Fraud is constantly evolving, but leveraging data accelerates understanding and adaptation to changes in the environment. In this episode of Technovation, Peter High interviews Prem Natarajan, EVP, Chief Scientist and Head of Enterprise AI at Capital One. Prem delves into how Capital One is leveraging AI to revolutionize financial services, with applications ranging from fraud detection to customer service enhancements. Discover how the company’s vibrant tech culture and partnerships with academia fuel innovation, and learn why Prem believes diverse perspectives are critical in shaping the future of AI.

Highlights include:

• AI-Powered Fraud Prevention: How real-time data analytics and machine learning protect customers.
• Generative AI Applications: Enabling developers and call center agents with Gen AI tools.
• Responsible AI Partnerships: Multi-year collaborations with universities like Columbia and USC to explore ethical AI use cases.
• Innovation Culture: How events like SECON and Data Week foster tech collaboration and growth.
• Diversity in AI Development: The importance of diverse perspectives in AI lifecycle stage

933: Through advanced data and AI, healthcare companies are transforming care with precision health, delivering earlier diagnoses and personalized treatments. At Illumina, CIO Carissa Rollins is leading the charge, modernizing the tech stack to power the future of precision health. In this episode of Technovation, Carissa discusses how technology is reshaping genomics, sharing her efforts to streamline IT, foster AI innovation, and tackle global challenges like cancer and rare diseases. Host Peter High explores Carissa’s journey to becoming a CIO, her leadership in change management, and her vision for advancing precision health.

Highlights include:

• Modernizing Technology: How Illumina is eliminating redundancies and driving organizational growth with a modernized IT landscape.
• Global Capability Centers: The launch of Illumina’s India GCC to enable 24/7 operations and scale innovation.
• AI Governance and Personalization: Ensuring ethical AI use and leveraging it for breakthroughs in personalized medicine.
• Leadership and Board Membership: Carissa’s boardroom experience and its impact on her CIO role.
• Precision Health and Genomics: The future of healthcare through genomics, addressing critical diseases, and improving patient outcomes.

932: Customer loyalty is a key metric for success in retail, prompting companies to leverage AI to optimize customer engagement. In this episode of Technovation, Peter High interviews Sharmeelee Bala, Chief Information Officer and Head of Product Management at JCPenney, to explore how she is enhancing customer engagement and the transformative role AI plays in this process.

Highlights include:

• Customer-Centric Innovation: Sharmeelee discusses how JCPenney creates seamless experiences tailored to customer preferences.
• AI and Data Strategy: She explains the role of clean, consolidated data in improving decision-making and how AI augments both employee productivity and customer insights.
• Next-Gen POS Systems: Learn about JCPenney’s mobile-first POS systems pilot, designed to enhance in-store shopping experiences.
• Loyalty Program Relaunch: The revamped rewards program strengthens customer engagement with benefits like “Cash Passes.”
• Retail from the Customer Perspective: Sharmeelee shares how her personal experience as a customer informs her leadership in retail innovation.

931: Transitioning from project to product thinking is more than an operational change—it’s a mindset shift. In this episode of Technovation, host Peter High speaks with Dak Liyanearachchi (CTO, NRG Energy), Arthur Hu (Global CIO, Lenovo), and Mike Anderson (CIO, Netskope) about how their organizations are embracing this evolution. The discussion spans the challenges of aligning business capabilities, fostering cross-functional teams, and developing leadership for a product-driven future.

Highlights include:

• From Projects to Products: Transitioning to agile and product-focused models that enhance collaboration and deliver enterprise-wide innovation.
• Transformation Offices: How these structures act as enablers for integrating technology, data, and business functions for strategic alignment.
• Building Cross-Functional Teams: Developing “fusion teams” to break down silos and streamline operations.
• Developing Product Owners: The importance of identifying and nurturing leaders to take ownership of digital and technology products.
• The Role of AI in Innovation: Exploring how AI and Generative AI are reshaping enterprise operations and the customer experience.

930: The role of digital and technology leaders is rapidly evolving, with executive recruiters discussing how advancements like AI are redefining their titles, responsibilities, and organizational impact globally. In this episode of Technovation, we feature a panel from our 2024 Metis Strategy Summit with executive recruiters Katie Graham Shannon (Heidrick & Struggles), Art Hopkins (Russell Reynolds), and Henry Man (Candela Search) who explore how technology executive roles are changing in title, scope, and influence. The panel, moderated by Metis Strategy’s Steven Norton, delves into the shifting dynamics of leadership and discusses the implications for organizations worldwide.

