Technovation With Peter High

984: In today’s episode of Technovation, we feature a panel from our Metis Strategy Summit held on May 13, 2025 moderated by Peter High. The topic was Designing an AI-First Operating Model, and the executives who joined the discussion were Talal Butt, Chief Information Officer of Generac Power Systems; Ampily Vijay, Chief Digital & Technology Officer of CBRE Investment Management; and Chris Nardecchia, Chief Digital Officer of Rockwell Automation. Each shares frontline perspectives on embedding AI at scale from energy tech and industrial automation to real estate investment and operations. Together, they explore how enterprise leaders are shifting from isolated AI pilots to fully integrated operating models that prioritize data, talent, and measurable impact. From reshaping customer experiences and product ecosystems to building architecture for sustainable scale, this conversation delivers a playbook for moving beyond experimentation and into durable transformation.

983: Kevin Doyle, Chief Digital Officer at Ecolab, joins Peter High to unpack how the company is scaling innovation through AI, IoT, and a modern data backbone. In this episode, Kevin shares how Ecolab Digital was formed to unify commercial product innovation, internal IT, and supply chain digitization. He describes the company’s use of agentic AI and generative tools to equip 28,000 field reps with insights, how digital twins and subscriptions drive monetization, and why MAP (Modern Analytics Platform) is central to value delivery.

How do leading CIOs drive innovation, resilience, and trust amid volatility? In today’s episode of Technovation, we feature a panel from our Metis Strategy Summit held on May 13, 2025 moderated by Peter High. The topic was Cultivating Resilience and Trust in Uncertain Times and the executives who joined the discussion were Cindy Hoots, Chief Information Officer of AstraZeneca, Rahul Jalali, Chief Information Officer of Union Pacific, and Ather Williams III, Head of Strategy, Digital, Innovation, & Enterprise Payments at Wells Fargo. Each shares frontline perspectives on navigating disruption from economic uncertainty and shifting supply chains to generative AI and regulatory complexity. Together, they unpack how their organizations are leveraging digital platforms, data, and cross-functional leadership to respond to instability and build enduring trust with customers, regulators, and employees.

981: How does a 174-year-old mutual insurance company stay ahead of the curve? In this episode of Technovation, Peter High speaks with Sears Merritt, Head of Enterprise Technology and Experience at MassMutual. Sears leads a $650M tech budget and a global team of 3,000, driving innovation in cybersecurity, data, and generative AI to deliver superior experiences for employees, advisors, and policyholders. Sears shares insights on MassMutual’s modernization journey from consolidating legacy systems to rolling out secure GenAI tools like Microsoft Copilot and GitHub Copilot. He also unveils the company’s strategic investments in virtual assistants, R&D partnerships, and a groundbreaking health and wellness platform that aligns longevity with economic value for policyholders.

980: “Enterprise data platforms must evolve to express context to AI systems.” In this episode of Technovation, Peter High speaks with Louis Landry, Chief Technology Officer at Teradata, a $1.75B cloud analytics and AI data platform. Louis shares how Teradata is reshaping its core platform to meet the demands of the AI era through open, hybrid architectures, vector search integration, and mixed workload optimization. A 11-year veteran of the company, Louis reflects on Teradata’s evolution from centralized analytics to a hybrid, multi-cloud powerhouse, and what it means to support some of the world’s largest banks, airlines, and healthcare providers. He also offers insight into agentic AI, data-centric intelligence, and model-sharing futures.

In this episode of Technovation, host Peter High speaks with Gary Kotovets, Chief Data & Analytics Officer at Dun & Bradstreet, a global leader in business decision-making data and analytics. Gary shares how he oversees the company’s end-to-end data strategy, from acquisition and normalization to advanced analytics and GenAI integration, serving a customer base that spans Fortune 500 giants to small businesses. Learn how Gary’s team fuels innovation through alternative data, builds trusted AI tools like ChatD&B, and partners directly with C-level clients to deliver decision-ready intelligence.

