HR Tech 2026 Keynotes

This year's keynotes bring together senior HR executives navigating transformation at scale, alongside one of the world's leading researchers in organizational behavior and talent. They're authorities in their space — bringing the depth of experience and expertise that actually moves the needle for HR leaders like you.

Opening Keynote | Tuesday 3:45 p.m.

Leading the Future of Work Through Transformation and Innovation

Join Cisco's Kelly Jones and Michael Kiley to explore how HR leaders can navigate continuous transformation while keeping people, culture, and business performance aligned.

Drawing from their experience leading global organizations through change, Kelly and Mike will share perspectives on leadership, workforce evolution, AI, and the new expectations shaping the future of work. You'll leave with practical insights on building resilient organizations and leading with clarity in a rapidly changing world.

Kelly Jones

Kelly Jones 

Chief People Officer

Cisco

Michael Kiley

Michael Kiley 

Director of People Data & Generative AI Strategy

Cisco

Wednesday 8:15 a.m.

I, Human: AI Isn’t the Problem—Your Talent Strategy Is

Dr. Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic

Dr. Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic

Chief Science Officer

Russell Reynolds Associates

We’ve been asking the wrong question. The real risk isn’t that AI will replace humans. It’s that it will expose how flawed our human systems already are.

In this unapologetically direct keynote, Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic will dismantle decades of bad talent practices — where confidence is mistaken for competence, charisma is rewarded over capability, and leadership potential is judged by gut feel instead of evidence. These weren’t harmless biases. They shaped who got hired, who got promoted, and ultimately, how organizations performed. Now AI is forcing a reckoning.

The future won’t be defined by who adopts AI the fastest. It will be defined by who uses it to fix what was already broken—how we assess potential, how we develop leaders, and how we decide who gets to lead. 

And here’s the twist: the qualities that will matter most in an AI-powered world are not the ones most organizations reward today. It’s not confidence. It’s not presence. It’s not even traditional notions of “culture fit.”

It’s humility. Learning agility. Judgment. The ability to think clearly, adapt quickly, and make better decisions—consistently, and under pressure.

AI doesn’t replace human potential. It reveals it. The question is whether your organization is ready to face what it finds.

Tuesday 2:45 p.m.

AI and the Future of Talent: Reflections from Anthropic

The technology we use to hire people is about to undergo its most significant transformation in decades. AI won't simply make today's recruiting processes faster — it will force us to reconsider the processes themselves. And few people are better positioned to speak to that shift than Mike Boufford, who spent years building the hiring infrastructure the industry runs on today at Greenhouse, and now leads People Products at Anthropic.

In this candid, forward-looking conversation, TA expert Tim Sackett and Mike Boufford will explore what happens when organizations stop layering new technology onto outdated hiring practices and start rebuilding the hiring journey around intelligence, evidence, and outcomes. They'll challenge the industry's dependence on resumes, credentials, intuition, and traditional recruiting metrics — and lay out a future in which organizations finally have a clear, evidence-based understanding of what actually predicts performance.

You'll leave with a clearer picture of where hiring technology is headed, which long-standing assumptions are ready to be challenged, and how talent leaders can start preparing for a future where the goal isn't just to hire faster — it's to make dramatically better decisions about people.

Mike Boufford

Mike Boufford 

Head of People Products

Anthropic

Tim Sackett

Tim Sackett 

CEO

HRUTech.com

Closing Keynote | Thursday 3:25 p.m.

The Future Is Unbound… There Is No Finish Line

Prerna Ajmera

Prerna Ajmera

General Manager of HR Digital Strategy and Innovation

Microsoft

There are no end states — only continuous reinvention. AI hasn’t just expanded what’s possible; it’s accelerated how quickly possibility evolves. Yet many organizations still treat transformation as something that can be planned, sequenced, and completed. It can’t.
 
For HR leaders, this means your operating model — not just your technology— must be built for constant change. New capabilities are arriving faster than they can be fully embedded, regardless of company size. The old model — implement, roll out, stabilize — is breaking down. The next era of HR won’t arrive as a single transformation. It will take shape through a steady stream of evolving capabilities — agents, copilots, models, and workflows—that continuously reshape how work gets done.
 
The question is no longer “How do we implement AI?” but “How do we lead in a system that never stops changing?”
 
Prerna Ajmera will discuss a practical approach to operating in this new reality — how to deliver meaningful outcomes quickly, without overwhelming teams, eroding trust, or stalling adoption. This isn’t about adding more tools. It’s about rethinking how HR operates, makes decisions, and scales in an always-on transformation environment — whether you’re a team of 50 or 50,000.
Multiple Keynotes. Multiple Perspectives.
Join us October 20-22 in Las Vegas for these keynotes and a full program packed with insight, connection, and practical takeaways.