Empower Chicago 2026
LYRIC EMPOWER
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.
August 11-13
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
Opening Keynote
Ganesh Ramakrishna, Lyric
9:40 AM
The AI Glow-Up
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
11:20 AM
What's a Supply Chain Engineer?
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
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
Bringing Home the Trade Promotion Bacon
Carl Spedale, Bob Evans Foods
5:00–8:00 PM
Empower Rooftop Dinner at Aba
Sponsored by AWS
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
Full Throttle DSD: GPU-Accelerated Routing at Mondelēz Scale
Featuring Mondelēz, NVIDIA & AWS
10:00 AM
Leadership Roundtable
PepsiCo & Five Below
10:00 AM
Modeling Breakout
Suntory Global Spirits, Wesco & Ingredion 4
10:00 AM
Planning Breakout
Beyond Better Foods, Wayfair & Krispy Kreme
11:30 AM
Ask Me Anything with Lyric
Speakers
Ekta Chopra
Armand Frigo
Yan Gao
Amit Jhunjhunwala
Andy Kung
Roberto Mendoza
Esmaeel Moradi
Brian Morrow
Natesh Rao
Bachar Sbeiti
Jake Speiser
Carl Spedale
Matthew Theocharous
Teresa Viola
Mike Watson
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.
Ready to join? Register today.
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 availale morning & evening)
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