This opening experience sets the foundation for Ready to Work by grounding attendees in the reality of today’s increasingly complex and extended risk landscape. Through Avetta’s new brand story and a live welcome, leaders will shift the conversation from reactive risk management to organizational readiness — a critical capability for driving safety, supplier collaboration, operational resilience, and competitive advantage.

Location: Great Lakes Ballroom A/B/C

This session explores how organizations move from data and benchmarks to real‑world performance. Drawing on key findings from Avetta’s latest Industry & Insights Report, it highlights why strong pre‑qualification, multi‑dimensional risk visibility, and strategic risk layering drive better safety and business outcomes. Leaders will hear how global organizations are addressing performance consistency across regions and functions, brought to life through a customer example from Cushman & Wakefield, featuring insights from its 2025 Change Maker on turning safety and risk programs into measurable impact. The session concludes with practical next steps for aligning safety, procurement, and operational excellence.

Location: Great Lakes Ballroom A/B/C

This combined session brings Avetta’s Ready to Work vision to life by outlining the roadmap for intelligent work readiness and setting the stage for what’s ahead. Attendees will gain insight into Avetta’s AI‑driven product strategy, including how Avetta Advisor is designed to connect clients, suppliers, and partners to enable safer operations, smarter decisions, and scalable readiness.  
 
The session concludes with a recap of key Day One moments, a preview of upcoming breakout sessions, and guidance on how to continue meaningful engagement through the Connection Center, conference app, and evening experiences—ensuring attendees are ready to make the most of what’s next.

Location: Great Lakes Ballroom A/B/C

What’s Next: Avetta’s Product Vision for Suppliers

In a crowded marketplace, visibility matters. This hands-on workshop walks through proven strategies to strengthen your supplier profile and increase your chances of being selected by clients. Bring your laptop and you'll leave with improvements already in place.

Location: Water Tower A

Ready to Work: Measuring Safety and Culture Maturity with SMI and CMI 

Explore how Safety Maturity Index and Culture Maturity Index measure both performance and culture maturity, and how clients are using those insights to drive contractor improvement

Location: Water Tower B

Suppliers & Contractors: New to Avetta? Start Here 

New to Avetta or looking to get more out of the platform? This session covers the essentials, from setup to completion, so you can navigate Connect with confidence and stay Ready to Work. Laptops welcome for those who want to follow along.

Location: Shedd A/B

This mainstage session brings an outside‑in perspective on the future of EHS leadership and recognizes the customers driving meaningful change today. The conversation opens with insights from Verdantix on how EHS leaders are leading the adoption of AI, translating investment into real‑world use cases that enhance safety, performance, and decision‑making.  
 
The session then shifts to customer recognition and real‑world impact, featuring perspectives from Operational Excellence Award winner and Canada Women in Safety honoree Katie Dolan of Ainsworth, alongside the presentation of Avetta’s 2026 Customer Awards. Together, these stories highlight how innovation, operational excellence, and sustainability leadership are shaping the next era of work readiness.

Location: Great Lakes Ballroom A/B/C

Managing Risk Beyond Tier 1: Visibility Across Subcontractor Networks   

Subcontractor management is a critical but often overlooked component of effective supply chain risk management. While many organizations focus on direct suppliers, substantial operational, safety, and compliance risk often sits deeper in the supply chain through subcontractors and lower-tier vendors. Drawing on industry data and real client examples, this session will examine how limited visibility into subcontractor networks can contribute to serious consequences, including fatalities, project delays, financial losses, and reputational damage.

Attendees will learn why a more structured approach to subcontractor oversight matters, what effective implementation looks like in practice, and how extending qualification and compliance processes beyond Tier 1 suppliers can improve transparency, reduce risk, and strengthen overall supply chain resilience.

Location: Water Tower A

Stand Out, Get Selected: Maximizing Your Avetta Profile

In a crowded marketplace, visibility matters. This hands-on workshop walks through proven strategies to strengthen your supplier profile and increase your chances of being selected by clients. Bring your laptop and you'll leave with improvements already in place.

Location: Shedd A/B

From Incident to Insight: Real-World Lessons in Field Safety (feat. Billy Parker)

Billy Parker delivers a powerful, real-world presentation that transforms personal tragedy into actionable insight. Drawing on his experience as a worksite accident victim, he vividly illustrates the risks frontline teams face and the critical moments that define outcomes.

Audiences leave equipped with practical, easy-to-apply field safety habits, sharper hazard awareness, and a renewed commitment to prevention.

This compelling session drives behavior change, strengthens safety culture, and helps organizations protect their people while maintaining productivity and operational excellence every day forward.

Location: Water Tower B

Moving Beyond Compliance: Leveraging the Power of Alignment to Promote Supplier Success

Procurement, ESG, and HSE each influence supplier risk, yet alignment across those functions is often limited. In this panel discussion, leaders will explore how to turn fragmented risk signals into coordinated, actionable decisions across the supplier lifecycle.

