 is Diligent’s premier annual in-person conference, bringing together governance, audit, risk and compliance (GRC) leaders to learn, connect and build practical skills for the AI era. Taking place April 22–24, 2026, in Atlanta, Elevate is where practitioners and leaders go to upskill, see what’s coming next and get hands-on with the tools and strategies shaping the future of GRC.

Formerly known as the Modern Governance Summit, Elevate has evolved into a must-attend event for organizations looking to future-proof governance, clarify risk and lead with confidence in an AI-first world.

Whether you’re looking to deepen your expertise, earn continuing education credits or understand how AI can drive real outcomes across governance, audit, risk and compliance, Elevate 2026 offers a rich agenda packed with insight, training and connection.

Below you’ll find answers to the most common questions about Elevate 2026. If you’re ready to secure your spot, you can register today and take advantage of early bird pricing.

 is Diligent’s flagship annual conference for governance, audit, risk and compliance professionals. The event brings together customers, partners, analysts and executive leaders for three days of learning, networking and hands-on training focused on modern GRC — with a strong emphasis on AI-powered capabilities across the Diligent platform.

Elevate is designed to help attendees move from insight to action, with practical sessions that show how AI can strengthen governance, streamline compliance, clarify risk and improve board-level decision-making.

 is an investment in your professional growth and your organization’s readiness for the AI era. You’ll hear from industry experts, see real-world examples of AI in GRC, gain hands-on experience with Diligent’s latest innovations and leave with a clear roadmap you can apply over the next 30, 60 and 90 days.

If you’re responsible for supporting boards, managing risk, overseeing compliance or leading audit programs, Elevate equips you with the tools, confidence and connections to lead effectively in a rapidly changing environment.

 is designed for professionals across corporate, nonprofit, education and government sectors who work in governance, audit, risk and compliance, including:

General Counsel and Corporate Secretaries

Board Administrators, Board Clerks and Executive Assistants

Directors of Internal Audit and Audit Managers

Risk Operations Managers, IT Auditors and Data Analysts

Information Security Leaders, CISOs and Risk Professionals

Legal operations professionals and paralegals

Heads of subsidiary and entity governance

Elevate also attracts CEOs, CFOs, CLOs and board members focused on AI-era governance and oversight.

 will take place April 22–24, 2026, at the Hilton Atlanta in downtown Atlanta, Georgia.

Wednesday, April 22: Training sessions, breakouts and welcome reception

Thursday, April 23: General sessions and breakouts

Friday, April 24: General session and breakouts

You can register for Elevate 2026 through the 

. Early bird pricing is available through January 23, 2026.

Register early to secure your seat and save.

Join 700+ GRC leaders in Atlanta to master AI-powered governance before the window closes. Skills, strategy and connections you can’t afford to miss. 

Lead GRC’s AI future 

Will I earn continuing education credits?

 will offer opportunities to earn continuing education credits, including CLEs, tied to specific sessions and programming. Additional details will be shared closer to the event.

What networking opportunities are available?

 brings together more than 700 GRC leaders and practitioners from around the world. Networking opportunities include breakout sessions, roundtables, workshops, cohort discussions and evening events designed to help you build meaningful, lasting connections with peers and industry leaders.

 agenda focuses on the real-world application of AI in governance, risk, compliance and audit, including:

AI-powered board reporting and preparation

Risk identification, prioritization and reporting

Compliance automation and regulatory readiness

Audit analytics and assurance in an AI-enabled environment

You’ll also get hands-on exposure to Diligent innovations such as 

What can I share with my manager to justify attending Elevate?

We’ve prepared a ready-to-use justification letter you can share with your manager or leadership team. It outlines the business value of attending Elevate, including skills development, AI readiness and ROI for your organization. 

Download the justification letter in Word format here.

The Hilton Atlanta is located in downtown Atlanta, just a short drive from Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL), one of the world’s busiest and most accessible airports. Ground transportation options include taxis, rideshares and MARTA public transit.

Has Diligent reserved hotel rooms for attendees?

Yes. A limited room block will be available at the Hilton Atlanta at a preferred conference rate. Details on pricing, deadlines and booking links will be provided during registration. We recommend booking early, as availability is limited.

