November 5, 2026
Fairmont Hotel, San Francisco, CA
11:30am – 2:00pm PT
PURPOSE
The Marconi Society is a 50+ year-old organization dedicated to building communities of leaders and stakeholders at the forefront of emerging technology by celebrating and supporting innovators, both established and emerging, who shape global connectivity.
The three Marconi Society Institutes (Advanced Wireless, Internet Resilience, and AI) each distinctly serve as platforms for its international network of visionaries and experts to collaborate on identifying, assessing, and recommending actionable solutions in shaping and securing an accessible digital future on a global scale.
AGENDA (by invitation only)
Advanced wireless systems, artificial intelligence, and the resilience of the global Internet are no longer evolving in isolation—they are deeply and irreversibly converging. Global executives and academic pioneers are tasked with identifying the biggest challenges facing technology today, to be solved by innovation for tomorrow. Held under Chatham House Rule, participants will explore how people and autonomous AI agents can make justified decisions when the infrastructure they rely on is imperfect, interconnected, and potentially under stress. With Internet resilience increasingly becoming more complex, participants will discuss how to engineer justifiable trust grounded in verifiable evidence, operational resilience, and clear accountability.
ARRIVAL & LUNCHEON
11:30 AM - 2:00 PM
Participants are invited for informal networking and to enjoy a lunch buffet with welcoming remarks from John Janowiak, President & CEO, Marconi Society.
OPENING REMARKS
12:00 - 12:30 PM
A formal introduction among participants, brief welcoming remarks informing the day’s purpose and format, and establishing the IR Experts Forum as a place for candid, solution-oriented dialogue
SPEAKERS:
Internet Resilience for the Age of AI: Engineering Justifiable Trust
12:30 - 2:00 PM
A high-level, facilitated roundtable forum where participants will explore two AI-driven critical-service disruptions, debate operational choices, and identify what evidence is missing.
Scenario I | The Hidden Hospital Dependency
In 2035, a regional hospital network depends on interconnected digital services for patient records, diagnostics, emergency coordination, and remote consultations. An autonomous AI coordinator continuously monitors these systems and is authorized to initiate predefined continuity measures when disruptions occur.
A major connectivity incident affects several hospitals. The AI identifies an apparently independent backup cloud service and recommends transferring critical applications and emergency coordination to this alternative.
The Complication: Both the primary and backup services depend on shared DNS, routing, identity, and connectivity infrastructure. The AI has no complete picture of these dependencies.
Scenario II | The Resilient Supply Chain That Wasn’t
In 2035, an international supply chain uses autonomous AI agents to coordinate transport, warehouses, customs documentation, and distribution of essential goods, including food, medicines, and emergency supplies.
Following a major regional connectivity disruption, the logistics AI detects delays and automatically proposes alternative routes, transport operators, and distribution hubs.
The Complication: Several supposedly independent service providers rely on the same international connectivity routes, cloud platforms, identity services, and digital transaction infrastructure. Some AI agents also exchange information that is outdated or cannot be independently verified.
After a general introduction of the scenarios we will work in small groups. Following the small-group discussion, we will engage in a plenary discussion comparing insights from the different groups.
The Internet Resilience Institute will use feedback from today’s session to develop an initial framework for justifiable trust based on a small number of candidate principles such as: visible dependencies, verifiable operational evidence, accountable decisions, proportionate human oversight, and inclusive implementation. The outcomes of this discussion will be brought to the 2026 IGF in Nairobi, Kenya, where the findings can be validated on a global platform during a Marconi Society led public session.
CLOSING REFLECTIONS
2:00 PM
The Forum will close with notable insights and guidance on next steps. Participants will leave encouraged to continue conversations among peers with additional opportunities to network. The Internet Resilience Institute will take group insights and guidance forward to present at the IGF for further reflection and validation.
