Juicebox enters as a Gold Sponsor; John Baldino and Jackye Clayton will co-host; Kyle Lagunas heads a newly created Executive Forum geared toward senior talent acquisition leaders.
AI is an accelerant, not a strategy. Point it at a broken process, and all you do is get there faster.”— Kyle Lagunas. SAN DIEGO, CA, UNITED STATES, September 4, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — Pose the question about AI to a room packed with talent acquisition leaders and you will get plenty of responses. Ask which efforts are genuinely producing results, and the conversation takes a far more compelling turn. That is the dialogue ERE is set to bring to San Diego this November.
The ERE Recruiting Innovation Summit, taking place November 10-11, will gather the recruiting leaders from Ford Motor Company, Wells Fargo, CVS Health, Expedia Group, Pinterest, Roblox, Thales, General Atomics, ChenMed, Tricentis, SafeBreach, TrueCare, and others for three days centered on what is working, what is not, and where recruiting teams are headed next.
ERE Media has also revealed the event’s broader sponsorship roster: Juicebox is the Gold Sponsor, while Tenzo AI, Built In, AcquireROI, AppVault, Cadient, Metaview, and Braintrust AIR are serving as Silver Sponsors.
“Nobody needs another conference session explaining that AI is going to change recruiting. Our audience is already living through it. They want to know what their peers are trying, what is working, what is failing, and what they should do next. That is the room we are building in San Diego,” said David Manaster, CEO, ERE Media
TA Leaders Are Trading Notes
RIS begins Tuesday, November 10, with hosts John Baldino, President of Humareso, and Jackye Clayton, Founder of Who Do I Work For. From there, the agenda dives straight into the choices recruiting teams are making at this moment: AI adoption, operating models, employer branding, sourcing, candidate fraud, recruiting technology, and where human judgment still matters.
Kyle Lagunas, Founder and Principal Analyst of Kyle & Co, opens the main program with “Motion Isn’t Momentum: Where AI Is Taking Talent Acquisition,” drawing on survey responses from more than 350 senior HR and talent leaders, an evaluation of 12 AI interviewers, and years of practitioner-focused research.
Amy Richman, Vice President of Talent Acquisition at CVS Health, follows with a look at the demanding work involved in turning strategy into a functioning operating model. Jeff Battinus of ChenMed will discuss what early AI adoption in healthcare has taught his team. Leaders from Pinterest, Roblox and Radiology Partners will explore employer brand in an era shaped by AI and radical transparency.
The conversation grows even more direct on Wednesday. Jim Shultman, VP of Global Talent Acquisition Operations at Thales, opens with the keynote “If You Don’t Change, You’ll Get Changed.” Then Melissa Thompson of Ford Motor Company, Dani Monaghan of Expedia Group, Joanna Clark of Wells Fargo, and Gerry Crispin of CareerXroads join together for “Unfiltered: A Conversation on the Future of Talent Acquisition.”
For recruiting leaders weighing what to automate, what to keep in human hands, which technology to buy, and what their operating model should look like next, these are not abstract exchanges.
Kyle Lagunas Will Host a Closed-Door Executive Forum Before RIS Begins
New for 2026, ERE Media and Kyle & Co will present the RIS Executive Forum: Building Real AI Momentum in Talent Acquisition on Monday, November 9 from 1:00-5:00 p.m.
This half-day working session is invitation-only and deliberately restricted to senior talent acquisition executives, with the proceedings conducted under Chatham House rules. Applications are screened to ensure the room remains focused on leaders accountable for hiring strategy, technology choices, and operational performance.
The Executive Forum marks the first application of Kyle & Co’s AI Momentum Model to talent acquisition. That model stems from research involving more than 350 senior HR and talent leaders and measures seven momentum drivers, including AI literacy, governance, and risk orientation.
Participants will confront two questions that are becoming increasingly difficult to avoid: What should AI actually own in the recruiting process? And as AI capabilities overlap across platforms, what technology should organizations keep, consolidate, or stop buying?
“AI is an accelerant, not a strategy. Point it at a broken process, and all you do is get there faster,” said Kyle Lagunas, Founder & Principal Analyst, Kyle & Co
The themes raised in the Forum will flow directly into Lagunas’ opening keynote the following morning. Qualified RIS attendees can submit a separate application for a seat in the Executive Forum.
Show Up for the Speakers, Stick Around for Genuine Access
RIS 2026 is also designed around something attendees frequently request but rarely receive in abundance: access.
After their sessions, speakers will hold office hours in the RIS Ask Me Anything Lounge, offering attendees the opportunity to bring real challenges and extend the discussion. The agenda also includes facilitated roundtables, networking breaks, a reception, and additional unscheduled time for peer conversations.
The result is an event built less around observing experts from the far end of a ballroom and more around putting the people doing the work in the same room together.
“Real use cases from the front lines, shared by people doing the work,” says Ed Delgado, Director of Recruiting, Salesforce, on a recent RIS event.
Why San Diego, and Why This Moment
Recruiting is moving through an unusual in-between stage. AI is no longer a future possibility, but there is still no shared understanding of what a mature AI-enabled recruiting organization should look like.
That makes who is in the room matter.
If talent acquisition is your responsibility in 2026, only a few settings give leaders from Ford, Wells Fargo, Expedia, CVS Health, and other large employers the chance to openly discuss what they are changing inside their recruiting organizations. RIS is one of those settings.
Registration Details
Fall 2026 ERE Recruiting Innovation Summit
November 9-11, 2026
Hyatt Regency La Jolla at Aventine
3777 La Jolla Village Drive, San Diego, CA
Early-bird rates are available until September 30. In-person attendance costs $1,399 for one or two attendees, with larger team discounts available. Virtual attendance costs $399 for one or two attendees, and team discounts are also offered.
Event information and agenda: ERE Recruiting Innovation Summit
Executive Forum: RIS Executive Forum
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About the ERE Recruiting Innovation Summit
The ERE Recruiting Innovation Summit serves as ERE Media’s premier event for talent acquisition professionals. RIS unites recruiting executives, practitioners, sourcing leaders, employer brand teams, recruiting operations groups, and HR technology innovators for practitioner-led sessions, honest dialogue, and actionable takeaways.
Media contact:
Evan White, Evan White PR
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