Fortune Unveils Speakers and Program Themes for 2026 Most Powerful Women Summit, Oct.12-14 in Santa Barbara

News provided by

Sep 17, 2026, 13:05 ET

Speakers include leaders from Athletes Unlimited Softball League, Boston Dynamics, Chevron, Citi, Flex, Google, Kalshi, Lean In, Nasdaq, Sam's Club, ServiceNow, Upwork, and YouTube, joined by entrepreneurs Hailey Rhode Bieber and Ms. Tina Knowles

MPW Community Convening at the Ritz Carlton Bacara in Santa Barbara to examine the forces reshaping leadership, business and society

"Fortune Daily" show will be on site for sit-down interviews with MPW speakers and attendees

NEW YORK, Sept. 17, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Fortune today announced an initial group of confirmed speakers and programming themes for the 2026 Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit, taking place Oct.12–14 at the Ritz Carlton Bacara, which has been reserved exclusively for the MPW audience, in Santa Barbara, California.

The annual gathering will bring together influential leaders across business, technology, finance, retail, media, sports, philanthropy and public service for candid conversations about the decisions defining the next era of leadership. Across three days, attendees will explore the accelerating impact of AI, the evolving role of the CEO and board director, the future of work, capital allocation, women's sports, executive wealth, leadership pipelines and the changing power centers of culture and media.

"Fortune Daily," the new show available on Fortune.com and the "Fortune Daily" YouTube channel, will film on site at the Ritz Carlton. Ellie Austin, MPW Editorial Director and "Fortune Daily" show host, will lead intimate sit-down interviews with MPW speakers and a selection of attendees throughout the program. The MPW-themed episodes will air the week of the conference on the "Fortune Daily" YouTube channel - https://www.youtube.com/@fortunedailyshow - as well as social channels.

Confirmed speakers and attendees include:

Revathi Advaithi, Chief Executive Officer, Flex
Nicole Avant, Former US Ambassador to Barbados; Philanthropist
Jane Bargmann, Global Managing Partner, Private Equity, Industrial & Life Sciences Practices, Heidrick & Struggles
Maria Black, President and Chief Executive Officer, ADP
Keily Blair, Chief Executive Officer, OnlyFans
Mitra Best, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Avvra
Hailey Rhode Bieber, Founder, Chief Creative Officer and Head of Innovation, Rhode; Strategic Advisor, e.l.f
Eimear Bonner, Chief Financial Officer, Chevron Corporation
Hayden Brown, President and Chief Executive Officer, Upwork
Erika Burkhardt, Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary, Yum! Brands
Terri Burns, Founder and General Partner, Type Capital
Mary Ellen Coe, Chief Business Officer, YouTube
Edna Cummings, Colonel, U.S. Army (Ret.); Author; Six Triple Eight Gold Medal Champion
Meena Flynn, Chair, Global Private Wealth Management; Co-Head, One Goldman Sachs, Goldman Sachs
Emma Grede, Founder, Entrepreneur, Author and Host of Aspire with Emma Grede Podcast
Bridget Griswold, Chief Executive Officer, Lean In
Anita Heriot, President, Americas, The Fine Art Group
Maggie Hulce, Chief Revenue Officer, Indeed
Elizabeth Jarvis-Shean, Chief Corporate Affairs Officer, DoorDash
Kate Johnson, Chief Executive Officer, Lumen Technologies, Inc.
Carol Juel, Executive Vice President and Chief Executive Officer of Digital, Synchrony
Sarah London, Chief Executive Officer, Centene
Luana Lopes Lara, Founder and Chief Operating Officer, Kalshi
Evan LePatner, Founder and Chair, The Wesley Mittman LePatner Foundation, and Managing Partner, Courizon Partners LP
Katherine Maher, President and Chief Executive Officer, NPR
Gina Mastantuono, President and Chief Financial Officer, ServiceNow
Kathleen McCarthy Baldwin, former Global Co-Head of Real Estate, Blackstone
Amanda McMaster, Interim Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, Boston Dynamics
Anna Nekoranec, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder, Align Private Capital
Kim Ng, Commissioner, Athletes Unlimited Softball League
Nneka Ogwumike, WNBA MVP & Champion, WNBPA President, Changemakers
Lauren Ratner, Co-Founder, President, and Chief Brand Officer, Rhode
Melanie Rosenwasser, Chief People Officer, Dropbox
Laela Sturdy, Managing Partner, CapitalG
Elizabeth Jarvis-Shean, Chief Corporate Affairs Officer, DoorDash
Georgie Smith, Founder and President, A Sense of Home
Toni Townes-Whitley, global technology executive, former Fortune 500 CEO, Nasdaq board director, and MPW Summit guest Co-Chair
Janet Truncale, Global Chair and Chief Executive Officer, EY
Karla D'Alleva Valas, Head of Private Wealth Management, Fidelity
Latriece Watkins, President and Chief Executive Officer, Sam's Club
Sarah Youngwood, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Nasdaq
Jeannette zu Fürstenberg, President and Managing Director, General Catalyst

