CNBC AI Summit 2025

CNBC AI Summit

No company will survive the next decade without a cogent AI strategy and significant plans to invest in the transformative technology.

Across all sectors, this reality is turning all executives into AI decision makers. The entire c-suite needs to understand how AI is changing the nature of work, the workforce, and their customers. It’s 2025. AI is everywhere.

That includes in Nashville, Tennessee.

More than 70,000 people have moved to the Music City since 2020, many of them highly talented technology workers from California and New York.

America’s most powerful technology companies have taken notice and have begun putting down roots, choosing Tennessee as a home for the new data centers that will enable the continued growth and development of artificial intelligence.

Introducing the first-ever CNBC AI Summit in Nashville, where visionary thought leaders, pioneering entrepreneurs, and groundbreaking researchers come together for an event that reflects the city’s vibrant, technology-driven future along with its storied cultural heritage.

CNBC AI Forum 2026

Speakers

Sen. Marsha Blackburn

Marsha Blackburn is the senior senator for Tennessee and the first woman to represent the Volunteer State in the United States Senate. She serves on the Deputy Whip Team and is a member of the Finance Committee; the Commerce, Science & Transportation Committee; the Veterans’ Affairs Committee; and the Judiciary Committee. She serves as the Ranking Member on the Commerce Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Data Security and on the Judiciary Subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law. Before her election to the Senate, Marsha represented Tennessee’s 7th Congressional District in the United States House of Representatives. She dedicates her public service to promoting opportunities for all Tennesseans, including by breaking barriers for women, and making America a more prosperous place to live.

Steve Beard

Steve Beard is chairman and chief executive officer of Adtalem Global Education Inc.

As CEO, he has guided the transformation of Adtalem’s portfolio strategy, including an industry-leading model to train and educate healthcare professionals at scale to meet real-world needs. He has also shaped Adtalem’s mission to address critical talent shortages while advancing diversity, equity and access in healthcare across its five institutions, American University of the Caribbean School of Medicine, Chamberlain University, Ross University School of Medicine, Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine and Walden University.

Previously, Beard served as Adtalem’s chief operating officer, responsible for the vision, leadership and financial performance of Adtalem's Financial Services segment, in addition to leading the company’s strategy, corporate development and external relations activities.

Prior to Adtalem, he served as executive vice president, chief administrative officer and general counsel of Heidrick & Struggles International, Inc. (NASDAQ: HSII) and in private practice as a corporate and securities lawyer with ArentFox Schiff LLP.

Beard began his professional career as a law clerk for the Honorable Frank Sullivan, Jr. (ret.), associate justice of the Indiana Supreme Court.
He received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, a juris doctor degree from the Maurer School of Law at Indiana University – Bloomington and completed the Advanced Management Program at the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University.

Martina McBride

Multiple Grammy nominee Martina McBride has sold over 23 million albums to date, which includes 20 Top 10 singles and six #1 hits.

Martina McBride has earned more than 15 major music awards, including four wins for Female Vocalist of the Year from the Country Music Association and won three Academy of Country Music for Top Female Vocalist. Martina has been awarded 14 Gold Records. Nine Platinum honors, three Double Platinum Records, and two Triple Platinum Awards. Martina was awarded the Covenant House Beacon of Hope Award and Music Business Association’s prestigious 2015 Harry Chapin Memorial Humanitarian Award for her philanthropic efforts on behalf of domestic violence. Martina has released two cookbooks – the first, Around the Table, a full-color illustrated collection of her favorite recipes, hosting tips, practical menu planning advice, and themed décor inspiration. She released her second book, Martina’s Kitchen Mix: My Recipe Playlist for Real Life, in October 2018. Most recently, Martina was honored with the Cliffie Stone Icon Award at the ACM Honors event for her impactful contributions to country music.

When Martina isn’t in the studio, she focuses her time on charitable causes dear to her heart through her Team Music Is Love charity initiative.

McBride resides in Nashville with her husband, John, and their three daughters.

Scott Meyers

Scott Meyers joined Akerman, one of the 100 largest law firms in the United States, in 2014, founding the firm’s Chicago office and serving as its first Office Managing Partner. After growing the Chicago office seven-fold, Scott was asked to serve as Akerman’s first firmwide Managing Partner in 2018. Scott was subsequently elected Chairman and CEO of Akerman, and began his tenure in February of 2020.

