About the series
Many organizations have moved beyond asking whether AI matters. The harder questions are where to begin, what must be in place, and how to turn promising pilots into sustainable business practice.
This candid, practitioner-led series is designed for senior executives and functional leaders who are already piloting AI but have not yet scaled it. It combines real implementation experience with cross-company lessons on strategy, data, technology, governance, and organizational adoption.
Participants will gain
Practical guidance, candid lessons, including failures and course corrections, and tools participants can apply within their own organizations.
A practical, cross-border perspective
The series combines the inside view of a global manufacturing company with more than ten years of experience developing and implementing digital and AI products with lessons drawn from companies of different sizes and industries. It explores what happens when technology, operations, and people move at different speeds—and why tensions between headquarters and subsidiaries are often rooted in decision-making authority and organizational culture before they become technology issues.
Speakers
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Barbara Wittmann
President GACC - CO Chapter, CEO IT Zeitgeist Barbara Wittmann is the founder of Digital Wisdom Collective™ and President of the German American Chamber of Commerce, Colorado Chapter. She is the neutral voice in the room when a decade-defining tech decision is on the line - building the human capability the success of the investment depends on. She rescued broken technology transformations for 25 years and was part of SAP's Office of the CEO innovation team under Hasso Plattner before starting her own company, which she rebuilt on AI in 2026. Author of Meetings in Moccasins; Global Peter Drucker Forum speaker.
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Geoffrey Somary
CEO - Ipsen Group Geoffrey Somary oversees the global companies of Ipsen based in the US, Germany, China, India and Japan. Ipsen manufactures and services heat treatment systems that transform metals and alloys into super-performing materials used in mission critical applications. Geoffrey began working for Ipsen in 2005 and has supported Ipsen’s expansion into diverse global markets including Aviation, Space Launch, Energy and Defense while emphasizing the aftermarket business, which is now more than half of annual revenues. Geoffrey began his career near Stuttgart, Germany while working for a German builder of automotive assembly plants. He then continued with that company based in the US until 2004. Geoffrey serves on the board of Directors of the German American Chamber of Commerce of the Midwest and volunteers in several community organizations. He graduated from Northwestern University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering.
