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Inaugural AI Symposium in Finance & Accounting explores the investment landscape

Joint Johnson Investment Institute-Lindner accounting event highlights real-world outcomes, insight

headshot of Grant Freking By Grant Freking
5 minute read May 19, 2026

The Johnson Investment Institute hosted the first-ever AI Symposium in Finance & Accounting on May 8 at Lindner Hall, welcoming industry leaders from national firms, academics from leading universities and emerging finance and accounting talent.

Organized in coordination with Lindner’s accounting department, this new event featured academic and practitioner presentations, a panel discussion and a keynote address on how AI is transforming investment management, financial marketing and accounting — and examining the real-world outcomes and opportunities emerging across the industry.

“We are fortunate to have experts from academia and industry to answer these AI questions for us,” said Mehmet Sağlam, PhD, Johnson Investment Institute academic director, in his welcome remarks. “The symposium embodies the mission of the Johnson Investment Institute. We want to connect academics and industry, and to connect theory and practice.”

Finance’s future with AI

Marianne Lewis, Dean of University of Cincinnati College of Business enjoyed shown here during Lori Beer Global Chief Information Officer, JPMOrgan Chase discussion for the AI Symposium Finance and Accounting at Lindner College of Business. Friday May 8, 2026. Photos by Joseph Fuqua II

Lori Beer, Global CIO, JPMorgan Chase, capped the symposium with her keynote address.

The keynote address was delivered by Lori Beer, Global CIO, JPMorgan Chase. As the leader of AI strategy and digital transformation across JPMorgan’s worldwide operations, Beer is uniquely positioned to weigh in on how AI is reshaping financial services at an enterprise scale.

Beer shared insights on the AI economy, organizational AI opportunities and enterprise use cases spanning investment banking, cash flow intelligence, markets, LLM Suite and AI Threat Modeling Copilot.

“We are seeing a huge wave of productivity and potential. There is an insatiable demand for software,” she said.

Beer concluded by outlining five hard and soft skills for new graduates: AI fluency, judgment, domain depth, data fluency and risk discernment.

“We are expecting our new grads to have AI fluency,” Beer said. “It’s a basic skill for everyone to have.”

Industry panel explores AI risk, ROI and governance

Marianne Lewis, Dean of University of Cincinnati College of Business enjoyed shown here during lunch/panel discussion for the AI Symposium Finance and Accounting at Nippert Stadium. Friday May 8, 2026. Photo by Joseph Fuqua II

Executive Accounting Adjunct Professor Joe Waller (left) moderated a panel that included (from left) Rob Moeddel (Fifth Third Bank), Ryan Kean (Total Quality Logistics) and Doug Torline (PwC).

Nippert Stadium’s West Pavilion set the stage for a luncheon panel discussing how AI is transforming finance and accounting. Lindner dean Marianne Lewis welcomed attendees by highlighting the synergy between the symposium’s theme and Lindner’s co-op model.

Ryan Kean (Total Quality Logistics), Rob Moeddel (Fifth Third Bank) and Doug Torline (PwC) then joined Executive Accounting Adjunct Professor Joe Waller for a discussion on AI’s growing impact. The panel addressed six key questions centered on organizational change, ROI, assurance, governance and risk, operating models and talent development:

  • What moved from interesting to operational with AI in the past 12 months — and what surprised you most?
  • What AI use cases produce measurable value today — whether through time savings, better quality, lower cost or reduced risk?
  • When AI touches finance, audit, tax or reporting, how do you validate that outputs are reliable and supportable?
  • Who owns AI risk around privacy, data leakage, bias and hallucinations — and what guardrails actually work?
  • How is AI changing your operating model — including team structures, shared services and leverage models?
  • What should universities teach now to prepare students for an AI-enabled workplace?

Panelists also fielded questions from students and practitioners on AI regulations within their own companies, advice for students, soft skill development and more.

Academic, practitioner talks relay real-world insight

A student speaks into a microphone.
An attendee asks a question, speaking into a microphone.

Above left: Lindner student Harshal Patel, BBA, LBH '29, poses a question during the luncheon panel. Above right: An attendee offers presentation feedback.

The symposium brought together a distinguished mix of academic researchers and industry practitioners to bridge the gap between cutting-edge research and real-world financial practice.

Industry speakers shared real-world applications of AI across trading, investing, market intelligence and risk management, while faculty from leading institutions examined the emerging opportunities and challenges shaping the future of AI in finance.

  • Lori Beer, Global Chief Information Officer, JPMorgan Chase. AI in Financial Services: Balancing Innovation and Risk at Enterprise Scale.
  • Dacheng Xiu, University of Chicago Booth School of Business. AI/ML for Investment: Myths, Limits, and the Road Ahead.
  • Chris Sparenberg, S&P Global. Intelligence at Market Speed: How AI is Reshaping Finance — From Data Rooms to Trading Floors.
  • Frank Neugebauer, The Cincinnati Insurance Companies. How Cincinnati Insurance Companies is Using AI.
  • Alejandro Lopez-Lira, University of Florida. AI and Trading Strategies.
  • John Dillon, Clarivate. How AI is Changing the Way We Study the News.
  • Clifton Green, Emory University. How Do AI Models Extrapolate Stock Returns?
  • Winston Dou, University of Pennsylvania. AI in Financial Markets: Collusion, Planning and Systemic Risk.
  • Andrew Robinson, BlackRock. AI in Practice: Advancing Systemic Investing at Scale.

Featured image (from left): Andrew Robinson (BlackRock), Dacheng Xiu (University of Chicago), Lindner dean Marianne Lewis, Clifton Green (Emory University), Nan Zhou (Lindner accounting department head) and Johnson Investment Institute Academic Director Mehmet Sağlam. Photos/Joe Fuqua II.

Join the Johnson Investment Institute

The Johnson Investment Institute is building an ecosystem of students, alumni, faculty and practitioners that elevates the Lindner College of Business as a recognized center for investment theory and practice and creates experiential learning opportunities for students. Get involved today.

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