Atlanta offers a vibrant mix of culture, history and dining. From a thriving food scene and historic neighborhoods to parks, museums and live entertainment, there’s plenty to explore before and after conference hours — all within easy reach of downtown.

 will feature a lineup of guest speakers, industry experts and Diligent leaders focused on AI’s impact on governance, risk, compliance and audit. Keynote speakers will be announced in multiple waves leading up to the event. Visit the Elevate speakers page for the latest updates.

Yes. Sponsoring Elevate 2026 provides a unique opportunity to connect with senior decision-makers across governance, risk, compliance and audit. For more information on sponsorship packages, please contact Elevate@diligent.com.

I have more questions. Who can I contact?

If you have additional questions about Elevate 2026, please contact us at Elevate@diligent.com. Our team is happy to help.

 is where you become the AI-powered leader who elevates governance, clarifies risk and drives transformation. 

Join us in Atlanta this April and get everything you need to lead with confidence and impact. 

Note: This information is accurate at the time of publication. Please visit the Elevate page for the most current details.

The ultimate guide to Diligent Elevate 2026: Everything you need to know

 Activism newswire. To register for a demonstration and trial of the product,

In a record year for board seat wins, activists targeting the Asia market secured 37 seats at Japan-based companies, a significant uptick on 2024 when just seven seats were gained and up 28% when compared to 2023.

Below, Dalton Investments’ Japan-based Masumi Nishida spoke to DMI about how a new common language around valuation has opened the door to constructive dialogue and board seats.

2025 was a record year for activists operating in the Japan market in terms of board seat gains. What changes made this possible?

In 2023, the Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) launched the price-to-book 1.0 initiative, which covered metrics like cost of capital, return on equity and price-to-book ratio. With that in mind, we now have a common language that we can use with management. Now the TSE has said that the stock price is actually part of the management’s mandate. Therefore, they have to care about return on equity, return on invested capital and the cost of capital.

With this common language between shareholders and management, activists can target specific issues where management may be lacking. 

You have referenced “stock-price-aware” management. How is that being implemented in Japan?

The headline is that management should be more aware of the cost of capital and of the share price. The TSE suggests that every listed company should analyze the cost of capital, return on equity, return on invested capital, and price-to-book.

Because it’s exchange-wide, companies have to make these things public. We’re still in the early stages, maybe the second or third inning of the change in Japan. The first inning was the change in corporate governance that took place in 2015; the second was the TSE reform, and the third is the change in M&A guidelines. 

With the TSE reforms having increased accountability for cost of capital and stock-price-aware management, where are you seeing the biggest execution gaps?

The capacity to execute is greater at larger companies because they have more resources, more people and more talent.

So, the step-change or acceleration in change will probably come through the larger caps first.

During 30 years of deflation, management learned that if you did nothing and just kept cash, value was preserved. In an inflationary world, management needs to change. They are finally realizing that companies are not just personal piggy banks. You have to spend capital to remain competitive and to pay people properly.

Historically, Japanese wages have been low, but with demographics and fewer people in the workforce, it is harder to attract talent. To attract talent, you have to pay more, and to pay more, you have to generate better returns. 

In your letters, you often refer to the “best owner.” What does that mean in the Japanese context?

It’s quite important in Japan because traditionally there have been many conglomerates. Historically, there was no debate about the “best owner” concept, the idea that the person who is willing to spend capital most efficiently should own the asset. We used to joke that some companies in Japan run an elevator business, a nuclear reactor business, a semiconductor business, a consumer electronics business and even a hospital at the same time.

But that’s changing. I sit on the board of a listed company and when I speak with financial advisors and ask whether it’s possible to buy a very bad or a highly profitable business out of a conglomerate, historically the answer would have been “no way.” Now, financial buyers feel they have a chance. As a result, we’re seeing more spin-offs, carve-outs and private transactions. 

Japan has seen a lot of M&A, management buyouts and buybacks. How do you decide when buybacks are better than selling to a third party?

The mental hurdle of selling their own company to a third party is significant for Japanese management. Many may have been working for the same company for 40 years, so it’s very difficult mentally to sell to an outsider.

But if price-to-book is below 1.0, you are effectively always buying the company at a discount to book. If you don’t have an M&A engine in place—and many have never done M&A—the lowest-hanging fruit is to buy back the company’s own stock that trades at a discount.

