Think.Do Leadership 2026
February 3, 2026Think.Do Atlanta
February 4, 2026Think.Do Leadership 2026
February 3, 2026Think.Do Atlanta
February 4, 2026
Think. Do Chicago
June 23, 2026 | Chicago, IL
A working session for manufacturing, energy and industrial leaders who are ready to modernize their operations without tearing them down. Your seat includes a hotel stay and a ticket to Automate 2026 the next morning — so you leave with a plan and a head start on executing it.
Think.Do Chicago
June 23, 2026
Think.Do Chicago is an immersive working session built for manufacturing, energy and other industrial leaders who are responsible for turning strategy into results. Your complimentary registration includes a 1-night hotel stay and a ticket to a major conference the next day.
We emphasize proven approaches, real use cases and lessons learned from organizations that have already navigated similar challenges.
The result is a working session that includes insight and action:
- Think: gain perspective on emerging trends, technologies and operational strategies
- Do: leave with concrete ideas, frameworks and next steps that can be applied immediately
Transform Operations without Tearing Them Down
Getting data is easy (or it should be). Operationalizing data is hard.
Think.Do Chicago pivots on the idea that manufacturers don’t need to tear down what they’ve already built in order to scale their business.
Plus, check out the Automate 2026 conference the next day, June 24 – giving you multiple reasons to get out of the office/plant.
Think.Do is built from what you told us at our 2025 Leadership Summits.
60 industrial leaders across 14 industries. Standardization, OT security, and IT/OT convergence came up again and again.
"It's all well and good to have some of these insights available and do the predictions — but now we really have to do some of the people change."
—
Manufacturing Intelligence Leader, Building Materials Manufacturer
Agenda
Tuesday, June 23
11 AM
Welcome & Check-In
11:10 AM
Safety & Cyber Moment
Overview of the day and why embedding security into operations matters.
11:15 AM
State of the Industry: Built to Last
Paul Galeski, CEO, GrayMatter & Alan Hinchman, CRO, GrayMatter
Paul and Alan kick things off with a candid look at where manufacturing stands today — the labor pressures reshaping the workforce, the cybersecurity threats operations can't ignore, the data overload slowing teams down, and where AI is starting to make a real difference.
11:30 AM
Voices of Vision: What's Your Top Challenge?
11:45 AM
Lunch
12:00 PM
Live Cyber Podcast
REA Magnet Wire, Scott Christensen, GrayMatter and AMDT Octoplant
12:30 PM
From Tribal Knowledge to Institutional Intelligence: Future-Proofing Your Plant with Approachable AI
John Lucci, Chief of Strategy & Innovation, GrayMatter's Factory Advisors
With 2 million skilled workers set to retire by 2028, the hardest-won knowledge in your plant — the instincts, judgment calls, and pattern recognition your veterans carry in their heads — is quietly walking out the door. Join John Lucci of Factory Advisors to see how Approachable AI™ captures that tribal wisdom and turns it into a secure, on-premise AI Factory Advisor your whole team can tap 24/7. You'll leave with a practical, pebble-in-the-pond playbook for starting small, protecting your IP, and scaling institutional intelligence across your operation — no massive IoT overhaul required.
1:00 PM
The Toyota Way: Why It's More Important Than Ever Before
Steve St Angelo, Former CEO of Toyota Motor Corporation, Latin America & Caribbean Region
1:30 PM
You've Got the Roadmap: Now Let's Deploy It
Panel: Tod Virden, GrayMatter, Justin Robinson, GrayMatter, John Baier, GrayMatter and Nathan Barker, Factory Advisors
2:15 PM
Factory Transformation Workshops
Moderator: John Baier, GrayMatter
Peer Group Working Session
Topics:
MES scale and speed – greenfield startups, multi-site rollouts, aggressive timelines and the shift from long deployment cycles into sustain-and-optimize mode
Data integration and governance – MES–ERP alignment, historian modernization, quality and process data living in different places, and thedifficulty of turning data into actionable insights
Legacy systems and technical debt – ERP and MES platforms that are decades old, large install bases and the resulting friction when introducing analytics or AI
Resource and capacity constraints – teams stretched thin while demand accelerates
OT, automation and cyber readiness – standing up automated facilities, evolving SCADA environments and ensuring resiliency as operations scale
From deployment to value – moving beyond “go-live” toward meaningful use of data by operators, engineers, and leaders
3:15 PM
Break
3:30 PM
Papa Johns: Better Data, Better Dough
Tod Virden, GrayMatter & Papa Johns
4:00 PM
Partner Spotlight
4:30 PM
Break
4:45 PM
Voices of Vision: Live Survey
5:00 PM
Rapid-Fire Leadership Conversations
Bring your hardest questions. Our SMEs rotate table to table, and you've got their full attention for as long as they're with you — no slides, no pitches, just direct answers from people who've seen it work (and fail) in plants like yours.
6:30 PM
Dinner & Networking
A relaxed setting to continue the conversation and build connections.
WHAT'S INCLUDED
Full day of high-impact workshops built for industrial leadership
Complimentary hotel stay
Ticket to major industry conference (Automate 2026) the next day
Meals covered
Access to our Voices of Vision leadership report
Presentation materials to reference later
Real talk with peers who are solving the same challenges
Access to GrayMatter experts and leaders
Featured Speakers
Steve
St Angelo
Former CEO of Toyota Motor Corporation, Latin America & Caribbean Region
John Lucci
Chief of Strategy & Innovation,
GrayMatter's Factory Advisors
Tod
Virden
VP, Brilliant Operations & Analytics, GrayMatter
Scott Christensen
OT Cyber Practice Director, GrayMatter
Alan Hinchman
Chief Revenue Officer, GrayMatter
![PaulGaleski[11617307]](https://graymattersystems.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/PaulGaleski11617307.png#27269)
Paul Galeski
CEO & Chairman, GrayMatter
Think.Do Location
Hilton Chicago
720 S. Michigan Ave
Chicago, IL 60605