Since becoming Chairman and CEO, Scott has guided Akerman to record revenue and profit each year, surpassing $550 million in revenue for the first time in the firm’s 104-year history, and more than doubling the legal industry’s average annual growth rate in four different key economic metrics.

Scott drives Akerman’s financial growth and strategic direction through his leadership of the firm’s high-trust culture of integrity, respect, and fairness. Scott is fiercely committed to putting people first, and to ensuring that Akerman continues to provide outstanding client service at the highest levels of professional excellence, while also taking care of its people, and giving back to the communities it serves across the country.

Before his election as Chairman and CEO, Scott practiced as both a corporate lawyer and a litigator for almost 30 years, representing, among others, Fortune 500 companies, hedge funds, investment advisers, investment banks, broker-dealers, venture capital funds, private equity funds, executive officers and directors, and national risk management companies. His legal experience includes mergers and acquisitions, capital markets, bank financing, leveraged buyouts, as well as regulatory investigations and complex commercial litigation, arbitration, and mediation involving securities fraud, antitrust, trade secrets, restrictive covenants, and unfair competition.

Scott has been consistently recognized by both The Best Lawyers in America and Super Lawyers. He has also been selected as one of the “Top 50 Law Firm Executives” by The Attorney Intel Report, and as one of “Chicago’s Notable Gen X Leaders in Accounting, Consulting and Law” by Crain’s Chicago Business.

Scott graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania cum laude with a bachelor of science in finance and economics, and he earned his juris doctor cum laude from the Georgetown University Law Center. While at Georgetown, Scott was awarded a John M. Olin Fellowship in Law and Economics.

Zachary Lipton

Zachary Lipton is Cofounder & CTO at Abridge, the leading platform for AI-based ambient listening technology in healthcare.

Abridge’s industry-leading product listens to doctor-patient conversations and ingests reams of content from the EHR, leveraging its intelligent reasoning engine to generate high-quality drafts of after-visit notes & other artifacts. This automation frees up doctors to focus on their patients. He is also the Raj Reddy Associate Professor of Machine Learning at Carnegie Mellon University, where he directs the Approximately Correct Machine Intelligence (ACMI) lab. Research focuses include the theoretical and engineering foundations of robust and adaptive machine learning algorithms, applications to both prediction and decision-making problems in clinical medicine, natural language processing, and the impact of machine learning systems on society.

A key theme in his research is to take advantage of causal structure underlying the observed data while producing algorithms that are compatible with the modern deep learning power tools that dominate practical applications.

He is the founder of the Approximately Correct blog (approximatelycorrect.com) and a co-author of Dive Into Deep Learning, an interactive open-source book drafted entirely through Jupyter notebooks that has reached millions of readers. He can be found on X (@zacharylipton), GitHub (@zackchase), or his lab's website (acmilab.org).

Courtney Fukuda

Courtney Fukuda is the Chief Integration Officer (CIO) and co-founder of Metropolis, an AI company enabling checkout-free payments experiences for the real world. Before helping found Metropolis, Courtney worked closely with one of Metropolis’ other co-founders, Travis Kell at BlackRock Alternative Investors.

While there, she served as Regional Head of Asia Pacific Product Strategy and was responsible for the development and execution of strategic business development priorities across Greater China, South Korea, and Southeast Asia and managed more than $3 billion in client assets across a diverse base of institutional investors.

Courtney joined Metropolis in 2017 as the Chief of Staff to Alex Israel (co-founder, CEO). Since March 2024, Courtney has led the cross-functional integration of SP+ and Metropolis as CIO and implemented key initiatives aligned with the company’s strategic priorities.

Courtney received a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) from Yale University in 2012, where she studied economics

Riley Noland

Riley Noland is the co-founder of TuMeke Ergonomics, an AI-powered platform that helps companies identify and reduce musculoskeletal injury risks through fast, scalable ergonomic assessments. With a background in business strategy and a passion for workplace health, Riley oversees TuMeke’s go-to-market strategy, partnerships, and customer success.

Since co-founding TuMeke, Riley has worked closely with safety leaders and ergonomists to ensure the platform directly addresses the most pressing challenges facing industrial and frontline teams. His focus is on helping organizations integrate TuMeke’s technology into their safety programs to drive measurable impact and long-term injury reduction.

Herb Stapleton

Herb Stapleton is a partner at Dinsmore & Shohl, LLP in Cincinnati, Ohio, who focuses his practice on cybersecurity, data privacy, and complex investigations. Herb is a nationally recognized cybersecurity executive and former senior leader with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), who brings over 20 years of federal law enforcement and cyber operations experience to his legal practice. As a seasoned investigator and executive, Herb offers clients unparalleled insight into the rapidly changing landscape of cybersecurity, data privacy, and complex government investigations.

