Global marketing influencer Seth Matlins, founder of The Wisdomous Company and the Create or Destroy: Reimagining Marketing series, along with Vox Media, today announced the preliminary lineup for the inaugural The Create or Destroy Sessions, October 26-28 in Napa Valley. The Summit is presented by Live Nation.
With the singular objective that everyone leave better able to do better work because they were there, the invitation-only 2026 Sessions will convene an intimate community of the most influential and interesting business leaders and thinkers for essential conversations about what creates meaning and value and what destroys it.
Confirmed speakers include David Droga, Vice Chair, Accenture; Dr. Laurie Santos, Professor of Psychology at Yale University and host of The Happiness Lab podcast; William White, Walmart CMO; Amanda Rubin, Citadel CMO; Colin Fleming, OpenAI’s Business CMO; Katie Welch, Chanel CMO; Suzanne Philion, Waymo CMO; Tim Ellis, the NFL’s EVP Chief Marketing Officer; Zach Kitschke, Canva CMO; Astead Herndon, political journalist, podcast host & editorial director, Vox; Shante Thake, Executive Vice President, Ehrenkranz Chief Artistic Officer, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts; and dozens more of the most influential marketers in the world.
“While the definitions of meaning and value are as varied as the enterprises and humans in attendance, the mechanisms by which they’re built, sustained, or eroded is something every leader in every category navigates amidst ever increasing complexity and uncertainty,” said Matlins. “Attendees can expect unfettered debate and provocation, and everyone in attendance is a participant because anyone in attendance can influence how another thinks about what creates value and what destroys it.”
Sponsors for the event include Presenting Sponsor Live Nation; Premier Sponsors Canva and Netomi; Official Sponsors Adobe, GALE, Hightouch, and Rokt; and Supporting Sponsors Knit and The Lighthouse, part of Whalar Group. This is the first Create or Destroy Sessions event, with future ones planned in both the US and London in Spring 2027.
An award-winning marketer who spent the past four years as Managing Director of the Forbes CMO Network, Matlins partnered with Vox Media in January and launched the weekly business series Create or Destroy: Reimagining Marketing. The show features Matlins in conversation with CMOs, CEOs, founders, and cultural thinkers—the people shaping how businesses grow, evolve, and create – or even destroy – value. Matlins brings over thirty years of work building brands and businesses across categories and around the world. Before founding The Wisdomous Company and partnering with Vox Media, he was Managing Director of the Forbes CMO Network, started the marketing practice at Creative Artists Agency, was the first Global CMO at Live Nation, led Cultural Strategy and Insights and Entertainment Marketing at Endeavor’s cultural marketing agency, and was President of Rock the Vote.
About The Wisdomous Company
The Wisdomous Company is an editorially-driven media and events company focused on helping the world’s largest companies—and some of its smallest—create more value and drive more sustainable, profitable growth.
About Vox Media
Vox Media is home to top talent, engaging editorial brands, and influential podcasts that drive the cultural conversation. The company boasts some of the most distinctive assets in American media, with New York Magazine and its digital verticals, including The Cut, Vulture, and The Strategist; Vox; and the Vox Media Podcast Network. These trusted brands, and shows including Pivot with Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway, Criminal with Phoebe Judge, Today Explained with Sean Ramswaram and Noel King, Where Should We Begin? with Esther Perel, Bird’s Eye View with Sue Bird, Stay Tuned with Preet, and Waveform with Marques Brownlee, shape all aspects of their audience’s lives.
