Empower Chicago 2026
Empower Chicago 2026
What is Empower?
Empower is Lyric’s annual conference for supply chain leaders navigating a faster, more volatile world.
This year’s theme is The Decision Era.
Conversations will highlight a shift from static, silo'd plans to intelligent, connected, and agile decision-making across the enterprise.
Why attend?
Network with 300+ supply chain leaders shaping the industry
Thought Leadership
01
Hear from keynote speakers who offer a clear perspective on where supply chains are headed and how better decisions create competitive advantage.
Inspiring Perspectives
02
Learn how real teams are improving planning, modeling, and execution to adapt faster in a changing environment through curated sessions.
Hands-On Learning
03
Build practical skills you can apply immediately, with pre-event expert-led training designed around real workflows.
Community & Connection
04
Learn from practitioners tackling real-world supply chain challenges.
Join 300+ supply chain leaders in Chicago.
Agenda at a glance
Day 1
Aug 11, Tuesday
1:00–4:30 PM
Pre-Event Training (101, 201 & 202)
5:00–7:00 PM
Welcome Reception at Tetto Rooftop
Day 2
Aug 12, Wednesday
9:00 AM
Game On!
Ganesh Ramakrishna, Lyric
9:40 AM
The Beauty of a Good Bet
Ekta Chopra, e.l.f. Beauty
10:00 AM
The AI Squared Primer: No Prerequisites Required
Mike Watson, Northwestern University & Deb Mohanty, Lyric
11:00 AM
Start Anywhere, Go Everywhere
Armand Frigo, fairlife & Sara Hoormann, Lyric
11:20 AM
The Rise of the Supply Chain Engineers
Featuring e.l.f. Beauty, Exol, Niagara Bottling & Red Classic Transportation
1:20 PM
Product Keynote: Changing How the Game Is Played
2:50 PM
Customer Panel: Been There, Built That
Featuring Coca-Cola Consolidated, Estée Lauder & ACCO Brands
4:10 PM
Robots in the Warehouse, Agents in the Office
Teresa Viola, Exol
4:30 PM
Grade-A Trade Promotion, by the Numbers
Carl Spedale, Bob Evans
5:00–8:00 PM
Empower Rooftop Dinner at Aba
8:00–11:00 PM
After Party at TABU
Day 3
Aug 13, Thursday
7:00–8:00 AM
Morning Yoga & Sound Bath
9:00 AM
Double Stuf Decisions, $100M Results: How Mondelez Rebuilt Delivery with Lyric, NVIDIA, and AWS
Featuring Mondelēz, NVIDIA & AWS
10:00 AM
Leadership Roundtable
PepsiCo & Five Below
10:00 AM
Modeling Breakout
Suntory Global Spirits
10:00 AM
Planning Breakout
Beyond Better Foods, Wayfair & Krispy Kreme
11:30 AM
Ask Us Anything
Speakers
Ekta Chopra
CHIEF TECHNOLOGY & AI OFFICER e.l.f. BEAUTY
Armand Frigo
SENIOR DIRECTOR, END-TO-END PLANNING fairlife
Yan Gao
SUPPLY CHAIN PLANNING MANAGER, NETWORK DESIGN NIAGARA BOTTLING
Amit Jhunjhunwala
CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICER Five Blow
Andy Kung
VICE PRESIDENT, OPERATIONS BEYOND BETTER FOODS
Roberto Mendoza
SENIOR MANAGER, GLOBAL SUPPLY CHAIN NETWORK OPTIMIZATION SUNTORY GLOBAL SPIRITS
Esmaeel Moradi
DIRECTOR, GLOBAL SUPPLY CHAIN STRATEGY WESCO
Brian Morrow
SENIOR MANAGER, PRODUCT SUPPLY SOURCING COCA-COLA CONSOLIDATED
Natesh Rao
DIRECTOR, SUPPLY CHAIN STRATEGY MONDELĒZ
Bachar Sbeiti
SENIOR MANAGER, SUPPLY CHAIN DATA SCIENTIST e.l.f. BEAUTY
Jake Speiser
SOLUTIONS ANALYST RED CLASSIC TRANSPORTATION
Carl Spedale
VICE PRESIDENT, REVENUE MANAGEMENT POST HOLDINGS
Matthew Theocharous
VICE PRESIDENT, GLOBAL NETWORK STRATEGY & TRANSFORMATION PepsiCo
Teresa Viola
SENIOR MANAGER, NETWORK DESIGN AND SUPPLY CHAIN ANALYTICS EXOL
Mike Watson
FACULTY, INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING AND MANAGEMENT SCIENCES NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY
Pre-Event Training
Join us for complimentary, hands-on, builder-focused sessions to help you get more out of Lyric - and more out of Empower.
Beginner:
Intro to Lyric - From Zero to App
This hands-on session introduces you to demand forecasting as your entry point into the platform. Work alongside Lyric’s data engineering agent to clean and shape your data, then run state-of-the-art AI time-series models alongside traditional statistical and ML algorithms. You’ll leave knowing how to build a demand planning product for any supply chain.
Best for: New users or app-only users ready to start building.
Intermediate:
Building in Lyric - Modeling & Analysis Foundations
Import data, shape it into clean tables, and build reusable metrics for analysis. When things don't go as expected, Lyric's modeling agent helps you debug and iterate faster. You'll validate results, explore scenarios in dashboards, and understand how models connect downstream to decision workflows.
Best for: Intermediate builders ready to go deeper into Lyric's core building workflow.
Intermediate:
Planning & Optimization in Lyric
Turn business inputs into constraints, objectives, and recommended actions. Work with Lyric's planning agent to design and build your planning interface, then connect scenarios to optimization and push outputs through dashboards and decision workflows.
Best for: Intermediate builders ready to operationalize outputs into action.
Plan Your Stay
Planning to attend Empower? Make the most of your experience by staying close to the action. We've secured exclusive Lyric rates at two great hotels in the area. Rates are subject to availability, so we recommend booking early. Book your lodging separately from conference registration.
The Emily Hotel
311 N MORGAN ST,CHICAGO, 1L
(4 min walk to the venue)
Crowne Plaza
25 S Halsted St, Chicago, IL
20 min walk to the venue
(Shuttle available morning & evening)
Venues
On Demand from Empower 2025
Breaking the Planning Blueprint
Coca Cola: “Breaking The Planning Blueprint”