Additional speakers and program details will be announced in the coming weeks.

The Summit opens with Ruth Porat, President and Chief Investment Officer, Alphabet and Google, in conversation with Alyson Shontell, Fortune Editor in Chief and Chief Content Officer. The conversation with Porat, a two-time cancer survivor, is entitled "When the Personal and Professional Collide". Porat, working at the intersection of capital allocation, tech transformation, and dynamic corporate strategy at extraordinary scale, will discuss with Shontell the high-stakes decisions defining Google's next chapter and the race to turn AI into real-world progress. Also on day one, Olivia Walton talks about her recent $100 million commitment to maternal health, philanthropic endeavors, and leadership at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art.

The Summit concludes with a conversation featuring Hailey Rhode Bieber and Lauren Ratner, moderated by Fortune's Ellie Austin. The discussion will bring together two leaders operating at the intersection of entrepreneurship, culture, brand building and the evolving creator economy, offering a forward-looking capstone to three days of conversations on power, innovation and leadership.

Programming Highlights

Leading Through the AI Era

AI will be a central focus throughout the program, with sessions examining how executives are investing to create durable business value, reimagining organizational structures, and deploying emerging technology responsibly.

In "CFO Daily Live: Financing the AI Era," Chevron CFO Eimear Bonner, ServiceNow CFO Gina Mastantuono, and Nasdaq CFO Sarah Youngwood will discuss how finance leaders assess AI-related capital expenditures, measure returns and evolve the finance function as AI shifts from experimentation to embedded infrastructure.

"The New Industrial Age" will explore the intersection of AI, robotics, intelligent systems and manufacturing. Flex CEO Revathi Advaithi and Boston Dynamics Interim CEO and CFO Amanda McMaster will offer an inside view of how physical AI and digital infrastructure are shaping the future of industrial operations.

Additional AI-focused discussions will examine how organizations can build cultures of experimentation and learn from both progress and setbacks. In "Innovation in Practice: Lessons from the AI Frontier," DoorDash Chief Corporate Affairs Officer Elizabeth Jarvis-Shean and Yum! Brands Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary Erika Burkhardt will discuss practical lessons from deploying AI, reshaping customer experiences and moving from ambitious predictions to measurable performance.

The Future of Work and Leadership

The Summit will also address how companies can develop stronger leadership pipelines and build organizations equipped for a changing economy.

In "From Potential to Power: Building the Next Generation of Women Leaders," Thrivent Executive Vice President and CHRO Kelly Baker, Upwork President and CEO Hayden Brown, Russell Reynolds Associates Managing Director Jenna Fisher and Toni Townes-Whitley will examine how senior leaders can identify high-potential talent, create meaningful growth opportunities, and prepare more women for executive and board-level roles.

"The New Org Chart: Workforce Strategy in the AI Era" will feature Indeed Chief Revenue Officer Maggie Hulce, Synchrony Executive Vice President and CEO Carol Juel and Dropbox Chief People Officer Melanie Rosenwasser. The discussion will focus on the ways leaders are redefining roles, navigating labor-market shifts and designing organizations where human judgment and machine capability can work together to drive growth, innovation and resilience.

