The Masters Conference, an education and thought leadership forum focused on e-discovery, litigation, information governance, AI and related disciplines for legal professionals, has named legal industry veteran Kevin Vermeulen as its new chief executive officer. Masters also announced that Mike Dalewitz, a veteran e-discovery entrepreneur and former advisor to The Masters Conference, is returning to [\u2026]<\/p>\n
The Masters Conference<\/a>, an education and thought leadership forum focused on e-discovery, litigation, information governance, AI and related disciplines for legal professionals, has named legal industry veteran Kevin Vermeulen<\/a> as its new chief executive officer.<\/p>\n Masters also announced that Mike Dalewitz<\/a>, a veteran e-discovery entrepreneur and former advisor to The Masters Conference, is returning to the organization as its executive chairman.<\/p>\n In conjunction with these executive appointments, The Masters Conference revealed that it will rebrand in 2026 as Masters Legal AI, as part of its plan to launch a global learning ecosystem dedicated to AI in law. The new system will include worldwide events, certification programs, and programming for new verticals within the legal profession.<\/p>\n Bobby V. Perez<\/a>, who has served as CEO and president of The Masters Conference since the death of its founder Robert Childress<\/a> in 2021, will continue to serve on the organization\u2019s advisory board, along with board members\u00a0Richard Clark<\/a>, VP of strategic partnerships at CloudNine; Kevin M. Clark<\/a>, CEO, Right Discovery; Bruce Malter<\/a>, eDiscovery and information governance solutions expert at Consilio; and Alex Lewis<\/a>, owner and CSO at Converse Data.<\/p>\n Vermeulen comes to The Masters Conference with more than three decades of experience in the legal market leading events, sales and marketing.<\/p>\n For 22 years, Vermeulen was at the legal publishing and events company ALM, where he oversaw sales, marketing and conferences, including LegalTech, now named Legalweek, which has long been among the world\u2019s leading legal tech conferences.<\/p>\n In 2015, after leaving ALM, he became a partner in Good2bSocial, a digital marketing and consulting firm. When Best Lawyers acquired Good2bSocial in 2023, he joined that company as senior vice president for business development.<\/p>\n \u201cThe legal industry is at a pivotal moment, and AI is at the center of that transformation,\u201d Vermeulen said in a statement provided by The Masters Conference. \u201cWe\u2019re seizing the opportunity to fill a much needed void in education and the business of law.\u201d<\/p>\n Dalewitz, who is returning to The Masters Conference with a strategic investment, is a serial legal tech entrepreneur who has had three successful exits, including as founder and CEO of the e-discovery company Inspired Review, which was acquired by HaystackID in 2018. He is also a law school professor and founder of ACEDS-NY.<\/p>\n \u201cGreat ideas become real progress when surrounded by the right leaders \u2014 and our Advisory Board embodies that truth every day,\u201d Dalewitz said in a statement. \u201cTheir dedication, thought leadership, and unwavering support are lighting the path ahead. We are profoundly thankful for the role they play in moving us forward.\u201d<\/p>\n With its planned rebranding as Masters Legal AI, the organization said, it will aim to become a global conference and central gathering point for AI in law, bringing together legal professionals, technologists, regulators, academics and industry leaders to explore the opportunities, risks and ethical implications of AI across legal practice and operations.<\/p>\n The organization says it will also launch multi-level legal AI certification programs tailored to law students, attorneys, in-house counsel, legal operations leaders, e-discovery professionals and service providers.<\/p>\n \u201cThese programs will blend doctrinal understanding, technical literacy, and hands-on application to equip learners to use AI responsibly and effectively,\u201d the announcement said.<\/p>\n The organization said that it will also integrate AI throughout its programming.<\/p>\n Along with its rebranding and greater focus on AI, the organization said its 2026 roadmap includes a fully redesigned website and a mobile app offering personalized agendas, on-demand learning, advanced networking, and continuous community engagement.<\/p>\n The organization further plans to expand its certification courses across a greater number of core legal technology and industry-support disciplines for both academic and professional audiences, it said.<\/p>\n It also plans to launch programming for new verticals that it has not previously served, beginning with Masters CYBER, which will focus on cybersecurity, data privacy and digital risk.<\/p>\n Along with all of these changes, The Masters Conference said it will also seek to move beyond traditional panel-heavy conference formats in favor of \u201cdynamic, experiential learning opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n These will include soft-skills tracks focused on leadership, communication, negotiation and change management; experiential workshops, simulations, labs, and live case studies; TEDx-style talks and short-form, high-impact content; and a year-round community supported by rebuilt digital platforms and ongoing programming, it said.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a full-circle moment,\u201d said board president Perez. \u201cOur 2026 roadmap \u2014 Legal AI certifications, Masters CYBER, new verticals and disruptive formats \u2014 delivers on Robert Childress\u2019s vision and ensures Masters remains ahead of the curve.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Masters Conference, an education and thought leadership forum focused on e-discovery, litigation, information governance, AI and related disciplines for legal professionals, has named legal industry veteran Kevin Vermeulen as its new chief executive officer. Masters also announced that Mike Dalewitz, a veteran e-discovery entrepreneur and former advisor to The Masters Conference, is returning to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":138029,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-138028","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lawsite"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xira.com\/p\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Kevin-Vermeulen-Named-CEO-Featured-1024x576-PnCEKW.png?fit=1024%2C576&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138028","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=138028"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138028\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/138029"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=138028"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=138028"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=138028"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}New Leadership for a New Chapter<\/strong><\/h3>\n
A Central Hub for AI in Law<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Rebuild and Expand<\/strong><\/h3>\n
New Conference Models<\/strong><\/h3>\n