Fortune Announces Third-Annual COO Summit 2026, Convening Leading Chief Operating Officers in Scottsdale, Arizona June 1 – 2

PR Newswire

NEW YORK, May 5, 2026

Confirmed speakers from Chime, Cognizant, Kroll, MGM Resorts International, Nike, Peloton, Tapestry, Toast, Southwest, U.S. Soccer Federation, among others

Invitation-only gathering tackles AI’s transformation of business operations, enterprise risk, talent strategy, and the expanding mandate of the modern COO

NEW YORK, May 5, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Fortune today announced the return of the Fortune COO Summit, an invitation-only convening of senior operations leaders scheduled for June 1–2, 2026, at the Four Seasons Resort Scottsdale in Scottsdale, Arizona.

The summit, now in its third year, comes at a pivotal moment for the world’s chief operating officers. As artificial intelligence restructures workflows, supply chains face compounding volatility, and the boundary between technology strategy and operational execution continues to dissolve, the COO role has never carried greater consequence — or greater complexity. The Fortune COO Summit 2026 is designed to meet that moment directly, convening a curated group of senior executives for two days of substantive discussion, peer exchange, and actionable insight.

Under the theme of operational excellence in an era of AI reinvention, programming will include: using AI to unlock new revenue opportunities and scalable monetization; navigating the new digital risk landscape; deploying agentic AI in collaboration with human talent; and a signature Succession Spotlight interview series featuring CEOs who rose from the COO role.

Among the sessions are:

“New Work, New World: How AI Is Reshaping Your Org Chart,” a session hosted by founding partner Cognizant that will examine the estimated $4.5 trillion in U.S. labor exposed to AI.
“Unlocking Revenue in an AI Age,” featuring Jon Blotner of Wayfair and Janelle Sallenave of Chime, will explore how AI-powered personalization and partnerships are reshaping retail and banking, where new revenue opportunities are emerging, and what challenges around technology, customer behavior, and trust remain.
“Defending the Enterprise: How COOs Manage Risk When Threats Multiply,” will address how to assess dangers, make critical recommendations, and build organizations resilient enough to survive whatever is thrown their way with risk advisory firm leaders Jacob Silverman, CEO of Kroll, and Sid Kosaraju, president of Crisis24.
“Game On: The Operational Engine Behind the World Cup,” where Venkatesh Alagirisamy, Executive Vice President and COO of Nike, and Dan Helfrich, COO of U.S. Soccer Federation, explore preparations for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
“Inside the CDC: Running Healthcare at Scale,” featuring Robin Bailey Jr., former COO of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, who will discuss making consequential decisions under life-and-death stakes.

The program also includes interactive masterclasses: One led by Sara Minkara, founder of Leadership in the Dark, on visual biases and inclusive leadership strategies, and one led by performance psychologist Rosanna Trasatti on high-stakes decision-making, drawing on the lessons of competitive poker.

Additional confirmed speakers include Brittany Bagley, COO and CFO of Axon; Sarah Franklin, CEO of Lattice; Adrienne Down Coulson, COO of Rakuten; Francine Katsoudas, executive vice president and chief people, policy and purpose officer at Cisco; Charles Kirol, COO of Peloton; Ravi Kumar S, CEO of Cognizant; Ayesha Molino, COO of MGM Resorts International; and Dennis Woodside, CEO of Freshworks.

“The COO role is undergoing its most significant transformation in a generation,” said Kristin Stoller, editorial director at Fortune: “AI is rewriting what it means to run an organization—how work gets done, where risk lives, and how value is created. This summit brings together the executives who are navigating that transformation in real time and gives them a rare forum to engage honestly with peers who understand the weight of that responsibility.”

Added Diane Brady, executive editorial director at Fortune, “2026 is turning out to be a seismic year for CEO transitions and many of those roles are being filled by operating leaders. The role of the COO has never been more important in corporate America.”

The COO Summit will be led by Fortune’s Stoller and Brady, as well as Leadership Editor Ruth Umoh and Senior Writer Phil Wahba.

The Fortune COO Summit 2026 is supported by a distinguished group of corporate partners. Cognizant serves as the Founding and Knowledge Partner. Boston Consulting Group (BCG) joins as a Knowledge Partner, and Thomson Reuters joins as a Partner of the summit. Roundtables hosted by BCG, Cognizant and Thomson Reuters will offer additional opportunities for focused peer discussion on AI scaling and value creation.

“The role of the COO is one of the most consequential in the agentic age,” said Ravi Kumar S, Cognizant CEO. “There is a velocity gap between the speed of AI advancements and the slower pace of value realization in enterprises. That gap can only be closed when AI is embedded in the processes and operations of businesses and infused with the context that makes each company unique. As an AI Builder, Cognizant partners with COOs to reimagine operations with human and agentic capital, and build AI-native technology stacks that deliver impact at scale.”

About Fortune:

Fortune is the premier global media company for global business leaders, built on a 96-year-old legacy of trusted, award-winning journalism. Independently owned, Fortune tells the story of business, spanning legacy companies to the world’s new generation of innovators. Fortune measures corporate performance through rigorous benchmarks, and holds companies accountable, in regions around the world. Its iconic rankings include Fortune 500, Fortune Global 500, Most Powerful Women, and World’s Most Admired Companies. Fortune builds world-class communities by convening industry thought leaders for exclusive summits and conferences, including the Fortune Global Forum, Fortune Brainstorm Tech, and Fortune Most Powerful Women. For more information, visit fortune.com.