Julie Thyne

Global Improvement Director Dow

Julie Thyne has worked for Dow, Inc. for the last 27 years in a variety of manufacturing and engineering positions that include experience in pharmaceuticals, automotive, and electronic materials. She is currently an Improvement Director. Julie is the recipient of the 2014 STEP Ahead award from the Manufacturing Institute and a Prosci® certified change manager. Outside of work, Julie promotes STEM education for elementary and middle school students.

Pre-Conference Workshop & Masterclass - February 23, 2026

8:00 AM Just Because AI Can Should It? Making Smarter Choices in AI Deployment

As AI capabilities accelerate, energy leaders face a critical question: not just what can AI do, but what should it do? This workshop challenges attendees to rethink how they evaluate AI investments, balancing innovation with practicality, and automation with human judgment.

Participants will explore real-world examples where AI was deployed alongside, or in place of, simpler automation tools. Through comparative case studies, they’ll learn how to assess whether AI is truly the right tool for the job, or whether a traditional script or workflow might deliver the same outcome with less complexity, cost, or computing power. This session will help attendees avoid “AI for AI’s sake” and focus on value-first decision-making.

The workshop will also address the risks of over-automation in a climate of workforce reductions. As companies look to AI to fill human gaps, participants will reflect on where human oversight remains essential, and how to design systems that preserve accountability, safety, and trust.

Join us and leave with a framework for identifying when AI should augment human roles and when it shouldn’t replace them.

Main Conference Day 1 - February 24, 2026

5:30 PM AI Mixer: Connect, Compare, Collaborate

Where are you on your AI journey, and who else is walking the same path? Join this dynamic networking session to find and connect with peers at a similar stage of AI readiness. During registration, attendees are requested to select a badge that identifies their AI readiness level from:

Exploring – Just starting to learn

Piloting – Running small-scale experiments

Scaling – Expanding successful use cases

Optimizing – AI is embedded and evolving

Attendees are encouraged to stand up, walk around, and talk! The room will have conversational zones based on your biggest challenges, including “Data”, “Change Management”, “Strategy” and “Risk” to help people self-organize around topics. Each conversational zone will also have prompts to get the discussions going, plus, our facilitators will roam the room to help spark conversation with light prompts or introduce people with shared interests.

Check out the incredible speaker line-up to see who will be joining Julie.

Download The Latest Agenda

In Partnership With:

QUESTIONS?

Telephone: +1 813-658-2511
Email: enquire@iqpc.co.uk