Expert Events

Doing AI Right Starts with Doing Cloud Right: Building the Operating Model for Intelligent, Trusted Enterprise AI

Name: Doing AI Right Starts with Doing Cloud Right: Building the Operating Model for Intelligent, Trusted Enterprise AI
Start: 2026-09-23T18:00:00-05:00
End: 2026-09-23T21:00:00-05:00
Location: Steak48

Join Blend and HashiCorp for an executive dinner exploring how technology leaders are building secure, resilient cloud operating models to support enterprise AI at scale. Discover how unified infrastructure, automation, security and governance can reduce complexity and enable intelligent operations.

Steak48

September 23, 2026

to September 23, 2026

6:00 pm

- 9:00 pm

About this event

Every executive conversation today begins with AI. Yet as organizations move from experimentation to enterprise-scale deployment, many are discovering that AI itself isn’t the biggest challenge. The real obstacle is whether the underlying operating model was ever designed to support intelligent, autonomous systems.

As AI becomes embedded across applications, infrastructure, security, and operations, yesterday’s fragmented ways of working become tomorrow’s operational bottlenecks. Disconnected workflows, inconsistent policies, manual approvals, and siloed teams all slow innovation while increasing risk. Organizations are realizing that scaling AI successfully requires more than better models – it requires a unified operating foundation where infrastructure, security, automation, and governance work together seamlessly.

Join Blend and HashiCorp for an executive dinner exploring what it truly means to “do cloud right” in the era of enterprise AI. Through candid peer discussion, we’ll examine how leading organizations are reducing operational complexity, building trusted automation, embedding security into every stage of the application lifecycle, and creating the resilient operating models needed to support AI at scale. Together, we’ll explore how technology leaders are moving beyond isolated automation toward intelligent operations that are secure, governed, and built for the future.

Our speakers

Brian Adams

Technology Sales Manager | Financial Services & Industrial Industries | Philadelphia Metro Area | IBM

Coming soon.

Jeff Tepel

CRO & Co-Founder | Blend

Having spent over a decade curating executive engagements and working across the Fortune 500, Jeff co-founded Blend in 2023, a C-suite executive leadership community for enterprise executives.

A Philadelphia native, his roots and allegiance remain firmly with the City of Brotherly Love (Go Birds!). Jeff attended Temple University and now resides in Miami Beach, where he leads Blend as Chief Revenue Officer. In this role, he is responsible for driving the company’s growth and ensuring its strategic vision remains closely aligned with the evolving needs of its clients and community.

Jeff believes the best business outcomes start with the right people, in the right room, having the right conversations.

Key themes & discussion topics

Building an AI-Ready Operating Model
The gaps between AI ambition and organisational readiness, and what needs to change across cloud infrastructure, operations and enterprise architecture to support AI at scale.

Breaking Down Fragmentation and Silos
How disconnected workflows, teams and technology domains create operational friction, and how greater collaboration across infrastructure, security, platform engineering and application teams can accelerate innovation.

Building Trust, Security and Governance into Automation
The policies, security capabilities and governance frameworks organisations need to confidently expand automation and enable AI-driven systems to take on greater operational responsibility.

Moving from Automation to Intelligent Operations
What separates isolated automation from truly intelligent operations, and how organisations can create connected, resilient operating models that are prepared for increasingly autonomous environments.

Event agenda

Cocktails & networking

6:00 – 6:30 PM

Opening remarks & panel discussion

6:30 – 7:15 PM

Dinner & guided discussion

7:15 – 8:45 PM

Event wrap-up & group reflection

8:45 – 9:00 PM

Why should you attend?

Benchmark your current cloud and operating model against the capabilities needed to move AI initiatives successfully from experimentation into enterprise-scale deployment.

Exchange perspectives with senior technology, cloud, infrastructure, platform and security leaders navigating AI readiness, hybrid cloud modernisation and operational resilience.

Discuss practical approaches to embedding security, governance and trusted automation into the foundations supporting enterprise AI.

Gain insight into how organisations are reducing complexity and building more unified, resilient foundations capable of supporting intelligent and autonomous operations at scale.

Who should attend

This dinner is designed for senior technology, infrastructure, cloud, platform, and security leaders responsible for enterprise architecture, AI readiness, automation, and operational resilience. The discussion will be particularly valuable for leaders responsible for modernizing hybrid cloud environments while preparing their organizations for AI-driven operations.

Venue

Steak48

260 S Broad St, Philadelphia, PA 19102, United States

Apply to participate