Thursday,
July 16, 2026.

Join your fellow attendees and principals from The Athena Project and Northwestern Medill for light breakfast fare and conversations with old and new friends during our pre-conference networking gathering.

Every era experiences change. But today's leaders are navigating something different: more platforms, more signals, more touchpoints and faster shifts than ever before. Velocity is no longer just about moving faster — it's about maintaining clarity, adaptability and strategic direction amid constant acceleration.

As AI floods every screen with infinite content, personalized feeds, and synthetic media, one thing becomes increasingly valuable: shared experiences. The physical world has become marketing's last great stage, where brands can break through the noise, create emotional connections, and earn cultural relevance together. In the age of slop, unforgettable moments become the ultimate competitive advantage.

Media agencies are navigating one of the most profound reinventions in their history, as AI, multimodal consumer experiences, and new forms of intelligence reshape how audiences are discovered, understood, and influenced. How are today's agency CEOs leading through this complexity while helping clients embrace innovation without losing sight of trust, creativity, and business results? This conversation explores how leaders prepare themselves, their teams, and their clients for a future defined by extraordinary opportunity—and equally profound disruption.

We are not living through a period of transformation — we are living through continuous reinvention. In that environment, strategy alone is not enough. Competitive advantage increasingly comes down to capability: the collective ability of an organization to adapt, execute, learn and perform while the rules are being rewritten in real time.

Authenticity used to be a differentiator—now it's contested. In this session, the former Media Assassin and Head of Enemy Relations (perhaps the best job title ever) for the groundbreaking rap group Public Enemy reflects on how technology—from sampling to streaming to AI—has reshaped music, culture, and creative control. Harry will also talk about his new project at MIT where he is working with rocket scientists to send a rap and hip-hop anthology into outer space. We will also be treated to his reflections on a series of rare and inspiring photographs from the early days of Public Enemy.

The days of the CMO as Chief Advertising Officer are over. Today's marketing leaders are expected to understand the business, own the customer experience, navigate AI, influence enterprise strategy, and deliver measurable growth—all while the roadmap is still being written. This session explores why growth has become the defining mandate of the modern marketer and what it takes to earn influence in the C-suite, credibility in the boardroom, and expand from functional leader to enterprise operator.