Location: Water Tower A

Safety-First Culture Lab: Turning Near Misses into Playbooks

Move beyond theory and into action. This interactive lab is designed for both hiring clients and contractors to work side-by-side, turning real-world near misses into practical, repeatable safety playbooks. Rather than a traditional presentation, this session puts you in the driver’s seat. Through short prompts and guided exercises, you’ll assess your current safety culture, diagnose real scenarios, and collaborate with peers to identify what’s working—and what’s not. Come ready to engage, share, and build something you can take back and use right away.

Location: Shedd A/B

Emerging Safety Trends: Managing the Next Generation of Contractor Risk

Contractor risk is evolving. Emerging exposure areas — including workforce mobility, regulatory shifts, and operational complexity — are reshaping what effective safety governance requires. This session will explore broader safety trends impacting contractor networks.

Location: Shedd A/B

Real Talk: Ready to Work Stories

An honest conversation with Avetta clients and suppliers about their real-world Ready to Work experiences, what's working, and what they'd do differently. Unscripted, practical, and worth the seat.

Location: Shedd A/B

Wrap up the day with an evening celebration featuring great food, drinks, and meaningful connections. Join us for a Taste of Chicago, with food stations inspired by the city’s iconic neighborhoods—Little Italy, Chinatown, Greektown, and Wrigleyville—as we continue the conversation and celebrate the community that makes it all possible.

Location: ABC Building (Level 1)

This session provides a clear view into Avetta’s product and platform evolution, highlighting how upcoming enhancements align directly to customer and supplier needs. Leaders will walk through key release highlights and the solution roadmap, showcasing what’s available today and what’s coming next, with a focus on making work easier and more accessible in 2026 through improved discovery and Find capabilities. Looking ahead, the session outlines how these investments set the foundation for expanded opportunity and growth in 2027. Grounded in insights from Summit feedback and ongoing Voice of Customer and Voice of Supplier conversations, the roadmap is brought to life through a real‑world example from a supplier Operational Excellence Award winner who is continuing to transform safety performance.

Location: Great Lakes Ballroom A/B/C

This session offers a partner‑led perspective on how collaboration drives readiness at scale. It outlines Avetta’s vision for an interconnected ecosystem of data, technology, and partners that accelerates the shift from risk management to operational readiness. Through real‑world examples, attendees will see how deep domain expertise, such as advancements in transport road safety, combines with broader partner integrations to extend verification and compliance across the long tail of suppliers. The session highlights how working together enables more comprehensive visibility, stronger performance, and shared value across the supply chain, before closing with key next‑step reminders for the day.

Location: Great Lakes Ballroom A/B/C

The Cost of Unready: Putting a Price on Supplier Risk

A financial lens on contractor safety performance, including operational disruption, insurance impact, and reputational exposure

Location: Water Tower A

Stand Out, Get Selected: Maximizing Your Avetta Profile

In a crowded marketplace, visibility matters. This hands-on workshop walks through proven strategies to strengthen your supplier profile and increase your chances of being selected by clients. Bring your laptop and you'll leave with improvements already in place.

Location: Shedd A/B

AI in Safety and Risk: What’s Real, What’s Next, and What Matters

Audit readiness is not the same as operational readiness. This session explores how organizations move beyond documentation to performance-based risk management.

Location: Water Tower B

What’s Next: Avetta’s Product Vision for Suppliers

Get an exclusive look at the innovations and enhancements coming to the Avetta platform for suppliers and contractors. This session walks through upcoming features designed to make compliance easier, faster, and more impactful for suppliers of all sizes.

Location: Water Tower A

From Search to Start: Finding the Right Suppliers Faster

Sourcing the right suppliers is often slower and more uncertain than it should be. This session shows how to simplify discovery, quickly assess supplier readiness, and connect with the right partners faster. Learn how to reduce delays, build stronger shortlists, and turn your network into a true sourcing advantage.

Location: Water Tower B

Audit Smarter: From Checkboxes to Real Assurance

Audit readiness is not the same as operational readiness. This session explores how organizations move beyond documentation to performance-based risk management.

Location: Shedd A/B

Drawing on decades of experience leading teams in extreme, mission-critical environments, Jim explores how organizations can move beyond procedures to build true operational resilience. His perspective focuses on decision making, accountability, and leadership when complexity is high and the cost of failure is real.  

Jim’s insights strongly align with Avetta’s mission to help organizations proactively manage risk, elevate safety, and perform with confidence across complex, interconnected supply chains.

Location: Great Lakes Ballroom A/B/C

This closing session brings the event to a strong and inspiring conclusion, highlighting the impact and momentum generated throughout the experience. The Change Maker Award winners will be announced, recognizing individuals and organizations driving meaningful progress and leadership across the community. The session wraps with final reflections that reinforce shared purpose, celebrate innovation, and set the tone for what’s ahead as we continue to move the industry forward together.

Location: Great Lakes Ballroom A/B/C