Highlights include:

• CIO Role Evolution: The panel explores how technology leaders are moving closer to the CEO, taking on broader responsibilities like cultural transformation and value creation.
• AI’s Leadership Impact: Discussion on how AI is reshaping leadership, with roles focusing on business disruption rather than purely technical oversight.
• Global Leadership Trends: Insights into differences between US and European leadership cultures, including compensation, risk-taking, and reporting lines.
• Technology Leaders on Boards: Analyzing the growing trend of CIOs joining corporate boards and the critical business acumen required.
• Recruiter Relationships and Interview Tips: Practical advice on building meaningful recruiter connections and standing out in executive interview processes.

929: In this episode of Technovation, we feature a panel from our 2024 Metis Strategy Summit with panelists Nick Parrotta (CDIO & President of Digital Transformation Solutions at HARMAN Intl.), Bonnie Titone (CAO of Duke Energy), and Pritha Mehra (CIO of USPS) where they discuss their insights into leading large-scale modernization efforts. The conversation spans diverse industries—automotive, energy, and logistics—exploring how these leaders balance innovation with the challenges of legacy systems and crisis management.

Highlights include:

• USPS’s Cloud Strategy: Pritha Mehra details USPS’s hybrid cloud approach and its role in transforming the organization’s 950 legacy applications into efficient, scalable solutions.
• Clean Energy Transition: Bonnie Titone explains Duke Energy’s use of cloud-based grid planning tools to support its clean energy goals and manage disaster preparedness with tools like drones and Scout.
• Personalized Digital Experiences: Nick Parrotta discusses how HARMAN integrates AI and cloud technologies to deliver cutting-edge customer experiences in automotive and consumer audio.
• Crisis Management at Scale: Stories of leadership and innovation, from USPS’s COVID-19 test kit distribution to Duke Energy’s hurricane response.
• Building Cultures of Curiosity: Strategies for fostering innovation, enabling teams to adopt emerging technologies, and bridging the gap between legacy and modern systems.

As the role of CIO continues to evolve as a strategic partner to the business, many CIOs are emerging as strong contenders for CEO positions. In a panel discussion from the 2024 Metis Strategy Summit, Alorica Co-CEOs Mike Clifton and Max Schwendner sit down with Peter High to discuss their leadership journeys—Mike’s transition from CIO to CEO and Max’s progression from CFO to Co-CEO. They delve into how their complementary expertise in technology and finance fuels innovation at Alorica. Additionally, the conversation highlights the transformative power of AI in customer experience (CX) and the bold strategies Alorica employs to disrupt its own business model for future growth.

Highlights include:

• From CIO to CEO: Mike Clifton shares how his experience as a CIO prepared him for his role as Co-CEO, emphasizing the importance of technology leadership and inspiring teams.
• Co-CEO Collaboration: Mike and Max discuss how they divide responsibilities while maintaining a unified leadership approach, leveraging their complementary expertise.
• AI Innovations in CX: Alorica’s cutting-edge advancements in AI, including real-time voice translation and dialect neutralization, are transforming customer interactions and operational efficiency.
• MetaHuman AVA: Introduction of AVA, a bespoke AI solution tailored for Alorica’s clients, capable of delivering human-like interactions to enhance customer service.
• Disruptive Innovation: The necessity of cannibalizing existing business models to remain competitive in a rapidly evolving industry.
• Future of AI in Business: Insights into how AI is enabling new opportunities for efficiency, customer satisfaction, and revenue generation across industries.

927: Operationalizing AI offers transformative potential but requires organizations to adopt “responsible AI” practices that ensure transparency, accountability, legality, and ethics. In this episode of Technovation, host Peter High speaks with three influential leaders—Ed McLaughlin, CTO and President at MasterCard, Marina Bellini, President of Global Business Services at Mars, and John Russell, CIO at Northrop Grumman—about the critical role of responsible AI in driving innovation while maintaining ethical and regulatory integrity. Moderated by Alex Kraus, the panel unpacks how companies across industries can balance business value with accountability, leveraging AI responsibly for global impact.

Highlights include:

• Responsible AI Frameworks: The panel shares how organizations like Mars, MasterCard, and Northrop Grumman are developing governance models that ensure AI aligns with corporate values and global regulations.
• Balancing Innovation and Risk: Insights into navigating the risk-reward trade-off by focusing on scalable AI applications that enhance productivity, minimize bias, and reduce operational risks.
• Ethics at the Core of AI: Ed McLaughlin emphasizes that ethics must guide innovation, with AI only adding value when it upholds organizational principles and consumer trust.
• AI Scalability and Validation: Techniques like MasterCard’s “silent mode validation” to test AI in real-time environments and prevent concept drift, ensuring robust performance at scale.
• Navigating Global Regulations: Marina Bellini and John Russell discuss the challenges of adapting AI practices to comply with international regulatory frameworks while maintaining organizational principles.
• The Future of AI in Defense and Business: John Russell explores how ethical constraints drive innovation in the aerospace and defense sectors, while Ed McLaughlin warns against over-restricting AI technologies.

