A regional forum for CIOs that fosters excellence

The 2025 Yearend Forum Update

As we enter 2026, we are mid-Forum Year. The first half year has set the bar high:

• Our September Forum at Erickson with Adam Bradley was rated higher than any other Forum we have ever had! 
• Gartner and IBM did not disappoint in October when they shared key trends and directions for enterprises today.
• Our own CISOs were the hit of the November Cybersecurity Forum with their roundtable sharing.
• And Anirban Basu and The Center Club did not disappoint in December. This is always a special way to close the calendar year and look ahead to the coming year.

Attendance is consistently high; and we have the right themes/topics planned for the second half of the Forum Year to continue the positive trends and ratings that we are enjoying. We will, of course, also maintain the approach/format that has been working well for us:

• We will focus on leadership, on teaming, on being innovative and creative, and on realizing ROI with AI or any other technology used by our companies/organizations
• We will continue with in-person "conversational" meetings
• We will use breakout sessions and promote Q&A and interaction at every meeting

Ahead of us are:

• The January 15th Forum at TU's Science Complex. TU and Cisco will cover "AI in the Curriculum and the Future Workforce". There will be several breakout sessions to promote the interchange.
• The February 26th Forum at TU's West Village Commons will guide us on strategic planning and data governance/management in this Volatile, Uncertain, Complex, and Ambiguous  (VUCA) world. Several of our members will be sharing their stories.
• The March 19th Forum at TU's Student Union will explore the current threat landscape and the ever-changing complex attacks. Breakout sessions will focus on what companies are doing as countermeasures.
• The April 16th Forum at TU's West Village Commons will consider how we organize and work to develop innovative and creative strategies for our enterprises.
• On May 21st, we are at McCormick. The theme is "Teaming for Success".

There is a Board Meeting on February 9th. Key decisions for executing our Five-Year Plan will be made. We will provide an update after that meeting.

As always, the Board, Kerri, and I welcome your thoughts and feedback. We want to be the best CIO Forum that we can be. This can only happen with your participation and support. Thanks to you our membership is growing. We will try to help, but please take the initiative to get to know all of our members. You each bring something special to the Forum.

All the Best, The Board, Kerri, and Don