iTnews Executive Retreats: Creating Space for Leadership Conversations that Matter

Senior technology leaders are operating in increasingly complex environments - larger remits, higher accountability and less space to step back and reflect. Conferences are growing louder and broader, but opportunities for focused, peer-level conversation are becoming harder to find.

The iTnews Executive Retreat series has been created to address that gap.

Designed for senior leaders from end-user organisations, the retreats prioritise depth over scale with small, curated groups, closed-door discussions and environments that encourage conversations away from day-to-day demands. Each retreat is built around a specific leadership context, allowing participants to share insights and connect with peers facing similar realities.

The first retreat, the Security Leaders Edition (19-20 March 2026), will bring together a select group of senior technology and security executives for an overnight retreat at Château Élan in the Hunter Valley. Sessions will explore resilience, wellbeing, and what modern security leadership requires beyond technical capability.

Central to the inaugural retreat are two facilitated panel discussions:

• Burnout & Wellbeing will examine how burnout shows up at the executive level, how leaders can recognise early warning signs in themselves and their teams, and practical strategies for supporting wellbeing without compromising long term performance.
• Leading Modern Security Teams will focus on what it takes to build, lead and retain high-performing security teams in today’s evolving threat landscape. Discussion will move beyond technical capability to examine leadership in practice - including team structure, skills development, culture and decision-making as threats, tools and expectations continue to shift.

To find out more and register your interest in attending, click here.

The series will continue in May with the Data & AI Leaders Edition (28-29 May 2026), shifting the focus to leadership in an environment shaped by rapid advances in data and artificial intelligence. This retreat will examine strategic decision-making, governance, and the responsibilities facing leaders as data and AI increasingly influence business outcomes.

Throughout the Executive Retreat series, iTnews aims to support Australia’s technology leadership community with high-value, meaningful experiences – creating space for openness, clarity and connection.