Google Leaders Connect 2026 Chicago

Government and academic institutions have entered an unprecedented era of innovation where AI-powered agents are fundamentally reshaping how organizations operate, solve complex challenges, and serve their communities. Google Public Sector's SLED Central Director, Brad Hoffman, will set the stage by defining this new agentic era, previewing the day's hands-on learning opportunities, and establishing how agencies can shift from multi-year development cycles to immediate, high-velocity deployments. He will then be joined by Google Public Sector's Gabby Burke, Slalom's Andrea Danes, and special guest Iowa Department of Health and Human Services' Janee Harvey for an executive discussion spotlighting the State of Iowa’s groundbreaking partnership to modernize its child welfare technology. This keynote will explore how Iowa is pioneering intelligent systems to empower frontline workers, demonstrating how to compress time-to-value and offering government and education leaders a repeatable blueprint for driving immediate, impactful innovation without sacrificing enterprise-grade security.

As the Midwest experiences rapid economic and campus growth, the demand for secure, digital-native experiences has never been higher. This opening session explores how agentic AI systems empower both government and academic leaders to unify institutional intelligence for agentic action. Join Google Public Sector and regional innovators to learn how they're transforming their communities with AI and discover how cross-sector collaboration can automate operations, strengthen cybersecurity, and increase productivity.

Move from theory to practice in this interactive, hands-on workshop designed specifically for public sector leaders ready to build the future. In this session, you will leverage Google Cloud's latest agentic AI tools to actively build, test, and deploy intelligent virtual agents capable of completing multi-step workflows on their own. Whether your goal is to automate complex constituent services, unlock siloed institutional data, or scale campus support, you will leave this session with a practical understanding of how to build secure, mission-driven agents that expand organizational capacity and accelerate community outcomes.

Google’s latest AI tools and agentic systems build on the leadership of our Gemini 3.5 models, providing powerful capabilities that empower researchers throughout every phase of scientific discovery. From deep literature analysis and hypothesis generation to coding, data analysis, and manuscript preparation, Google AI accelerates and automates the research pipeline and lifecycle, end to end. In this session, you'll learn how your institution's research community can get started and immediately boost scientific productivity and discovery capabilities across campus.

State and local governments are under increasing pressure to deliver seamless, consumer-grade experiences to their residents. This session will explore how agencies are leveraging conversational AI, intelligent automation, and agentic workflows to transform service delivery. Discover how to streamline operations, reduce backlogs, and provide faster, more personalized, 24/7 support to your communities—all while maintaining trust and security.

The promise of personalized education has long been constrained by the difficulty of identifying and mapping a student's knowledge gaps at scale. To realize this vision, we need systems that understand learning goals, track progress, and actively bridge those gaps. This session will explore how institutions are developing AI-assisted platforms to create a continuous, closed-loop learning experience.

The foundation of a modern government agency is its data and its people. In this session, we will discuss strategies for securely sharing and analyzing data across departmental silos to drive better policy decisions and operational efficiency. Furthermore, we will explore how modern, AI-powered workspace tools can drive collaboration, boost productivity, and improve employee retention in an era of persistent budget and staffing constraints.