For Chief Ethics and Compliance Officers, the most valuable moments at a compliance conference are the ones that delivery clarity on what boards and senior leadership teams are prioritizing, how peers are responding to emerging risks, and what it takes to lead with integrity when the pressure is real.
The 2026 Global Ethics Summit (GES) main stage delivers that and more.
This year’s plenary agenda brings together senior ethics, compliance, legal, and risk leaders from some of the world’s most complex organizations to tackle the issues CECOs are navigating right now through data-backed insights, candid discussion, and real-world perspective.
If you are planning your time at GES, these are just a few of the main-stage conversations you’ll want to add to your calendar.
From Fear to Trust: Addressing Retaliation Head-On
Monday, 30 Mar | 1:00 PM
Ethisphere’s culture data consistently shows that fear of retaliation remains the top reason employees choose not to speak up.
This plenary brings together compliance leaders from Ecolab, EXL Service, and USAA to discuss how organizations are:
- Confronting retaliation risk directly
- Empowering managers as culture carriers
- Protecting whistleblowers in practice, not just policy
The conversation moves beyond aspiration into what actually shifts employee trust inside large, decentralized organizations .
Why it is unmissable: Because speak-up culture is now a regulatory, reputational, and leadership issue, not just a hotline metric.
Weathering the Storm: Ethical Leadership in Moments of Crisis
Monday, 30 Mar | 4:00 PM
Crises rarely announce themselves in advance. When they arrive, ethics and compliance leaders are often asked to guide executive teams through ambiguity, scrutiny, and reputational risk simultaneously.
This main-stage discussion explores how CECOs and integrity leaders support senior leadership during:
- Geopolitical disruption
- Regulatory change
- Executive transitions
- High-visibility ethical failures
With perspectives from leaders at Intel, Ahold Delhaize, and Morrison Foerster, the session focuses on ethical leadership under pressure, not textbook crisis management .
Why it is unmissable: Because CECOs are increasingly expected to be stabilizers when the organization is under stress.
AI Innovations in Ethics & Compliance: Superstar Agent or Don’t Believe the Hype?
Tuesday, 31 Mar | 8:40 AM
Artificial intelligence is no longer theoretical for ethics and compliance teams, it is already in use.
This plenary panel brings together leaders from Amazon, Meta, Prudential Financial, and others to explore how AI is being applied to:
- Monitoring and detection
- Training and communications
- Data management and reporting
Just as importantly, it addresses the real risks, bias, misinterpretation, and data privacy, that CECOs must manage alongside innovation .
Why it is unmissable: Because CECOs are being asked to enable responsible AI use while also governing it.
Why the GES Main Stage Feels Different
What sets the Global Ethics Summit main stage apart is not just the speaker list, it is the intent behind it.
The 2026 agenda reflects direct feedback from senior leaders calling for fewer, more substantive plenaries; topics grounded in current pressure points; and conversations led by practitioners, not commentators
Each main-stage session is designed to create shared context, so that peer discussions, workshops, and breakouts start from a higher level of understanding .
Whether you attend in person or virtually, the main stage anchors the Global Ethics Summit experience. These sessions are where you can gain clarity on what “good” looks like right now, and gather language and insight to take back to your leadership
To explore the full agenda, click here. For registration details, click here.
Bill Coffin | Editor-in-Chief, Ethisphere Magazine, Ethisphere
Bill Coffin is the Editor-in-Chief of Ethisphere Magazine and supports the larger content strategy of Ethisphere. He is an internationally recognized writer and editorial leader in the fields of ethics, compliance, insurance and risk management. His work has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek, Forbes and Fortune, as well as Compliance Week, National Underwriter, Risk Management, Best’s Review and other B2B media. Previously, Bill served as Director, Senior Editor at AIG, leading content strategy for one of the world’s largest insurance companies.