Most recently, Herb served as Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Indianapolis Field Office, where he led high-impact investigations that spanned cybercrime, national security, and public corruption. He has previously held several senior leadership roles at FBI headquarters in Washington, D.C., that involved the oversight of national programs targeting cyber threats and the management of multidisciplinary teams engaged in some of the country’s most sensitive and high-profile investigations.

Herb has helped victims navigate some of the most significant cyber breaches in U.S. history. His deep understanding of threat actors—ranging from hostile nation-states to sophisticated criminal enterprises—and operational experience provides his clients with strategic guidance and clarity of the highest level.

Carnegie Mellon University (2020)
Certificate, Chief Information Security Officer
University of Kentucky College of Law (J.D., 2000)
Centre College (B.A., 1997)

Carter Busse

Carter is the CIO of Workato, where he leads business technology and best practice internal usage of Workato’s automation technology. His thought leadership has been quoted in Business Insider, Quartz, CIO Dive, VentureBeat, and more. As an IT executive, Carter has seen success in private and public companies with a career spanning 3 IPOs - Excite@Home, Salesforce, and MobileIron. He was employee number 70 and the first IT leader hired at Salesforce.com. His leadership expertise spans automation, business technology, security, and IT operations.

Morna Willens

Morna Willens is the Chief Policy Officer for the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), the organization representing the nation’s major record companies. A C-suite executive who manages policy experts in Washington and state capitals nationwide, Morna is a steady, effective champion for creators and their rights. She leads RIAA’s advocacy at the state, federal and international levels; helping craft winning political solutions for the music industry’s most pressing problems from trade and tax to digital piracy and the breakneck rise of generative AI. Her team is on the cutting edge of issues that will shape our industry’s future – testifying and educating lawmakers, forging bipartisan consensus and making the case for pro-music creator policy, legislation and rules. With AI’s rapid speed, she is often behind-the-scenes getting the pulse on how to protect human creators and their life works while acknowledging a system that allows responsible and ethical innovation to both thrive. Morna has pushed for guardrails that promote innovation while protecting individuals from unauthorized use of their image and voice to create invasive deepfakes and provisions to help remove violating content – including Tennessee’s landmark ELVIS Act and ongoing efforts to pass the federal bipartisan NO FAKES Act. She has also helped build and maintain alliances with other music industry organizations, including the ongoing efforts of the Human Artistry Campaign – 180+ global organizations that believe in responsible innovation that supports human accomplishment. Throughout her career, Morna has also led music licensing reform legislation on Capitol Hill, working closely with Congressional leaders on the passage of the landmark Music Modernization Act, which updated digital royalty rates for satellite radio and delivered new protections to pre-1972 copyright owners and recording artists through the CLASSICS Act. Prior to her current role, she was a Vice President at the Glover Park Group advocating for clients on a variety of issues from copyright to renewable fuels and a legislative staffer to Representative John Shimkus, advising on telecommunications and technology issues including the landmark Telecommunications Act of 1996. Morna graduated from Northwestern University in 1994 with a Bachelor of Science in Communication Studies. The DC-based executive is a member of The Recording Academy, serves on the board of the American Irish State Legislators Caucus, and having paid many a college tuition, is avid fan of all BiG10 football teams. Much to the chagrin of her husband Todd, Morna’s eclectic road trip Karaoke selections – from Eazy-E to Kacey Musgraves – are a great source of pride in prepping their children for Gold in the eye roll Olympics.

Julia Boorstin

Julia Boorstin is CNBC's Senior Media & Tech Correspondent based at the network's Los Angeles Bureau. She is also a contributor to CNBC's "TechCheck" franchise. Boorstin covers media and tech with a focus on their intersection and technological innovation, and delivers reporting, analysis, and interviews for the network. Previously, she was part of the ensemble for CNBC's daily program, "TechCheck," that ran from April 2021 to February 2023. She joined CNBC in May 2006 as a general assignment reporter and in 2007 moved to Los Angeles to cover media.

She is the author of the bestseller, "WHEN WOMEN LEAD: What they achieve, Why they succeed, and How we can learn from them," a book about female leaders that was published by Simon & Schuster's Avid Reader Press in October 2022.