I think the trend of buybacks will continue and the amount will be significant. 

What have been the most reliable catalysts for a re-rating of Japanese stocks in your experience?

It is difficult to say precisely what drives multiple re-ratings, especially when profitability does not change. Our most successful cases have been at companies that had a reputation of “never changing.” When those companies make even a small step-change, or a significant change, in the way they spend capital, or pursue a go-private transaction and pay a premium to the market, the stock can double in 12 months.

The biggest wins have been where companies take significant action: changing capital allocation, cleaning up portfolios or going private and taking themselves out of a situation where they are listed with chronically low valuations. 

What are Dalton’s main priorities as you move to engage with Japanese companies in 2026?

Every year, we go back to the same three core ideas. The first is the balance sheet, or in Japan terms, improving return on equity. Good businesses tend to hold a lot of cash because they are spenders by nature, so balance sheet efficiency is critical. The second is governance. We believe all companies should have a majority of independent directors. That’s a mandate in the U.S., a guideline in some other markets, but that's not the case for many Japanese boards. The third is alignment of interest between management and shareholders. We want better alignment through compensation and ownership structures.

Looking ahead, what should investors be focusing on in the Japan market?

They should be watching the continued impact of the TSE reforms and changes in the M&A guidelines. We need to see how many more activist cases we get and how many more engagement funds, especially from the U.S., which I call “newcomers," come back to Japan.

Some of those newcomers will probably fall into the traditional value trap in Japan because the value trap is still very prevalent. Those with better experience and local knowledge will probably do a better job. Structurally, a lot of things now work in favor of Japanese companies: the shift from deflation to inflation, better capital discipline and improved governance. So, I think the long-term story for Japan is still very positive.

IN-DEPTH: Dalton on new chapter for shareholder activism in Japan

This article originally appeared in our January 15th edition of the Diligent Minute Newsletter. For more insights like these, delivered straight to your inbox, subscribe

After three quarters of near-record low confidence levels

, America’s boardrooms ended 2025 on a surprisingly hopeful note, even as directors brace for another demanding year. The latest 

, our quarterly survey of U.S. public company directors conducted with Corporate Board Member, shows sentiment rebounding sharply after three consecutive quarters at a five-year low throughout much of last year.

Why U.S. board confidence rebounded at the end of 2025

Confidence rose 23% in the final month of the year, climbing from 4.9 to 6.0 on a 10-point scale and finally nudging back into what respondents consider “good” territory. As a key driver behind the shift, directors point to:

In other words, after a year of policy whiplash, boards feel they at least understand the playing field a bit better - even if they don’t like it.

That late-year rally, however, shouldn’t be mistaken for a victory lap. For 2025 overall, average confidence registered just 5.0, well below 2024’s 6.2 and far short of the 6.9 directors had forecast a year ago.

Three quarters of respondents say tariffs were a primary reason conditions fell short of expectations, far outpacing any other factor. Their comments underscore how hard it is for boards to plan when rules change midgame; familiar playbooks don’t work when trade policy and enforcement shift repeatedly.

Tariffs, uncertainty and a new risk landscape

Directors in sectors long considered resilient

, like life sciences, describe this period as unlike anything they’ve seen in decades. Many point to deferred capital spending and elongated decision cycles as companies try to model scenarios that are, frankly, impossible to model with precision. That reality is reshaping how boards think about risk, resilience and the very nature of their oversight role.

Their outlook for business conditions by late 2026 is 6.0, essentially flat from today’s reading. CEOs, by contrast, are modestly more upbeat: in a parallel survey by Chief Executive, they project a 6% improvement to 6.4, and 44% say they expect conditions to improve, compared with 32% of directors. That gap is telling. CEOs are closest to near-term operations; boards are increasingly focused on longer-horizons, compounding risks.

Those directors who are optimistic tend to anchor their confidence in 

 seeing opportunities to transform productivity and reimagine business models. Among those who expect deterioration, concerns skew heavily toward macro and geopolitical risk, with uncertainty emerging as a dominant theme -— on par with inflation for many neutral respondents.

How boards can strengthen oversight and learning in 2026

directors emphasize adaptability, deeper engagement and faster learning, recognizing that they must connect dots across 

5 years of the Director Confidence Index: Tracking a more demanding role

This quarter also marks five years of fielding the Director Confidence Index, and we asked respondents how their roles have evolved since 2020.