Amy VanDeVelde is the Broadband Specialist and Federal Program Officer for the NTIA. She led the Oasis Connections program from 2012 to 2022. She is an expert at understanding how to build the confidence and the skills digital newcomers and older adults need to use the internet safely. The Connections program has offered thousands of classes under her leadership. Amy is keenly interested in technology that supports and enhances interpersonal relationships and community health by decreasing social isolation. She obtained a certificate from Harvard University in Cybersecurity Risk Management in 2020 and her team was awarded a 2022 HP Aspen Institute Digital Equity Accelerator grant. Amy has been quoted in Family Circle, St. Louis Magazine, and USA Today.
Sheri Osborn is a 3rd year Ph.D. student at UTSA in the Information Systems and Cybersecurity program. Her concentration is Artificial Intelligence, and she will graduate in August of 2023. Her research interests are AI-based platforms that help organizations build strategic advantages and create value by fusing data sources across the organization to reveal opportunities for innovation and market expansion.
Before starting the Ph.D. program at UTSA, she was an entrepreneur and interim executive. As an entrepreneur, she has been granted a patent for a system to assess and improve a user’s life skills and develop self-efficacy. As an interim executive, she has led teams as the head of marketing, business development, and product management. Before being an interim executive, she was a platform director at BroadVision, Adobe Systems, MicroFocus, Symantec, and other technology companies.
She lives in San Antonio with her husband Kevin who is a pastor and chaplain at Methodist Hospital. In her spare time, she loves to travel the world. She gardens and is constantly trying to master cooking techniques from around the world.
Debora Plunkett is a cybersecurity leader with over 30 years of experience. A former Director of Information Assurance at the National Security Agency, she is Principal of Plunkett Associates LLC, a consulting business. She is also a Senior Fellow at Harvard’s Belfer Center and a Professor of Cybersecurity at the University of Maryland.
Ms. Plunkett serves on the corporate boards of CACI International, Nationwide Insurance, Mercury Systems, and BlueVoyant. She is a founding member and chairman of the board of Defending Digital Campaigns, a non-profit entity focused on providing free or low-cost cybersecurity services to federal election campaigns.
Karen is a Scottish Computer Scientist who does research at the boundary where humans and security meet. She is particularly interested in understanding how humans feel about cybersecurity, and in finding out the consequences of organizations wielding negative emotions to encourage secure behaviors. She also tries to improve accessibility to ensure that everyone is able to be safe and secure online, not only in a privileged sector of society.
Yvette Renteria is the Chief Program Officer for Common Sense Media. She leads the education, research, family, and community engagement teams that support our kids to thrive in a digital world.
Yvette brings 20 years of experience working in public schools and nonprofit organizations focused on supporting young people to reach their full potential, with an emphasis on low-income communities. Throughout her career, she has worked directly with students and families to ensure kids receive a quality education. Yvette has built programs for young adults to access skills-based training to open opportunities for gainful employment. She’s also developed programs for early child care providers to build sustainable businesses while supporting the families most in need of those services. The focus of her career has always been about access, opportunity, and growth for people.
Yvette holds a Masters of Education from Loyola Marymount University and Bachelors of Development Studies from UC Berkeley.
Dr. Roy Want received his doctorate from Cambridge University, England in 1988 and is currently a Senior Research Scientist at Google. Dr. Want’s previous positions include Sr. Principal Engineer at Intel Corporation and Principal Scientist at Xerox PARC.
He holds the grades of ACM and IEEE Fellow. His research interests include mobile and ubiquitous computing, distributed systems, context-aware applications, and electronic identification. Dr. Want has more than 30 years of experience working in the field of mobile computing. He served as the Editor-in-chief for IEEE Pervasive Computing from 2006-2009 and Chair of the ACM SIGMOBILE executive committee from 2009-2012. More recently, he received the ACM SIGMOBILE Outstanding Contributions Award in 2019. For more information about Dr. Want’s academic and industrial achievements see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_Want.