Global technology pioneer Robert F. Smith to headline 2026 Sohn Hearts & Minds

Mr Smith, one of the world’s most influential technology investors, has built Vista into a global enterprise software powerhouse, with more than US$100 billion in assets under management. His keynote comes as artificial intelligence rapidly reshapes software, data and business productivity, creating new winners across global markets.

Mr Smith said AI was opening one of the most significant opportunities in enterprise software, rewarding companies with clear workflows, trusted data and the speed to execute.

"AI is becoming the defining force in software and across the enterprise, a general purpose technology that we believe has the potential to drive growth and opportunity orders of magnitude greater than prior innovation cycles," said Mr Smith. "Within our portfolio ecosystem, agentic solutions are being embedded in mission critical workflows, helping define the next era of value creation in enterprise software."

"Hearts & Minds has built a forum where the investment community's best thinking is converted directly into medical research. I look forward to that conversation in Queenstown and to supporting work that improves and saves lives."

Sohn Hearts & Minds is pleased to announce that Cota Capital Founder Bobby Yazdani and Lightspeed Partner Isaac Kim will join the conference’s artificial intelligence panel.

In an era of unprecedented technological change at pace, veteran enterprise software investors Mr Yazdani and Mr Kim are well placed to discuss how they spot early opportunities, apply a venture capital mindset, and draw out both the parallels and the new dynamics between today's AI economy and the early era of enterprise software.

Mr Yazdani founded Cota Capital in 2014, now managing more than US$1.1 billion in assets, and has spent over 20 years investing in more than 200 private technology companies, including Google, Uber and Dropbox.

Mr Kim leads Lightspeed's Applied AI strategy, drawing on two decades of enterprise technology investing across Golden Gate Capital and Elliott Investment Management. He has invested in 24 technology companies totalling over US$75 billion in enterprise value, including 7 companies with more than US $1 billion in revenue. At Lightspeed, Mr Kim has built the Applied AI strategy that invests in technology and business services companies and partners with them to adopt AI. Representative investments include Beacon Software, Gyde, Modus and Eagle.

“New native AI startups are scaling rapidly, and legacy businesses are adopting AI directly to transform processes that hadn't changed in decades. Lightspeed has invested in AI since 2012, but the pace of adoption over the last few years has made this the most dynamic investing environment we've seen,” Mr Kim said.

"Our family has supported children’s medical research and other youth-related causes for many years, and so I am very much looking forward to participating in the Sohn Hearts & Minds conference."
 
Michael Every, Global Strategist at Rabobank will travel to Queenstown to provide views on the intersection of geopolitics and geoeconomics and Robbie Ferguson will give us insights into the world of Immutable, AI and gaming.

As always, the conference will also feature a high-conviction line-up of leading global fund managers pitching their best investment ideas which will form part of the Hearts & Minds Investments (ASX: HM1) portfolio, including Andrew Curtayne of Milford Asset Management, John Pinkel of Indus Capital Partners, Ravi Chopra of Azora Capital, Robert Mullin of Marathon Resource Advisors, Vihari Ross of Antipodes Partners and Jeremy Bond of Terra Capital.

Sohn Hearts & Minds Co-Founder and Director Matthew Grounds AM said the conference has assembled a world-class program of investors with sharp, timely perspectives on the forces reshaping global markets.

“This year’s Sohn Hearts & Minds conference brings an exceptional calibre of global investment talent to Queenstown, united by strong ideas and a shared commitment to funding life-changing medical research. Robert F. Smith and our speaker line-up bring first-hand experience investing through profound technological change, including the rapid rise of AI, and their insights will be invaluable for investors navigating what comes next,” Mr Grounds said.

Now in its second decade, Sohn Hearts & Minds brings together more than 600 leaders across investment, science and philanthropy to accelerate funding for Australian medical research. Since 2016, the initiative has directed funding into Australian medical research through the ASX-listed investment company Hearts & Minds Investments (HM1), which is on track to reach $100 million in total funds donated by the end of this year.