Board members say they are spending far more time on risk in a “more complex and faster moving” environment, with cybersecurity, AI, geopolitical shocks, supply-chain integrity and policy volatility now standard agenda items. Many describe a shift from “managing the present” toward future-oriented scenario planning and strategic resilience, alongside heightened scrutiny from investors and activists that expands the mandate beyond financial performance to culture, human capital and corporate character.

Taken together, the picture is clear: being a director today is more time-intensive, strategically demanding and consequential than it was in 2020 and perhaps than it has ever been. One director distilled the 2026 playbook to three words: “Defend and survive.” I would add a fourth: learn. Boards that invest in learning about AI technology, geopolitics, regulation and stakeholder expectations will be best positioned not just to endure whatever comes next, but to help their organizations emerge stronger on the other side.

Boards brace for 2026: Confidence rebounds, risk looms 

This article originally appeared in our December 18th edition of the Diligent Minute Newsletter. For more insights like these, delivered straight to your inbox, subscribe 

As we close out 2025, I’ve been reflecting on what this year taught us and the word that comes to mind is “unprecedented.” Insights from the Diligent Institute’s research show how directors navigated multiple unprecedented challenges – often simultaneously – while also driving major change. The lessons we learned this year aren’t just a look back. They can be a compass pointing to the directional shifts boards will need to embrace as governance moves into a faster, more AI-enabled era.

Five governance shifts boards must prepare for in 2026

What will change: Boards will move beyond passive reporting and lean into more 

 Predictive analytics and scenario planning will become part of everyday conversations, helping directors navigate volatility before it hits.


Why? Director confidence hit historic lows in 2025. Our 

 conducted in partnership with Corporate Board Member, landed at just 4.8 out of 10, among the lowest since the pandemic. That’s a wake-up call for faster, smarter decision-making. If you’re curious whether sentiment is shifting, our Q4 results will be live by the time this issue hits your inbox. Check them out to see if optimism is making a comeback.

What will change: Dashboards won’t just summarize risks. They’ll surface them within hours, and crisis protocols will kick in during the first 72. AI-powered assurance will scan massive datasets to catch anomalies as they happen, and directors will be able to ask complex questions in plain language and get instant answers. Oversight will move from reacting after the fact to staying ahead of the curve, a fundamental change in risk management.

 7.9 out of 10. Quarterly updates aren’t enough anymore. Boards need early-warning systems and integrated intelligence to keep pace.

3) AI governance moves to the top of the agenda

What will change: Agentic AI is moving fast, from assisting to acting. Boards will need to build AI literacy, test for bias and keep humans in the loop to manage less visible risks.

Why: Two-thirds of directors used AI tools in 2025, but 

, 57% of respondents said their organizations had deployed AI in one or more areas of the business, but only 36% had audited usage.As AI deployment climbs higher on the priority list for 2026, closing this governance gap is critical.

4) Integration becomes a growth essential

What will change: M&A ambitions will stall without tech integration. Boards that prioritize scalable platforms will unlock faster, cleaner transactions and reduce risk during rapid growth periods as integration readiness becomes a board-level KPI.

 conducted in partnership with Wilson Sonsini and NetSuite, found only 4% of organizations had fully integrated GRC and financial systems.

What will change: Board agendas will shift toward forward-looking conversations powered by predictive analytics and cultural insights. Directors will widen their lens beyond financials to include culture and workforce resilience, using anonymized data to spot risks before they surface.

Why: The ability to anticipate, not just react, will define effective governance in 2026. Boards that lean on AI-driven scenario modeling and continuous feedback loops will stay aligned with fast-changing realities.

Turning 2025 board lessons into a 2026 action plan

2026 will reward boards that act, not just react. That means pairing human judgment with AI-driven foresight, embedding continuous assurance and integrating systems for scalability. Governance is moving from static to dynamic – and the boards that thrive will be ready to keep pace.

Check out the full blog on trends shaping governance in 2026.

Diligent

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The ultimate guide to Diligent Elevate 2026: Everything you need to know

IN-DEPTH: Dalton on new chapter for shareholder activism in Japan

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