The “velocity of change” that impacts business growth is on the minds of Southern California C-suite executives.
More than 350 company leaders will gather to focus on innovative growth strategies during a “chaotic economy” at the year's second ReINVENT Growth Summit 26. The event is from 1 to 5 pm, followed by hosted networking and an expo from 5 to 7 pm, on Thursday, August 6, 2026, at UC Irvine’s The Cove at Beall Applied Innovation, 5270 California Ave, Irvine, CA 92617.
The summit aims to offer transformational strategies amid the aftermath of the war in Iran, fluctuating tariff policies, and inflationary gas prices. The purpose of the event is to help Southern California business leaders transform their leadership and organizations so they can grow in 2026.
Richard Munro, the chairman of the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) Pacific Southwest Chapter and the chairman of the Corporate Directors Roundtable of Orange County, will be a featured speaker.
“One of the key trends facing boards and business leaders today is the fact that time is compressing while the velocity of change is increasing,” said Munro in a recent interview. “Management and boards are under increasing pressure to make good decisions in shorter, sharper timeframes. Having the data necessary to be able to do that is a major challenge.”
Munro has served on 21 public, private equity-owned, privately owned, multinational subsidiary boards and not-for-profit boards over the past 37 years.
According to Munro, the changes resulting from artificial intelligence (AI) is certainly on the mind of C-suite executives.
“Another area that comes up all the time is the board's oversight of AI risks and opportunities,” said Munro. “This is very challenging for boards because AI is moving so fast that what was relevant, say 30 or 60 days ago, is probably no longer relevant.
Munro says boards are really struggling, from major corporations to nonprofits and privately held companies.
“Despite a chaotic economy, company CEOs are still working hard to grow their companies,” said Scott Hamilton, president and founder of the Executive Next Practices Institute (ENP), the host of the event. “The event will provide inflection points for tech, talent, and markets in the second half of 2026.”
Other speakers exploring the next era of business evolution include Dean Ian O. Williamson of the UCI Paul Merage School of Business, Head of People Rachel Donahue of PacSun, Change Management Institute Founder Tom Somodi, and Chief Innovation Officer/Executive Director Errol Arkillic of UCI Beall Innovation. A full lineup of speakers is available on the event page.
The cost to attend the event is $97, and a special early access rate of $78 is available until June 15, 2026.
The mission of the Executive Next Practices Institute is to help business leaders connect, collaborate, and innovate. This will be ENP’s 551th such forum, and features partner organizations such as Fragomen/Workright, USI Benefits, BakerTilly, INTEL, and Stradling. Indie Books International is the media sponsor.
“Business leaders can connect with CEOs, CHROs, COOs, CIOs, CFOs and key executives from leading companies,” said Hamilton. “Through visionary keynotes and interactive panels, attendees can develop actionable insights to lead their organizations through complexity and toward sustainable growth.”
Munro added that the relationship between the C-suite and the board has never been more important.
“These are turbulent times that we're going through,” said Munro. “It's important that apart from boards having their traditional role to effectively oversee risk and strategy execution and CEO and C-suite succession planning, I think the boards also need to nurture the CEO and C-suite executives in these challenging times.”
Henry DeVries is a former Forbes online columnist who is the chief book strategist at Indie Books International. He has ghostwritten, co-authored, or edited more than 200 business books, including his international bestseller, How to Close a Deal Like Warren Buffett.
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