AI in the Boardroom: How it Changes Discussions, Challenges and Decision-Making

Impact Boards EM is pleased to invite Chairs’ Circle members to an exclusive high-level webinar, AI in the Boardroom: How it Changes Discussions, Challenges and Decision-Making on Wednesday 21 October 2026 at 1pm,

Boards face a dual AI challenge: governing AI-related opportunities and risks at the strategic level while leveraging it to improve their own effectiveness. Yet most chairs and directors in emerging markets still use AI rarely, if at all, in their board roles.

In this webinar, Stanislav Shekshnia (Professor at INSEAD, practicing board chair) and Professor Valery Yakubovich (Wharton, Executive Director, Mack Institute for Innovation Management) draw on recent research, including an INSEAD–Wharton experiment comparing human and AI board deliberation, and extensive board advisory experience to offer actionable guidance for chairs on:

• Where AI already adds measurable value to board preparation, analysis and debate quality

• What risks demand attention (confidentiality, bias, anchoring, overreliance)

• How chairs can introduce AI through a staged, learning-by-doing approach that strengthens governance without undermining the trust, judgment and relational dynamics that make boards work

This closed-door session for Chairs’ Circle members only will be highly interactive and will offer a rare opportunity to engage directly with one of the world’s leading authorities on governance and board leadership.

Moderator:

Olga Pascault, Co-Founder and Chair, Impact Boards EM

About the speakers:

Stanislav Shekshnia is a Senior Affiliate Professor of Entrepreneurship and Family Enterprise at INSEAD, co-director of Leading from the Chair and Scandinavian Executive Institute Executive Board and Advanced Board development programs. His research concentrates on leadership, leadership development and effective corporate governance at emerging markets and organizations. Shekshnia is the author, co-author, and editor of 11 books, including Leading a Board (2nd edition, 2021), CEO School (2018), Athletic CEOs (2018), and more than 50 articles on corporate governance, entrepreneurship, leadership, people management and intercultural management.

Stanislav is a senior partner at WH advisors (Dubai) and provides advice and personal coaching to business owners, senior executives and executive teams. Since 2001 he has been an independent chair and director at a number of companies in the USA, France, Russia, Ukraine, The Netherlands and Serbia.

In 1991-2002 he held positions of CEO, Alfa-Telecom, President and CEO, Millicom International Cellular, Russia and CIS, Chief Operating Officer of VimpelCom, Director of Human Resources, Central and Eastern Europe of Otis Elevator. Stanislav has a Ph.D. and Master's Degree in Economics from Moscow State University, and an MBA from Northeastern University in Boston.

View his LinkedIn profile here

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As the Executive Director of the Mack Institute, Valery Yakubovich focuses on creating synergies among research, teaching, and practice of innovation management within the school and university, promoting dialogue between practitioners and academics, and connecting with corporate and regional partners’ innovation ecosystems.

In his previous roles, he conducted research, teaching, consulting, and fundraising at major academic and corporate institutions, including the Wharton School, the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, and the ESSEC Business School in France.

Yakubovich’s research on technological and organisational innovations and social networks has appeared in top academic and practitioner journals, including Organization Science, American Sociological Review, Harvard Business Review, California Management Review and MIT Sloan Management Review, and was featured in mass media, including the Financial Times, the New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal among others.