Wednesday,
November 18, 2026.

Welcome & Introductions

The inaugural Athena Project London Leadership Salon kicks off with an official welcome from Co-Founders Drew Ianni and Rishad Tobaccowala.

Rishad Tobaccowala

Co-Founder

The Athena Project

Seth Green

Dean

University of Chicago, Graham School

Drew Ianni

Co-Founder

The Athena Project

Reinvention By Design

Reinvention rarely happens by accident. Dean Seth Green shares what UChicago's Leadership and Society Initiative has learned about how experienced leaders chart new chapters, then turns to three LSI Fellows who have made the leap. Together, they'll explore how purpose, reflection, and community can turn a moment of inflection into a moment of reinvention.

Seth Green

Dean, University of Chicago Graham School

Deborah Bennett

Former Senior Program Officer, Polk Bros. Foundation, and Fellow, UChicago Leadership & Society Initiative

Matt Gresge

Executive Chairman of the Board, Propelis, and Fellow, UChicago Leadership & Society Initiative

John Hass

CEO, Upstream Literacy; Former Chairman and CEO, Rosetta Stone; Fellow, UChicago Leadership & Society Initiative

The Knowledge Gap: From All-Knowing to All-Learning

The leaders of yesterday were expected to have all the answers. Tomorrow's leaders will be defined by their ability to keep learning, challenge what they think they know and navigate uncertainty when the old rulebooks no longer apply. Ann Mukherjee explores why closing the executive knowledge gap requires a fundamental reinvention of leadership, and why the capacity to learn may be the most important competitive advantage of the next-generation CEO.

Ann Mukherjee

Program Director, Global CEO Program, Chicago Booth & Former North America CEO, Pernod Ricard

Dancing With Machines

What is the future of creativity? How will we know what is genuine? How will we define authenticity? This session explores the emerging tension between speed and soul — and why the real risk isn't that AI replaces creativity but that it dilutes it. AI can generate content at scale, but it can't originate taste, judgment, or instinct. So how do we reclaim originality, protect the brand soul, and learn how to work with machines without becoming one?

Jeff Brecker

Partner, Growth & Innovation, Siberia

Myra Nussbaum

VP, Global Brand - Moen & House of Ruhl

Juan Woodbury

Chief Creative Officer & Global Head of Branded Content & Entertainment, Bento Entertainment / WOLF Studio

To Be Compared or Desired?

As AI moves into brand and design teams, most companies are asking how fast and how cheap. In this fireside conversation, Athena Project Co-Founder Rishad Tobaccowala sits down with luxury and lifestyle brand leader Anna-Karin Loureiro to ask a different question: where does AI belong in a company whose margin comes from desire? Anna-Karin, whose work behind Calvin Klein, Balenciaga, Prada and Vera Wang built desire at scale, argues that brands are splitting into two kinds: those that are desired and those that are compared. Together they define where AI should provide access and optimization, where it has to stay out of the most human parts of the brand, and what happens to taste when the executional work that trains it is automated. They challenge how desire brands and their leaders can compete in a new world where humanity is the premium.

Rishad Tobaccowala

Co-Founder, The Athena Project

Anna-Karin Loureiro

Founder, Ore & Matter & Former CMO, Alexander Wang and VP, Global Creative, Strategy & Innovation, Calvin Klein

Owning Growth in the Answer Economy: Recommendation, Reputation & Trust

AI is becoming a powerful new arbiter of reputation and trust, influencing which brands consumers choose, which employers attract talent and which businesses earn credibility. As AI-generated answers and recommendations increasingly shape decisions, corporate reputation, brand trust and organizational behavior become critical drivers of growth. Drawing on his new book The Answer Economy, Pete Blackshaw joins Ethelbert Williams and Doug Chavez to explore what this shift means for enterprise leadership, marketing and how organizations must reinvent themselves to earn trust and win.