926: As organizations navigate the future of work and technology, leaders are rethinking how to recruit, retain, and upskill talent to drive innovation. In this episode of Technovation, we feature a panel discussion from our 2024 Metis Strategy Summit with Soumya Seetharam (Chief Digital and Information Officer, Corning), Teddy Bekele (Chief Technology Officer, Land O’Lakes), and Tigran Khrimian (Chief Technology and Engineering Officer, FINRA). Moderated by Peter High, the conversation highlights practical strategies for developing next-generation operating models and integrating emerging technologies into the workforce.

Highlights include:

• Global Talent Hubs: Soumya discusses Corning’s strategic creation of digital hubs worldwide to access diverse talent pools and align operations with business needs.
• AI and Data-Driven Insights: Tigran shares FINRA’s groundbreaking use of AI to process exabytes of data and maintain market integrity.
• Fusion Teams for Agility: Teddy reveals Land O’Lakes’ approach to embedding IT talent within business functions for deeper collaboration and innovation.
• Rotational Programs for Skill Development: Soumya explains how Corning’s mid-career rotational programs build leadership and broaden expertise.
• Generative AI’s Impact on Programming: Tigran explores the transformative potential of AI, including the idea of English as a programming language.
• Citizen Development: Insights on empowering non-technical employees to leverage low-code/no-code tools safely and effectively.

925: As organizations increasingly experiment with AI, technology leaders are turning their attention to demonstrating how these tools can deliver tangible returns for the business. In this episode of Technovation, we feature a panel from our 2024 Metis Strategy Summit where Rob Alexander (CIO, Capital One), Katya Andresen (Chief Digital and Analytics Officer, Cigna), and Nitin Tandon (CIO, Vanguard) discuss how their organizations are advancing data strategy and extracting measurable value from AI initiatives. Moderated by Chris Davis (Partner and West Coast Office Lead, Metis Strategy), the conversation highlights real-world insights and provides actionable advice for technology leaders on how to measure AI’s business value, identify initiatives that will drive the greatest impact inside their organizations, and ensure a strong data strategy to guide it all.

Highlights include:

• Cloud Infrastructure for AI Readiness: Panelists emphasize the critical role of cloud adoption as the foundation for scalable AI strategies and innovation.
• AI and Business ROI: The group explores frameworks for identifying high-impact AI use cases and measuring their value, from productivity gains to cost reductions.
• Generative AI in Action: Examples of how Generative AI is transforming customer service, developer productivity, and predictive analytics in their organizations.
• Human-Centric Product Mindset: Insights on embedding a human-focused, outcome-driven approach to AI development and deployment.
• Data Strategy and Governance: Practical steps for creating AI-ready data ecosystems while balancing experimentation with structured governance.
• Cross-Industry Lessons: Rob, Katya, and Nitin share their unique perspectives on leveraging AI to drive transformation in large-scale, data-intensive businesses.

With the global economic outlook in flux, companies worldwide are preparing for scenarios that could redefine their technology adoption strategies. In a fireside chat at our 2024 Metis Strategy Summit in NYC, George Lee, Co-Head of the Goldman Sachs Global Institute, shares his insights with Peter High on how technology and business leaders can position their organizations for readiness and resilience amid uncertainty.

Highlights include:

• Supply Chain Resilience Amid Geopolitical Complexity: George emphasizes the critical need for companies to bolster supply chain resilience in response to global geopolitical shifts. He highlights how these changes are pushing companies to rethink their strategies to ensure stability and agility.
• AI as a National Strategic Asset: The conversation dives into AI’s evolution from a technological tool to a national strategic asset, with George exploring its implications for productivity, culture, and national defense in a rapidly advancing digital landscape.
• Focus on Inflection Points Over Predictions: George introduces the concept of planning around “inflection points” instead of relying solely on predictions, encouraging leaders to proactively navigate pivotal moments that could redefine their industries.
• Enterprise AI and the Productivity Paradox: George discusses the “productivity paradox” seen in AI’s adoption within enterprises, noting the discrepancy between AI’s rapid advancements and its slower integration into enterprise workflows.
• Superintelligence vs. Super Automation: The discussion distinguishes between the concepts of superintelligence and super automation, examining the different impacts each could have on future economies and labor markets.
• Insights from Global Conversations: George shares how the Goldman Sachs Global Institute gathers and refines insights from dialogues with global leaders, using these insights to guide clients through geopolitical and economic complexities.
• Challenges in Adopting New Technology: Drawing on his experience as a former CIO, George addresses the practical challenges organizations face when implementing advanced technologies, underscoring the importance of strong frameworks and patience in driving enterprise adoption.