General

DFC: General — Global Mission Summit — Dallas 2026

Oct 8, 2026 5:00 PM · JW Marriott Dallas Arts District · Dallas, TX

SponsorsFightsRefereesVideosPhotos
DFC: General — Global Mission Summit — Dallas 2026 event banner, Digital Fight Club in Dallas, TX

Companies with purpose. Digital Fight Club helps the Global Mission Summit tackle the tough topics open and fairly.

RSVP
October 8, 2026

The Fight Format

  • Each fight runs ~10 minutes
  • Opening arguments: 45 secs each
  • Rebuttal rounds: 15 secs each (6–8 rounds)
  • Refs call fouls (buzzer) anytime — 15 sec response each
  • Audience votes to decide the winner

Event Timeline

4:00pm - Cocktails
4:45pm - DFC doors
5:00pm - Digital Fight Club
6pm-ish - After Party

Sponsors

The companies backing this fight — and all the decision-makers in the room. Want in on the action? Reach out below.

Fights

Defending your ideas in front of a crowd of your peers. Educational and entertaining at the same time.

Hustle Culture vs Work-Life Balance

Andrew Hopkins
MD, Accenture
  • Co-creator of DFC
  • Data privacy expert
  • Proud South African
    ‍
    ‍
DFCDFCWINNER
VS
Terrence Chavis
VP, Oliver Wyman
  • American Airlines vet
  • Transfomation expert
  • Blue Devil
    ‍
DFCDFCWINNER
/people/terrence-chavis
View fight page →

College: Compelling ROI on money & time?

Eric Ban
Executive Director, Economic Mobility Center
  • Lifelong educator
  • Former Principal
  • Hoosier
    ‍
DFCDFCWINNER
VS
Michael Sitarzewski
Principal Engineer, Tandem Theory
  • Startup ecosystem evangelist
  • Founder, Dallas Startup Week
  • Alumni, School of Hard Knocks
DFCDFCWINNER
/people/michael-sitarzewski
View fight page →

Bootstrapping vs VC

Ricky Tejapaibul
CEO, Tech Wildcatters
  • Former corporate Treasurer
  • Turnaround advisor
  • Samanea saman
    ‍
DFCDFCWINNER
VS
Greg Head
Founder, Practical Founders
  • Founder Gregslist
  • Former CMO
  • Hawkeye
    ‍
    ‍
DFCDFCWINNER
/people/ricky-tejapaibul
View fight page →

AI & Education: Should students use it?

Drex Owusu
Chief Learning Officer, Perot Museum
  • Former Blockbuster exec
  • Impact invewtor
  • Owl
DFCDFCWINNER
VS
Dave Copps
CEO, Worlds
  • Semantic genius
  • Actual serial founder
  • Big Green

‍

DFCDFCWINNER
/people/dave-copps
View fight page →

Referees

They don't judge the debate — they call fouls. The audience decides the winner. All referees below officiate every fight at this event.

Catherine Cuellar

CEO, Social Venture Partners
  • Former reporter
  • Community advocate vet
  • Leroy Lynx
    ‍

Debra von Storch

Partner, Ernst & Young
  • One firm rock star (EY)
  • Entrepreneur champion
  • Mean Green

John New

CEO, Work Merk
  • Workplace expert
  • Infantry officer
  • Nittany Lion

Watch

Event videos here and fight videos on the fight pages

Photos

Mayhem captured for posterity

No photos yet for this event.
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