Pete Blackshaw

Founder & CEO, brandrank.ai

Doug Chavez

Global EVP Retail Strategy
OneMars, Publicis Commerce

Ethelbert Williams

Board Director, Advisor & AI Commerce Executive & Former Head of Marketing, Retail Media Search & DTC Performance, PepsiCo

We Live in Dusty Times

Leadership has never been a spectator sport, but today's executives are operating in an environment where the stakes are higher, the pace is relentless and the dust never quite settles. From AI and shifting business models to changing consumer behavior and workforce expectations, growth leaders and senior operators must navigate extraordinary opportunity and disruption while keeping their organizations and businesses moving forward. This candid conversation explores what it takes to lead from the trenches, make consequential decisions amid uncertainty and embrace the complexity, exhilaration and occasional exhaustion of leading in dusty times.

Shelby Saville

Chief Executive Officer, Starcom US

Katie Ford

US Head of Media, Novartis

The New Leadership Mandate: Growth, Governance & Reinvention

The playbook for growth leadership is being rewritten, and AI is raising the stakes for everyone in the C-suite. Fresh from leading growth for a $30 billion global business at Mars Petcare, Najoh Tita-Reid shares the skills and capabilities that will define the next generation of growth leaders, why AI governance is too important to leave to IT and legal, and why so much corporate transformation is little more than theater. She also reflects on a more personal dimension of reinvention: knowing when to challenge your own definition of success, embrace new possibilities and write the next chapter on your own terms.

Najoh Tita-Reid

Former Global Chief Growth Officer, Mars Petcare

Profiles In Courage: Adjust The Narrative, Double Down on the Mission

In an era of cultural flashpoints, political polarization, and AI-driven misinformation, the modern leader must balance conviction with communication. This session explores how executives can uphold values, sustain trust and integrity, and guide their organizations through moments of external pressure — reframing narratives, protecting culture, and doubling down on purpose when the public square turns volatile.

Robyn Streisand

Founder & CEO, the MIXX & Titanium Worldwide

Renetta McCann

Chief Inclusion Experiences Officer, Publicis Groupe

Melissa Anderson

President - Search.com, a division of Public Good

Truth, Trust & Technology

Truth is increasingly contested, trust is increasingly fragile, and technology is making both harder to navigate. As AI reshapes how we work, communicate and make decisions, enterprises face profound questions about authenticity, accountability and credibility, all against a backdrop of polarization and declining faith in institutions. This conversation explores the future of enterprise integrity, governance, the growing challenge of protecting brand and editorial credibility and what it will take to earn and sustain consumer trust in an age when almost anything can be manufactured.

MODERATOR

Drew Ianni

Co-Founder, The Athena Project

Bradley Akubuiro

Partner & Corporate Communications Lead, Bully Pulpit International

Will Lee

Chief Executive Officer, Adweek

Jim Kirk

Group President, Crain City Brands & Publisher, Crain's Chicago Business

The Next Chapter: Leadership, Purpose & Reinvention

The hardest reinvention isn't a company — it's yourself. Mary Dillon has spent a career rebuilding iconic businesses, but the chapter she's writing now asks a harder question: who are you when the title is gone? In conversation with Seth Green, Founding Director of the University of Chicago's Leadership & Society Initiative, Mary reflects on the lessons, decisions and convictions that have shaped her leadership journey, and how her own definition of purpose and impact has evolved along the way. Together, they explore what it means to reinvent yourself after decades of leading others — and how experience, ambition and a desire to contribute can shape a next chapter as meaningful as the last.

Seth Green

Dean, University of Chicago Graham School

Mary Dillon

Board Director, American Airlines & KKR; Former CEO, Foot Locker; Former CEO, Ulta Beauty

Reception

Join your fellow attendees in the City View foyer for light fare and refreshments.

Enduring Excellence: A Conversation with Brian Cornell

What does it take to sustain excellence across decades of leadership, and to keep evolving as the definition of success changes? Brian Cornell, Executive Chair of Target Corporation, joins veteran journalist Tyler Mathisen for a candid conversation about the pivotal decisions, defining moments and leadership principles that have shaped his career. From navigating change and leading through uncertainty to embracing new chapters of personal and professional reinvention, the discussion explores what enduring excellence means over the full arc of a career and life.A special conversation hosted by the University of Chicago Graham School as part of its Enduring Excellence series, with Athena Leadership Salon attendees invited to join.

Tyler Mathisen

Moderator: Veteran Financial Journalist & Distinguished Fellow, University of Chicago Graham School

Brian Cornell

Executive Chairman and Former Chairman & CEO, Target