In 2013, Boorstin created and launched the CNBC Disruptor 50, an annual list she oversees, highlighting the private companies transforming the economy and challenging companies in established industries. Additionally, she reported a documentary on the future of television for the network, "Stay Tuned…The Future of TV." She also helped launch CNBC's 'Closing the Gap' initiative covering the people and companies closing gender gaps, and leads CNBC's coverage of studies on this topic.

Boorstin joined CNBC from Fortune magazine where she was a business writer and reporter since 2000. During that time, she was also a contributor to "Street Life," a live market wrap-up segment on CNN Headline News. In 2003, 2004 and 2006, The Journalist and Financial Reporting newsletter named Boorstin to the "TJFR 30 under 30" list of the most promising business journalists under 30 years old. She has also worked as an intern for the State Department's delegation to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and for Vice President Gore's domestic policy office.

She graduated with honors from Princeton University with a B.A. in history. She was also an editor of The Daily Princetonian.

Courtney Reagan

Courtney Reagan is CNBC’s Senior Retail Reporter. In 2011, Reagan was named general assignment reporter for CNBC’s Business Day programming.

As part of her coverage of the retail sector, Reagan has interviewed the CEOs of Walmart, Target, Macy’s, Kohl’s, Home Depot, Gap Inc, Burberry, eBay, JCPenney and many others. In addition to her coverage of the retail business spanning everything from traditional stores to e-commerce distribution centers, Reagan also contributes to market coverage at New York Stock Exchange, Nasdaq Marketsite and New York Mercantile Exchange. She has interviewed celebrities including Martha Stewart, Reba McEntire, Kris Jenner and daughters Kim, Khloe and Kourtney Kardashian and covered the 2008 financial crisis, hurricanes Irene, Sandy and Michael, and other national general assignment stories.

Previously, Reagan anchored the daily business headline reports for CNBC, the NBC affiliate stations, MSNBC and CNBC world. She has appeared on NBC’s “TODAY Show” and “Nightly News” in various capacities. Reagan also worked on CNBC’s planning team and was a segment producer for CNBC’s former Primetime show, “On the Money,” where she pitched, wrote and produced feature and news stories and packages for the program. Reagan began her career at CNBC in 2006 as a newsdesk producer.

Prior to CNBC, Reagan participated in the NBC Page program, where she held positions at “Dateline NBC” and “Weekend Today,” and also worked in guest relations for the network. Reagan also held positions at ESPN Networks and Merrill Lynch.

Reagan received the National Retail Federation’s Influencer Award on “The List of People Shaping Retail’s Future 2016.”

She holds bachelor’s degrees in finance and mass communication from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. Reagan graduated with distinction from NYU’s Stern School of Business with a MBA with specializations in economics, luxury marketing and entertainment/media/technology. She was her class recipient of the “Excellence in Economics” for academic achievement in economics while at NYU.

Reagan is a member of the American Cancer Society Team DetermiNation Marathon Team 2013, 2015, 2016 and 2019.

MacKenzie Sigalos

MacKenzie Sigalos is an award-winning journalist whose international and domestic field reporting and investigative work has taken her across Africa, Asia-Pacific, Europe, and South and North America. For CNBC, she covers fintech and the gig economy, as well as Alphabet and Apple, with a focus on artificial intelligence, cloud computing, in-house AI chip development, and driverless vehicles.

Previously, Sigalos served as a Senior Producer and was a founding co-host and contributor to ‘After Hours’ and ‘Crypto World.’ She regularly moderates panels around the world on digital assets, fintech, and artificial intelligence.

Before joining CNBC, she spent five years at CNN in New York and Hong Kong, working across beats as a writer, reporter, and producer for a range of news and business programs, including Fareed Zakaria’s weekly foreign affairs show and Anderson Cooper’s daily news hour.

Sigalos graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University. She also earned a distinction for her master’s dissertation at the University of Oxford, where she was awarded the Routledge Scholarship for academic excellence.

Before joining CNBC, she spent five years at CNN in New York and Hong Kong, working across beats as a writer, reporter, and producer for a range of news and business programs, including Fareed Zakaria’s weekly foreign affairs show and Anderson Cooper’s daily news hour.

MacKenzie graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University. She also earned a distinction for her master’s dissertation at the University of Oxford, where she was awarded the Routledge Scholarship for academic excellence.

Shibani Joshi

Shibani Joshi is an experienced business professional and journalist who has covered news for global media outlets including ABC News, CNN, Fox Business Network and others. 

