Agenda
Engineer Resilience into Your Campus Operations
On August 4–6, 2026, Tambellini Group’s Future Campus™ Summit, Resilience by Design, will convene higher education leaders aligning AI, data, and engagement to improve operational efficiency, strengthen fiscal health, and drive student momentum. This executive retreat, in the heart of New York City, is curated to provide unparalleled opportunities for cross-functional, cross-institutional, and cross-sector collaboration.
August 4–6, 2026
Convene 360 Madison Avenue
4th Floor
New York, NY
Summit Agenda At-a-Glance
Breakfast
Breakfast
Registration
& Breakfast
7:30–8:15 a.m.
Breakfast
Breakfast
7:30–8:15 a.m.
Morning
Breakfast
Opening Keynote, Sessions & Executive Discussions
8:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m.
Breakfast
Opening Keynote, Sessions & Executive Discussions
8:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m.
Lunch
Lunch
Lunch & Awards
12:35–1:30 p.m.
Lunch
Lunch
12:35–1:30 p.m.
Afternoon
Afternoon
Sessions & Executive Discussions
1:35–4:55 p.m.
Afternoon
Sessions & Executive Discussions
1:35–4:55 p.m.
Evening
Evening
Welcome Kick-Off
6:00-8:00 p.m.
Evening
Dinner & Explore NYC
after 5:00 p.m.
Evening
Space is Limited.
Welcome Kick-Off: August 4
The Summit starts here. Join higher education executives, Tambellini analysts, and Summit partners for a Welcome Kick-Off designed to spark conversation, build connections, and set the tone for two days of strategic discussion. Heavy hors d’oeuvres and drinks will be served.
Leverage this opportunity to schedule 30-minute 1:1 conversations with industry technology partners.
Day 1: August 5
Summit check-in and full breakfast buffet.
Leverage this opportunity to schedule 30-minute 1:1 conversations with industry technology partners.
Summit opening with an overview of the agenda, a look at the key themes, and setting the stage for meaningful conversations, thought leadership, and community building.
Nicholas Thompson, CEO of The Atlantic and former Editor-in-Chief of WIRED, will open the Summit with a keynote on what AI’s rapid acceleration means for institutional leadership, strategy, and the future of work.
Every wave of new technology has made institutions faster and more efficient. AI is different. Institutions can now reimagine how they operate from the ground up. AI can process information across dimensions, operate beyond traditional constraints, and empower people to focus on higher-order work. This session explores what that reimagination looks like in practice, and how AI can elevate employee and institutional capacity to deliver outcomes.
Sponsored by Drivestream.
Leverage this opportunity to schedule 30-minute 1:1 conversations with industry technology partners and join analyst roundtable discussions.
Rapid technology evolutions require institutions to be adaptive. This session examines how leaders can prioritize dynamic decision-making, avoid technology obsolescence, and position institutions to remain resilient amid market and regulatory changes.
Sponsored by Oracle.
Time for networking and full lunch buffet.
Higher education institutions face a growing range of identity-based threats, from ghost student fraud in financial aid to grant fraud in sponsored research. This session examines how institutions can build a resilient security posture using AI, data analytics, and risk-based verification to detect threats early and reduce fraud across systems.
Sponsored by Socure
Leverage this opportunity to schedule 30-minute 1:1 conversations with industry technology partners and join analyst roundtable discussions.
By the time most institutions flag a student as at risk, the window for effective intervention has often closed. The underlying issue is that the predictive signals remain fragmented across systems, offices, and timelines, leaving institutions unable to act on time. This session explores how to unify financial, academic, and engagement data and use AI to enable proactive, personalized intervention across the student lifecycle.
Sponsored by Ellucian.
Technical debt is rarely framed as a strategic problem. Legacy systems create IT challenges and limit downstream opportunities such as AI adoption, integrated planning, and real-time student support. This session will examine how accumulated infrastructure decisions constrain agility, visibility, and decision-making and how modern AI-ready architectures can expand institutional options and support long-term strategy.
Sponsored by HPE.
Enjoy an evening on your own in New York City.
Day 2: August 6
Full breakfast buffet and opportunity to schedule 30-minute 1:1 conversations with industry technology partner executives.
Autonomous AI agents are rapidly shifting from speculative experimentation to central economic drivers. This technological shift arrives at a critical juncture for higher education, an ecosystem currently strained by a 50% drop in research productivity every 13 years. To bridge this divide, institutions must look beyond traditional methodologies and embrace comprehensive, multi-tiered AI infrastructures capable of scaling human ingenuity. With the right infrastructure, universities can increase research output, improve administrative efficiency, and deliver more personalized learning that keeps pace with global innovation.
Sponsored by Google.
Institutions have an opportunity to go beyond operational data: collecting qualitative, experiential, and engagement signals to build a more holistic understanding of the student to drive decisions at every level of the institution. Drawing on examples from industries that have built this capability ahead of higher education, this session explores the opportunity to move beyond data lakes to decision-grade intelligence, where insights are holistic, timely, and actionable for front-line staff and institutional leaders alike.
Sponsored by Qualtrics.
The Tambellini Future Campus Award™ honors higher education institutions using emerging technologies to create a more sustainable, efficient, and inclusive future for learning, administration, and campus life. The 2026 awards recognize institutions demonstrating resilience by design, using data, artificial intelligence, and engagement to adapt to shifting conditions with speed and intention.
Leverage this opportunity to schedule 30-minute 1:1 conversations with industry technology partners and join analyst roundtable discussions.
Time for networking and full lunch buffet.
Artificial Intelligence is offering higher education new opportunities to enhance instruction, personalize learning, and elevate the student experience. Drawing from best practices and industry examples, this session will discuss opportunities and challenges in embedding AI in the classroom.
Sponsored by Instructure.
Employers aren’t just looking for technical skills, they are looking for people who can communicate visually, work with AI tools fluently, and apply creative thinking across disciplines. Drawing on examples from institutions that have moved from siloed tool access to campus-wide adoption, the session will examine what it takes to execute that shift, including how leaders measure impact on student outcomes and position the institution as one that prepares students for a workforce that keeps changing.
Sponsored by Adobe.
Leverage this opportunity to schedule 30-minute 1:1 conversations with industry technology partners and join analyst roundtable discussions.
As AI reshapes work in higher education, the conversation often stalls at operational efficiency. But true transformation isn’t just about technology—it’s about people and new ways of working. This session will explore how AI adoption affects institutional culture, how colleges and universities can redesign structures and workflows, and how greater efficiency can empower institutions to redirect energy toward their most critical missions: student success and workforce readiness.
Sponsored by Workday.
Leverage this opportunity to schedule 30-minute 1:1 conversations with industry technology partners.
Join us as we wrap up key takeaways from the retreat, discuss next steps for continuing the conversation, and explore how we can stay connected as a leadership community.
Tambellini Team
Tambellini analysts, advisors, and leadership have curated an exclusive event for transformational leaders after thousands of interactions with higher education institutions and using the most extensive AI market intelligence.
