PWN French Riviera

Celebrating 30 Years of Collaborative Intelligence

Published on September 8, 2026 by Tatiana Panyukova-Adragna

PWN French Riviera at the PWN Global Summit 2026

La rentrée is here, bringing a new season of plans for our chapter. Yet first, PWN French Riviera is delighted to share news from earlier this year: our attendance at the PWN Global Summit in Lisbon this June, where a ten-strong delegation — Co-President Carmen Redondo, board members and members of our chapter — joined leaders and changemakers from across the PWN world to mark PWN Global's thirtieth anniversary.

Lisbon set the tone: cobbled streets, pastel façades, the light over the Tagus from Belém, and a pastel de nata or two — a fitting backdrop for two days built entirely around one idea: no single intelligence, human or artificial, individual or institutional, is sufficient on its own. Collaborative intelligence was the thread running through everything we heard.

Three pillars, one collaborative thread

Power — to lead with confidence. Patrick Siegler-Lathrop traced a geopolitical order turning away from collaboration, and made the case that in that context, collaborative intelligence stops being a soft skill and becomes a strategic necessity.

Progress — technology as an amplifier. As high-volume hiring is increasingly delegated to AI, a round table on the topic made clear that technology only amplifies whatever intent sits behind it — for better or worse. The discussion walked through the technical frameworks now used to test hiring algorithms for disparate impact, and to assure equitable treatment across protected demographic groups: a practical reminder that collaborative intelligence also means keeping human judgment and oversight firmly in the loop as AI takes on more of the work.

People — who inspire, support and create lasting impact. This pillar carried two threads. Céline Abecassis-Moedas showed how longer lives are reshaping careers and organizations: the workforce over fifty-five is growing fast across Europe, the US and Japan, the old assumption that productivity declines with age doesn't hold up, and age-diverse teams — drawing on each other's intelligence across generations — consistently outperform. Avivah Wittenberg-Cox, who founded PWN Global in Paris thirty years ago, closed the Summit with the idea the network was built on: ambition advances through infrastructure and connection between people, not through inspiration alone.

One of the answers to this question was to engage men in our cause to further the goal of gender-balanced leadership. These core beliefs in the value of balance of genders and diversity in the workplace are also a compass we share with our corporate partners, sponsors, and members.

Thirty years, built on collaboration

Thirty years of infrastructure, not inspiration — and a delegation proud to keep building on it - @Jennifer Karam @Sonia Mountain @Leslie Murcy @Ibtissem Aguel

That same spirit made the Summit itself possible. Our warm thanks go to Monica d'Orey Santiago and Yolanda Gutiérrez and the PWN Global team, whose collaboration turned two days into a space where people genuinely connected and ideas genuinely landed — a partnership PWN French Riviera is glad to see continuing, through PWN Global's Leadership & Development webinars and an exclusive member session with Avivah Wittenberg-Cox on 8 September.

What we take from Lisbon

Thirty years of infrastructure, not inspiration — and a delegation proud to keep building on it - @Isabelle Proust @Tatiana Panyukova-Adragna @Sandra Richez

PWN French Riviera is deeply supportive of PWN Global's strategic direction, and collaborative intelligence is exactly the lens we intend to bring home: across generations, geographies and disciplines, and between human judgment and the technology increasingly shaping our workplaces. We will do our best to integrate this thinking into our own chapter agenda in the months ahead.

A closing thought

Avivah left us with a question worth carrying home: what if your most impactful work isn't behind you, but ahead of you? Her 4-Quarter Life framework reframes longer lives as room for several careers, not one — with Q3, often reached in our fifties and sixties, as the stage where experience becomes an advantage. It is, in its own way, collaborative intelligence turned inward: drawing on every version of ourselves, past and future, the same way PWN draws on every generation of its members. Thirty years of infrastructure, not inspiration — and PWN French Riviera is proud to keep building on it, together.