2026 SEER Symposium
Human Flourishing in the Age of AI
October 27, 2026 | 12:30 PM – 6:00 PM
Pepperdine University, West Los Angeles Campus
As artificial intelligence reshapes business and society, leaders are confronting
fundamental questions about the future of work, value creation, innovation, and human
well-being. Technological capabilities are advancing at an extraordinary pace, but
the challenge extends beyond what AI can do to a more fundamental question: how do
we recenter human flourishing as the primary goal of innovation and progress?
The 2026 SEER Symposium will bring together leaders, innovators, entrepreneurs, and scholars to explore how businesses and other institutions can harness emerging technologies while advancing human flourishing, ethical responsibility, and long-term societal value. Through conversations spanning responsible AI, AI for good, purpose-driven business, energy innovation, and sustainable development, we will examine how organizations can remain fundamentally human-centered in a period of profound technological change.
The central question is both simple and consequential: How do we ensure that the next generation of innovation expands human potential, strengthens communities, and creates a future in which people—not just technologies—can thrive?
Agenda
| 12:30PM | Check-In |
| 1:00 PM | Welcome |
| 1:15 PM | Sessions |
|
Panel As computing demands and next-generation data centers strain our infrastructure, how do we scale energy systems sustainably and fairly? This panel brings together experts from across the energy spectrum—including data center operators, solar innovators, and regional public works grid managers. Together, they will explore how we can bridge the gap between rapid technological innovation, renewable energy technologies, and community-wide equity, ensuring that the grid powering the future of AI also protects and serves the modern community. |
|
|
Panel Purpose-driven businesses face the same fundamental challenge they always have: creating durable business value while delivering meaningful social and environmental impact. Our panelists will explore how that balance is evolving, where new technologies such as AI can help, and which principles of responsible business remain unchanged. |
|
|
Featured Speaker |
|
| 4:45 PM |
Closing Remarks |
| 5:00 PM |
Networking Reception |
Meet the Change-Makers
2026 Speakers
Thank You to Our Sponsor
What is SEER?
What Makes the Graziadio SEER Symposium Unique?
- Hear Inspiring Ideas with Disruptive Solutions Because of the power of technology and global connectivity, entrepreneurs have unprecedented resources at their disposal to target challenges both locally and globally.
- Connect with Others Interested in Sustainability An intimate venue cultivates one-on-one interaction with sustainability trailblazers from a variety of different industries.
- Explore Purpose-Driven Innovation Examine the crossroads between values and business as world-changing innovators, thought-leaders, and entrepreneurs share their journeys in creating profitable companies that help make the world a better place.
- Network With Top Industry Thought Leaders Engage and connect with leaders who are changing the trajectory of business during this uniquely targeted opportunity for collaboration.
What Our Community Says
"Companies must integrate social and environmental values into strategies that create long-term competitive advantage."
Robert Bikel
Director of the SEER Program
Practitioner of SEER Business and Management
"Business and social-environmental responsibility are not mutually exclusive. To have an event like this - that embodies environmental principles - is an opportunity to drive that forward."
Marci Zaroff
ECOlifestyle Entrepreneur, Educator and Innovator
2016 SEER Symposium Speaker
"This is perhaps the best single-day program I have attended, ever. 2016 was the fourth time I have participated and each time I walk out blown away."
Andrew Basmajian
Santa Monica Office of Sustainability and the Environment
SEER Symposium Attendee
Additional SEER Programs
The SEER Certificate
The Socially, Environmentally, and Ethically Responsible (SEER) Business Strategy certificate, led by Director of the SEER Program, Rob Bikel, allows full-time MBA and part-time MBA students to take courses that prepare them to:
- Incorporate values and ethics into a successful career in 21st-century business
- Apply SEER values to companies large or small and across a diverse range of industries
- Lead the next wave of great organizations
Corporate Social Responsibility: Business Strategies for Sustainability
(Executive Education Program)
Based upon the SEER Business Strategy (Social, Ethical, and Environmental Responsibility), this two-day program teaches how to apply its principles to create superior, sustainable, and profitable products and services. Instruction will go beyond the triple bottom line -- people, planet, and profits -- to introduce the fourth factor, “product."