Moderated by Kerry Gumas, CEO of Metacomet Advisors, this session brought together three senior executives leading transformation across media, associations, and government intelligence. Paul Miller, CEO of Questex, shared how AI is reshaping engagement, revenue models, and operational efficiency across his organization. Christine Shaw, CEO of Naylor Association Solutions, discussed her experience driving AI adoption at scale, focusing on overcoming employee resistance, building trust in new tools, and embedding AI into everyday workflows to improve both revenue and efficiency. Tim Hartman, CEO of GovExec, offered a perspective from the government intelligence and media sector, highlighting how AI agents, data-driven products, and evolving monetization models are fundamentally changing how organizations structure teams, measure performance, and generate growth. Together, the panel explored how leaders are navigating uncertainty, rethinking operational models, and shifting from traditional efficiency metrics toward revenue-driven, AI-augmented performance systems.

In this high-energy Founder Panel from RevvedUP 2026, Jacob Donnelley (A Media Operator) is joined by Mo Islam (Arkaea Media), Michelle Metter (Fast Forward Events), and Mike Rothman (The Dispatch) to explore how nimble, founder-led companies are gaining an edge over legacy media. The conversation dives into why this moment—driven by rapid advancements in AI and automation—is one of the most powerful inflection points in modern media, enabling smaller teams to scale faster, operate leaner, and compete more effectively than ever before.

In this RevvedUP session, Andrew Lippert (CTO, Edmentum) and Adi Chikara (Partner, Tricon Infotech) break down how leading organizations are shifting from viewing technology as a cost center to making it a direct driver of revenue. They explore what it really takes to align product, engineering, and design teams with business outcomes, and why operational excellence is now inseparable from revenue performance.

This tech panel explores how AI is reshaping the event ecosystem, from registration and acquisition to engagement and retention, while challenging organizers to think beyond cost-cutting and toward revenue growth. The panelists emphasize that AI’s real value lies in unlocking new monetization opportunities, improving conversion, and deepening audience understanding across the entire event lifecycle. From AI-powered customization and referral-driven growth to emotional intelligence insights gathered from voice data, the conversation highlights a critical shift: success will come from building more personalized, data-driven, and continuously optimized experiences. The biggest opportunity isn’t replacing existing systems, it’s using AI to become an “apex” event that drives exponential value and long-term loyalty.

Matt Yorke, CEO of The Channel Company, shares how his organization is moving beyond AI experimentation to fully embedding it into workflows, products, and revenue models. By becoming an “AI-powered, human-led” business, the company is transforming editorial content into intelligent, productized experiences that drive engagement, efficiency, and monetization. Through a structured journey—from early pilots to enterprise-wide adoption—they’ve built AI agents that enhance search, accelerate content creation, improve sales effectiveness, and streamline operations. The result is significant time savings, stronger customer insights, and scalable growth. Yorke emphasizes that the real opportunity lies not in the technology itself, but in how organizations adopt, experiment, and empower their teams to use AI to create meaningful business impact.

Dan Courtemanche shares the story behind Major League Soccer’s transformation from an uncertain, early-stage league into a thriving, culturally relevant business built on long-term vision, bold investment, and deep understanding of shifting demographics. MLS succeeded by selling belief early—convincing owners to commit to a future that didn’t yet exist—while continuously evolving its model, from stadium investments to innovative media and streaming partnerships. By leaning into a younger, more diverse, and digitally native audience, and embracing data, technology, and AI across fan engagement and operations, MLS has built a scalable growth engine. The core lesson: category creation requires conviction, adaptability, and a willingness to invest ahead of the market.

This session introduces “Industry in Motion,” a research initiative examining how media, events, and data businesses are evolving in response to AI, shifting revenue models, and rising expectations for data monetization. The findings reveal a clear gap between ambition and execution. While leaders expect data to become a major revenue driver, most organizations lack the infrastructure, quality, and operational maturity to deliver on that vision. At the same time, traditional distinctions between B2B and B2C are disappearing, with data emerging as the central asset connecting audience, product, and revenue. The key challenge ahead is not strategy. It is execution. Companies that can unify their data, operationalize it effectively, and translate it into scalable products will be best positioned to compete in an increasingly AI-driven market.

This session presents a real-world case study of how a data-driven media company transformed its operations using AI to unlock scale, efficiency, and new revenue opportunities. Facing legacy workflows, fragmented data, and heavy reliance on manual processes, the organization shifted from a labor-intensive model to an AI-enabled system with humans in the loop. By focusing on a clear entry point, building strong data governance, and prioritizing quality alongside scale, the team was able to dramatically increase coverage, accelerate time to market, and win new business. The key takeaway is that successful AI adoption is not just about automation. It is about redesigning workflows, empowering people, and turning data into actionable insights that drive growth.