The changing expectations for corporate directors will be the subject of "Boardroom 2.0: Power, Skills and Staying Relevant," with Heidrick & Struggles' Jane Bargmann. The session will consider the skills boards need as they confront AI, geopolitical uncertainty and heightened stakeholder expectations.

CEOs on Transformation, Commerce and Capital

Sam's Club President and CEO Latriece Watkins will join Most Powerful Women Editor Emma Hinchliffe for "From Merchant to CEO," for a conversation that takes attendees inside the leadership issues facing a major retail business at a moment of rapid transformation, and through what is shaping retail today, including AI, technology, and consumer spending amid economic uncertainty.

The program will also feature a live remote conversation with Citi CEO Jane Fraser - currently ranked #1 on Fortune's Most Powerful Women list - on the company's transformation. In "Inside Citi's Road to Renewal," Fraser will discuss the leadership choices behind Citi's work to simplify the organization, strengthen accountability and build a more disciplined, durable growth engine.

In "Building Kalshi: Inside the Rise of Prediction Markets," Kalshi Founder and COO Luana Lopes Lara will offer a look at the growth of prediction markets and the innovation shaping the company's future.

The Summit will additionally examine how executives are making increasingly complex decisions about personal finance and wealth. "The New Rules of Executive Wealth: Clarity, Control and Choice" will bring together Avvra Founder and CEO Mitra Best, Align Private Capital CEO and Co-Founder Anna Nekoranec, and Fidelity Head of Private Wealth Management Karla D'Alleva Valas to discuss liquidity, concentrated equity, risk, tax planning, philanthropy and generational wealth transfer.

Power Beyond the Corporate World

The agenda will highlight how leaders are shaping influence and impact beyond traditional corporate settings.

In "The Next Chapter for Women's Sports," Athletes Unlimited Softball League Commissioner Kim Ng will join Fortune's Hinchliffe to explore the next phase of investment, operational growth and opportunity across women's sports, along with Carolyn Tisch Blodgett, CEO and founder of Next 3, and Nneka Ogwumike, WNBA MVP and Champion, and President of the Women's National Basketball Players Association.

Bridget Griswold, recently named CEO of Founder Sheryl Sandberg's Lean In, will participate in "The Gen Z CEO," examining new research on Gen Z women's relationship with ambition and leadership. The conversation will consider how companies can create workplaces where young women see a genuine path to influence and advancement.

A session honoring the life and legacy of Wesley LePatner, the Blackstone executive and champion of women who was tragically killed last year, will feature Evan LePatner and Kathleen McCarthy Baldwin. The conversation will reflect on LePatner's impact as a business and community leader and the work to cultivate a new generation of nonprofit and civic leaders in her honor.

Georgie Smith, Founder and President of A Sense of Home, will discuss the organization's design-led, community-powered work addressing the foster-care transition gap and housing affordability crisis. The session will explore why creating a home—not simply housing—can be essential to stability, opportunity and long-term well-being.

The program will also address the expanding influence of media, the creator economy, venture investing, modern philanthropy and the changing definition of leadership in a volatile global environment.

The Summit's programming is created by a mix of top editorial talent at Fortune and respected outsiders. Fortune Editor in Chief Alyson Shontell will join Summit co-chairs: MPW Editorial Director and Fortune Daily host, Ellie Austin; Most Powerful Women Editor Emma Hinchliffe; Leadership Editor Claire Zillman; Senior Writer Sheryl Estrada; and guest co-chair Toni Townes-Whitley, NASDAQ board member and former Fortune 500 CEO.

The 2026 Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit is presented in collaboration with Premier Partners that include Deloitte, DoorDash, Fidelity, Heidrick & Struggles, Novartis, Salesforce, and Thrivent. Partners include Block, Indeed, and Johnson & Johnson. Official Hydration Partner is Bevi.

For more information about the Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit, including the full agenda and speakers list, click here.

Fortune Most Powerful Women began as a list in 1998 and has grown into the world's premier leadership community for women shaping business, culture, and society. Through its annual Summit and year-round programming, MPW convenes influential leaders across industries—alongside select voices from government, philanthropy, education, and the arts—for candid conversations, trusted connections, and actionable ideas that move organizations and communities forward.

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.