Houston AI Club September Meetup (Sep 3rd - The Ion) Free Parking

Houston has heard plenty about what AI might do. On September 3, we’re bringing together two leaders who have already put it to work—building an AI company used around the world and helping lead an enterprise AI rollout reaching roughly 100,000 employees.

Join the Houston AI Club, Allenix, the Ion District, and Collide, for the inaugural AI Operator Spotlight at the Ion.

This won’t be a parade of polished pitches or abstract predictions. We’re opening the playbooks behind two very different AI journeys:

• What does it take to build one of Houston’s fastest-growing AI companies?
• How do you introduce AI across an enterprise of roughly 100,000 people?
• What assumptions fall apart when a rollout meets the real world?
• What can Houston’s business leaders, founders, and investors learn from the people doing the work?

Meet the speakers Chuck Yates — Co-Founder, Collide After two decades in energy private equity, Chuck co-founded Collide, a Mercury-backed company building the first generative AI platform designed specifically for the energy industry. Collide now serves more than 6,000 users across 122 countries. Chuck is also the host of the Chuck Yates Got a Job podcast—and he won’t be giving us the sanitized version of the founder story.

Charles Jessup — Senior Manager, AI Fluency at Raytheon, an RTX business Charles has helped bring AI to roughly 100,000 employees in one of the largest enterprise AI deployments you’re likely to hear discussed firsthand. He’ll share what it takes to move AI beyond a promising pilot, what surprised the team along the way, and the important assumption that turned out to be wrong.

More than a panel Some of Houston’s most interesting AI work is happening across energy, aerospace, healthcare, manufacturing, professional services, and the startup ecosystem—but the people behind that work rarely end up together in the same room. We’re changing that. The evening includes 45 minutes of open networking with founders, executives, builders, business leaders, and investors from across Houston’s AI community. Whether you’re implementing AI inside an established company, building the next AI startup, investing in the space, or simply trying to understand what is real, this is the room to be in.

Event details Date: Thursday, September 3, 2026 Time: 5:30–8:00 PM Location: The Ion — Forum Stairs Address: 4201 Main Street, Houston, TX 77002 Admission: Completely free Parking: Free event parking in the Ion Red Lot For the Red Lot, enter 4203 Fannin Street into your GPS. The lot is directly across the street from the Ion. The Ion’s official directions confirm that the Red Lot is designated for guest and event parking. Who should attend?

• Business leaders responsible for AI strategy or implementation
• Founders, entrepreneurs, and startup teams
• Investors and innovation leaders
• AI practitioners, builders, and technology professionals
• Anyone curious about how AI works at real organizational scale

The event is free. The parking is free. But seating is limited. Reserve your seat now and help us make September 3rd Houston’s biggest AI gathering of the year.

Presented by Leon Coe, Founder of the Houston AI Club, and Ali Mamujee, Founder of Allenix.