Workforce
Facilitated Discussion: Leadership & Workforce These facilitated discussions will not be recorded or transcribed to ensure participant privacy.
Rm 220-230-240
4:05 PM

Advancing AI for Manufacturing through Public Private Partnerships

Robert W. Ivester, PhD

4:20 PM

Closing Address

Paul Gormley

4:40 PM

Networking Session

Room 220-230-240

Note: Schedule is tentative. Final session details will be confirmed closer to the event.