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🎯Invitation-Only Executive Roundtable

AI Strategy Is Business Strategy

Building Durable Competitive Advantage in the Age of AI
Vina Enoteca – Palo Alto, CA
October 15, 2026
4:30 – 8:15 PM PT
Meet The Panel

Voices from Forrester, CriticalRiver & Industry Leaders

Brian Hopkins brings Forrester’s research on AI-native interfaces and agents, Dr. Vijay Gurbaxani brings UC Irvine’s multi-year study on durable advantage, and Anji Maram hosts the evening’s conversation.

Session Host
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Anji Maram
CEO
CriticalRiver Inc.

Anji Maram brings a vision-led approach from CriticalRiver to customers: enterprise AI solutions with deep business context built in, capturing long-term value and a competitive advantage for businesses.

Welcome & Context · Fireside Moderator · Closing
Guest Speaker
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Brian Hopkins
Vice President of Emerging Technology &
Principal Analyst
Forrester Research, Inc.

As Vice President of Emerging Technology and Principal Analyst at Forrester, Brian Hopkins helps organizations navigate the rapidly advancing fields of emerging technology, including artificial intelligence and quantum computing.

Analyst Session · Fireside Executive Roundtable
Featured Speaker
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Dr. Vijay Gurbaxani
Taco Bell Professor of Business and Computer Science, Paul Merage School of Business, UC Irvine
Senior Advisory Board Member, CriticalRiver Inc.

Dr. Vijay Gurbaxani is the Founding Director of UC Irvine’s Center for Digital Transformation. He advises senior leaders and boards globally on the value and strategy of AI-driven transformation.

Featured Session · Fireside Executive Roundtable
The Stakes

Why This Conversation Matters

AI is no longer a technology decision. It’s a business strategy decision.

Most organizations still treat AI like they treated cloud or mobile, bolting it onto existing plans.

Most AI investment still measures the wrong thing: productivity, not advantage.

The Strategic Imperative

Durable competitive advantage is harder to build and easier to lose, which is exactly why so few organizations get there.

This roundtable explores a different path: treating AI as core to business strategy, not bolted onto existing plans.

So what actually separates a bolt-on AI capability from a business strategy built to last?

That’s the
conversation.
The Payoff

You’ll Leave Knowing

  • 01 Why AI-native interfaces and agents are making bolt-on AI strategies obsolete
  • 02 Why CEO-owned strategy and governance are no longer optional
  • 03 How leading organizations turn scattered pilots into “big bet” investment portfolios
  • 04 How to build an operating model that compounds advantage, not productivity
  • 05 How to pressure-test your 2027 plans before the board does
Forrester’s Research

What Brian Hopkins
Will Unpack

Forrester’s latest research tracks a shift already underway: AI-native interfaces and agents are changing how customers engage with businesses, faster than most strategies have caught up to. It also shows just how far most organizations still are from proving any of it pays off.

15%
of AI decision-makers report a measurable earnings lift
1 in 3
can tie AI spend directly to profit and loss
25%
of enterprise AI spend expected to shift into 2027

Sources: Forrester’s State of AI Survey, 2025 (1,576 global AI decision-makers), and Forrester’s Predictions 2026: Artificial Intelligence.

Hopkins will make the case that this shift is exactly why CEO-owned strategy and governance can no longer be an afterthought bolted onto existing plans; it has to be the plan.

Dr. Gurbaxani’s Model

The AI Flywheel Framework

Drawing on UC Irvine’s multi-year study of enterprise transformation, Dr. Gurbaxani’s framework aligns five dimensions around a single operating model, and when they align, the flywheel spins faster, compounding into a self-reinforcing loop of durable advantage.

  • Vision
  • Education
  • Know-How
  • Talent
  • Technology

Operating Model

This is the framework Dr. Gurbaxani will unpack live during his session.

The Evening

Agenda

Agenda Highlights
  • Arrival & Networking
  • Speaker Sessions
  • Fireside Executive Roundtable
  • Dinner & Closing Remarks
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