Chapter One
Disconnect from the noise.
Out of the office. Off the calendar. Past the last bar of cell service. The first chapter is the hardest and the most necessary. The inbox can wait three days.
Connect. Collaborate. Recharge.
A nationwide circle for sitting Chief Information Officers. Twice a year we leave the inbox, the board deck, and the noise behind, and meet in a U.S. National Park to walk, talk, and breathe again.
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A change of pace sitting CIOs
A nationwide group for Chief Information Officers who carry the whole map, strategy, AI, budget, talent, and rarely get the altitude to set it down. CIO Ascent gives the seat a place to recharge and a circle to reconnect with.
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Leaders in the community
Vetted and top CIOs and CISOs across CIO Ascent and our sister group, CISO Ascent.
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Peers per retreat
Small enough to know every name. Large enough to find the handful that will text you back next quarter.
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Retreats a year
Spring and fall, in a new National Park each time. Every retreat benefits local parks and communities.
Why CIO Ascent
Less ballroom. More backcountry.
Few seats in the C-suite carry more weight, or less peer cover, than the CIO. You own the AI mandate, the budget conversation, the platform bets, the talent plan, and the board's expectations of all of it, and most of the people you can compare notes with have never actually held the chair.
Mountains are the room. Twice a year, in a different National Park, sixty CIOs trade the inbox for a trail and an after-dinner fire. Three days to step back, think clearly, and build the peer relationships you lean on the rest of the year. A portion of every retreat goes back to the park and the community that hosts us.
The Arc
Three days. One rhythm.
Every retreat moves through the same beats: step away from the noise, find the peers you will keep on speed dial, and bring a quieter head back to the work.
Chapter Two
Connect with peers.
Sixty CIOs, peer-led conversation, no stage. The exchanges that matter happen on the trail, around the fire, and at the bottom of a long climb. You leave with a handful of people who will pick up the phone.
Chapter Three
Recharge the seat.
Wide skies, long walks, and a few unhurried meals. You come back with a clearer head for the AI mandate, the budget cycle, and the next platform bet, and a circle who gets the scope.
How It Feels
Less of the usual.
More of the trail.
The format is the message. A few things a CIO Ascent retreat trades for something better.
- 01Keynote stagesPeer-led conversation, on the trail.
- 02Panel theaterTrailside talk beats stage talk.
- 03Hotel ballroomsTrade fluorescent for open sky.
- 04Always-on inboxThree days off the grid. On purpose.
A nationwide CIO circle
Recharge the seat.
Reconnect the circle.
Twice a year. Every year.
On the Trail
What you will find out here.
06Reasons CIOs
choose the trail
choose the trail
01 / Place
National Parks, on purpose
A new park every retreat. The setting does half the work. The other half is the people you walk it with.
02 / People
A circle that picks up the phone
Real friendships with peers who have sat in your chair. The kind you text on a Tuesday, not just at a conference.
03 / Pace
Permission to recharge
Three unhurried days built around walking, eating well, and sleeping under a real sky. The reset is the agenda.
04 / Peers
Vetted and small
Sitting CIOs only. Sixty per retreat, small enough to actually know everyone by the second night.
05 / Purpose
Leave the place better
A portion of every retreat supports the National Park and the gateway community that hosts us. One rule, every trip: leave it better than you found it.
06 / Access
No paywall to the circle
Membership is free. Travel and lodging grants are available for members whose budgets will not stretch. The seat should not be the barrier.
Upcoming & Cadence
Two retreats. One rhythm.
Spring and fall, the circle meets somewhere new. A different National Park, the same rhythm: disconnect, connect, recharge, repeat.
Apr 2026Founded
Sep 17, 2026First retreat
Spring 2027Next
Fall 2027Planned
Now accepting · September 2026
Fall 2026 Yellowstone Retreat
Bozeman, MT · Yellowstone Country and the Northern Rockies
View retreatMembership is free
Find your circle
on the trail.
Apply to join a vetted, nationwide circle of CIOs who choose the wilderness, and each other, over another ballroom.
Apply for membership