All times reflect Budapest, Hungary’s which is the Central European Time (CET) zone.
See Speaker pages for more details (session speaker titles, biographies, etc.)

Time (CET)

To – From

To – From

To – From

See Speaker pages for more details (session speaker titles, biographies, etc.)

Day 1: 3rd October, 2026

Location

Joint Plenary: Technology Leadership in a Changing World

8:45 – 9:30

8:30 – 8:45

Opening Welcome & Conference Overview:
Vickie Ozburn and Howard Wolfman (IEEE ILC Co-Chairs)

8:45 – 9:30

Keynote
Boudewijn (Bou) Bertsch
Leadership Consultant and Somatic Coach

9:30 – 10:00

Morning Break & Networking with Exhibitors

10:00 – 11:00

Fireside Chat:  AI, Ethics, and Human-Centered Innovation

11:00 – 12:00

12:00-1:00 (CET)

Lunch & Networking

1:00 – 1:30 PM

12:00 – 1:00

Group  Photo

TRACK A

TRACK B

Leadership & Professional Growth Focus: Building leadership capacity across career stages systems thinking for leaders

Innovation, Industry & Entrepreneurship
Focus: Connecting engineering with industry and innovation

1:30 – 2:15

Michelle Smeby
You Are a Superhero. Let’s Discover Your Superpower So You Can Use It for Greatness

Beth Rudden
Meaning Before Math:
Building the Trust
Layer of AI

2:15 – 3:00

Howard Mayaba
Hugging the AI Lion: Human-Centred Leadership Across Generations

Kathy Hayashi
Building Innovation Ecosystems: The Role of Engineering Leaders

3:00 – 3:15

Coffee Break & Networking

3:15 – 4:00

Coming Soon

Gokce Nur Yilmaz
Building an AI-Ready Engineering Program: A Cross-Generational Industry–Academia Playbook

TRACK C

TRACK D

Career Readiness & Mentorship
Focus: Building leadership capacity across career stages systems thinking for leaders

Global Impact & Inclusion
Focus: Connecting engineering with industry and innovation

4:00 – 4:45

Leslie Gruis
When Opportunity Knocks: My Evolution from Intelligence Officer to Public Privacy Persona

Priscilla Amalraj
The Heartbeat of Innovation: Centering Humanity in the Age of Emerging Technologies

4:45 – 5:30

Limor Bergman Gross
What Directors Wish Their Managers Knew About Promotions

Jan Carroll
Flying Blind: Shadow AI, Digitisation Legacy Risk, and the Implications of the Cyber Vulnerability of Irish Micro-SMEs

5:30 – 6:15

Keynote
Madhuri Andrews
Executive Vice President & Chief Information Officer

6:15 – 6:30

Closing Remarks Day 1

Networking Reception

Dinner on Your Own. See the ILC Travel Information Document’s “Dining in Budapest” section on https://ieeeilc.org/venue-travel/ i.e., this is the “Travel / Venue” web page on this website.