Fifth Third Bank Leadership Symposium

The Fifth Third Bank Leadership Symposium is the Cincinnati region’s premier annual business event dedicated to advancing belonging and inclusion in the workplace and throughout our community. Bringing together professionals, community leaders, and organizations from across the region, the symposium serves as a powerful platform for collaboration, learning, and meaningful dialogue. 

Each year, the event features respected local and national thought leaders who share innovative ideas, practical strategies, and inspiring perspectives that challenge attendees to think differently and lead more inclusively. Through dynamic keynote presentations, engaging panel discussions, and interactive breakout sessions, participants gain actionable tools to foster cultures of belonging within their organizations, teams, and communities. 

The symposium continues to serve as a catalyst for progress, helping drive the Cincinnati region toward a future where everyone feels valued, seen, and empowered to thrive..

Join us on November 12, 2026, for this year’s Fifth Third Bank Leadership Symposium as we explore the theme The Science of Inclusive Leadership. We are honored to welcome Dr. Janet Ahn as this year’s keynote speaker, presenting: “When Agency Collapses: The Hidden Cost of Playing It Safe.” 

This year’s keynote speaker is Dr. Janet Ahn. Most behavioral scientists have never run a business. Most executives have never done the science. Dr. Ahn has done both.

As a researcher, published author, and former executive (President of the Americas at a global consultancy and training provider), Dr. Ahn has spent two decades studying the gap between what leadership teams intend and what their organizations actually experience — and why that gap is where performance is lost before it ever shows in the numbers. She believes the most expensive problems facing organizations today aren’t strategy failures. They’re behavioral ones which have concrete solutions.

When pressure rises (through growth, acquisition, or market volatility) the conditions that allow people to think clearly, speak honestly, and act with conviction are the first things to collapse. Most organizations call this a culture problem: everyone’s responsibility and no one’s accountability to fix. Dr. Ahn diagnoses it differently — as a set of specific, observable behaviors that leaders can identify, measure, and change. That distinction is the difference between naming a problem and actually solving it.

She is the author of Learning that CLICS: Using Behavioral Science for Effective Learning Design, a practical guide grounded in decades of peer-reviewed research on motivation, mindset, and behavior change. She has delivered keynotes and leadership sessions at Merck, P&G, Morningstar, AbbVie, Liquid I.V, Columbia Business School, Yale University, Duke Health, the University of Pennsylvania, and many more. Her expertise has been featured in Forbes, NPR, Business Insider, and The Atlantic.

Agenda:
7:30 a.m. Registration & Breakfast  
8 a.m. Welcome & Opening Remarks 
8:15 a.m. Keynote Presentation with Dr. Janet Ahn
10 a.m. Break 
10:15 a.m. Workshop Breakouts Round 1 
11 a.m. Break 
11:15 a.m. Workshop Breakouts Round 2 
Noon Conclusion & Networking