Shibani regularly provides commentary on business and technology topics on TV. She hosts live events and consults for leading corporations that have included names like HPE, SAP and Workday, as well. In addition, she teaches programs and is an executive coach for alumni at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business. 

Previously, Shibani anchored a daily markets show on the Fox Business Network and was the dedicated on-air technology reporter at both Fox News Channel and Fox Business Network, where she had her own segment called “Joshi on Tech.”

She brings unique perspective from a mix of real-world corporate experience and a distinguished business education. She began her career as an investment banking analyst at Morgan Stanley in New York City where she focused on corporate finance and M&A projects. Shibani later moved onto business development at Disney/ABC Media Networks, where she contributed to developing the firm’s global digital media strategy.

A strong advocate of education, she sits on the Board of Advisors for the Price College of Business at the University of Oklahoma and served as a Trustee to The Children’s School in La Jolla, California.

Shibani is a graduate of the University of Oklahoma and holds an MBA from The Harvard Business School. She currently lives in the Bay Area with her 3 children.

AGENDA

DON’T FENCE THE FUTURE IN

With AI advancing so quickly, lawmakers are working to find the right regulatory formula. They must focus on online safety and algorithmic accountability, while not burdening U.S. competitiveness with overregulation. A leading voice in DC on tech privacy and policy, Tennessee Senator Marsha Blackburn, takes the stage to talk about ways Capitol Hill needs to be thinking about regulating AI without hampering the private sector’s ability to continue leading its development.

Senator Marsha Blackburn, (R) Tennessee
Interviewer: Julia Boorstin, CNBC Senior Media & Tech Correspondent

Watch the full interview

GRIT ‘N HEART ‘N A DATA STACK

AI is helping organizations make smarter decisions, reduce costs, and respond quickly to market demands. With its potential still largely unrealized, the funding environment needs to help ensure startups can flourish and others can benefit from their discoveries. We are joined by two founders creating the workforce tools of tomorrow in a crowded field.

Courtney Fukuda, Metropolis Co-Founder & Chief Integration Officer
Riley Noland, TuMeke Ergonomics Co-Founder
Moderator: Julia Boorstin, CNBC Senior Media & Tech Correspondent

Watch the full interview

ME AND AI (SIDE BY SIDE)

While much of the conversation about AI discusses how it will replace humans, the reality is there are many ways in which it can work with them. By streamlining recruitment, enhancing training, or enabling smarter talent management, AI is helping organizations identify future workforce needs. We sit down with trailblazers in the field of AI education and health care to discuss how the technology can act as a workforce companion and how upskilling builds a more agile, future-ready workforce.

Steve Beard, Adtalem Global Education Chairman & CEO
Zachary Lipton, Abridge Co-Founder & Chief Technology Officer
Moderator: MacKenzie Sigalos, CNBC Technology Correspondent

Watch the full interview

BEYOND THE AI HYPE

Sponsored and Programmed by Workato

Beyond the buzzwords, what does it actually take to unlock AI’s value in the enterprise? From hype to operational reality, a discussion about how agentic orchestration bridges the gap between AI potential and measurable business impact, giving leaders the tools to drive genuine AI business transformation.

Carter Busse, Workato Chief Information Officer
Interviewer: Shibani Joshi, CNBC Events Contributor

Watch the full session.

WHO DO YOU BLAME WHEN THE CODE GOES WRONG?

As AI permeates our world, it brings with it endless questions about responsibility, ethics, and blame. None of these questions have easy answers, as they demand a debate over the ever-blurring lines between humans and machines. Two leading legal practitioners take us on a philosophical journey.

Scott Meyers, Akerman Chairman & CEO
Herb Stapleton, Dinsmore & Shohl Partner
Moderator: Julia Boorstin, CNBC Senior Media & Tech Correspondent

Watch the full interview

AIN’T MY VOICE

Country music singer and songwriter Martina McBride has won multiple awards for her music and sold more than 18 million albums, but she took a different stage this year where, for her and her fellow artists, the stakes are high. McBride testified in front of Congress to talk about the NO FAKES act, a proposed bipartisan bill aimed to protect individuals’ voices and likeness. The music icon joins us today to discuss how AI is impacting celebrities, their art, as well as the terrifying deepfakes that are happening without their consent and without implications.

Martina McBride, Country Music Singer & Songwriter
Morna Willens, Recording Industry Association of America Chief Policy Officer
Moderator: Courtney Reagan, CNBC Senior Retail Reporter

Watch the full interview