CEO Vision

The year 2026 is unfolding much like 2025 ended—under the sign of uncertainty. The threat of U.S. tariffs remains very real, and geopolitical tensions are spreading across the globe. In this context, what can we expect in terms of global economic growth? The U.S. economy, resilient until now, is showing signs of slowing. What lies ahead for our neighbors to the south? And how will the Canadian and Quebec economies fare amid these challenges? What are the implications for the technology sector? These questions—and many more—will be addressed by Mario Lefebvre during this conference.

For years, the technology industry believed that its accumulated code and historical head start formed an unassailable fortress. Today, generative AI is turning that valuable asset into a heavy liability. Software development is rapidly shifting from craftsmanship to the industrial era. In this new paradigm, what happens to your competitive advantage if a startup can replicate your product in just a few weeks? How can IT services firms survive the inevitable end of hourly billing? Drawing on pragmatic, real-world experience, Guillaume Roy will challenge your assumptions and address these critical questions during this conference.

Entrepreneur, accomplished actress, and inspiring public figure, Caroline Néron brings extensive experience across the artistic, entrepreneurial, and personal development spheres. In her conference The Strength of Adversity, she authentically shares the highs and lows of her journey, delivering a powerful message of resilience, transformation, and female ambition. Her story begins with a remarkable rise. An artist turned businesswoman, she propelled her company to rapid growth, becoming the first Quebec woman to reach the top ranks in Quebec and the Top 15 in Canada on the PROFIT 500 list of fastest-growing companies. She became a source of inspiration for many entrepreneurs. Then, in 2019, Bijoux Caroline Néron found itself at the center of a media storm due to major financial difficulties. Every sphere of her life was shaken. Despite significant efforts to turn things around, the company was unable to regain profitability. With honesty, strength, and courage, Caroline Néron openly shares what led her to bankruptcy. She embodies a truth often repeated but rarely publicly embraced: failure does not oppose success — it is part of it. She did not stop where she fell. She rose. She learned. She rebuilt.

Rodrigo Liang bet early, as far back as 2017, on a radical vision: leaving traditional computing behind and rebuilding an architecture designed exclusively for AI. While many were simply adapting existing hardware, Liang and his team led a full-stack revolution by designing chips, systems, and software from the ground up to meet the most demanding challenges in artificial intelligence. At the heart of this innovation is the Reconfigurable Dataflow Unit (RDU) chip, a breakthrough technology. Under his leadership, SambaNova has earned prestigious recognition (Fortune Future 50, TIME Best Inventions, Forbes AI 50) and established strategic partnerships, including with Accenture, to accelerate enterprise AI adoption.

At the helm of Previan, Martin Thériault has built a global technology group specializing in advanced diagnostics for the health of infrastructure and critical assets. Today, Previan brings together more than 2,200 employees, 35 offices worldwide, and clients in over 110 countries. As founder, president, and CEO, he candidly shares his vision, the strategic decisions that shaped the organization, its challenges, and his passion for entrepreneurship. An unfiltered discussion on leadership, technology, growth through acquisitions, and building a global champion.

This presentation introduces a taxonomy of applied AI solutions designed to help leaders and their teams manage complexity by distinguishing solutions at the appropriate level of abstraction. It highlights why many AI initiatives fail, not because of the technology itself, but because strategy, expected outcomes, and implementation are addressed at misaligned levels of abstraction. By establishing a shared language that connects end customer outcomes to industry use cases, applications, platforms, and components, this presentation aims to help organizations align decision-making, execution, and value creation so that internal or external solutions are designed, sold, and deployed with clarity, rigor, and impact.

In a technology environment where innovation cycles are accelerating and uncertainty is part of everyday life, resilience becomes a strategic asset for leaders and their teams.

Benoit Chalifoux offers a clear and inspiring definition of this ability to face the unexpected, adapt quickly, and bounce back from setbacks. He explores the protective factors that every manager can activate to strengthen their own resilience and that of their team—whether navigating a digital transformation, managing a critical outage, or responding to a cybersecurity challenge.

With clarity and authenticity, Benoit combines scientific rigor, concrete examples drawn from real-world technology contexts, and a touch of humor to deliver an experience that is human, practical, and engaging.