Seth Cohen, Chief Information Officer of $84B consumer goods leader Procter & Gamble, joins Peter High on Technovation to share how P&G is transforming through data-driven innovation, a robust AI factory, and end-to-end supply chain visibility.  Seth, who previously held CIO roles at PepsiCo and Reckitt Benckiser, unpacks P&G’s digital flywheel—from freeing siloed data and scaling AI use cases to upskilling IT talent and building a quantum-ready future. He also explains how the Pampers Club app connects consumer insights with factory-level data, and why agentic AI could make dashboards obsolete.

“Marketcraft isn’t left or right—it’s a method,” says Chris Hughes, co-founder of Facebook and author of Marketcrafters. In this episode, Hughes and host Peter High explore how governments have shaped U.S. markets over the past century. They discuss economic history, policy strategy, and the role of institutions like the Federal Reserve and RFC in stabilizing the economy.

“If St. Jude doesn’t do it, who will?” That mission-driven mindset fuels innovation at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. In this episode of Technovation, host Peter High speaks with Keith Perry, Chief Information Officer of St. Jude, about how he is leveraging technology to enhance the patient journey and accelerate research into pediatric catastrophic diseases. Keith shares how his nearly decade-long tenure has driven transformation through a strategic six-year, $12.9B plan, including the implementation of Epic and Workday, GPU-enabled research infrastructure, and a concierge-style patient mobile app. He also explores the global impact of St. Jude’s outreach in under-resourced countries, the evolution of data science partnerships, and the future of AI and cybersecurity in healthcare.

Transforming healthcare through digital innovation and AI. In this episode, Peter High speaks with Onyeka Nchege, EVP and Chief Digital and Information Officer at Novant Health, a $10B healthcare network with over 900 locations across the southeastern United States. Onyeka shares how his team is building a future-ready digital infrastructure to scale operations, improve patient care, and expand access through cloud migration, predictive analytics, and artificial intelligence. He also highlights Novant Health’s Institute for Innovation and AI, explains how they embed responsible AI practices, and outlines the vision for the hospital of the future including virtual care, virtual nursing, and a data-driven approach to personalized healthcare. Onyeka also speaks to the culture he's fostering within the IT organization, his lessons from five previous CIO roles, and how the right leadership bench powers transformation. Key topics include: Creating a $30B scalable health system through cloud and EMR strategy Build

How should global leaders govern artificial intelligence responsibly without stifling innovation? In this episode, Russell Wald, Executive Director at Stanford HAI, joins Peter High to explore how universities, policymakers, and industry must collaborate to keep AI human-centered. Wald shares takeaways from the AI Index, explains how China is narrowing the performance gap, and outlines why academic institutions are vital to ethical AI leadership. Key highlights include: HAI's concentric model of human-centered design The AI Index's global benchmarking methodology Why China is narrowing the frontier AI performance gap The pivotal role of public investment in universities How ethics reviews are embedded in HAI's research lifecycle

In this episode of Technovation, Peter High speaks with Mark Sherwood, Chief Information Officer at Wolters Kluwer, a €6B global professional services and software firm headquartered in the Netherlands. Mark joined as CIO in December 2024 and has helped accelerate the company’s transition from a traditional publishing business to a tech-centric organization. Mark discusses how his global team supports the company’s AI- and cloud-first strategy, the role of business relationship managers (BRMs) in bridging tech and business, and how a strong innovation culture helps Wolters Kluwer stay ahead in the digital age. With nearly half the company's products leveraging AI and a robust multi-cloud foundation, the firm is redefining access to expert content in legal, tax, healthcare, and finance. Key topics include: Building a multi-cloud foundation for global resilience and innovation The evolution from a holding company to a unified operating mode Scaling AI across products while protecting intellectual property Drivi

In this episode of Technovation, Peter High speaks with Venkat Achanta, Executive Vice President and Chief Technology, Data & Analytics Officer at TransUnion, a $4.5B global information and insights company. Since joining after TransUnion’s acquisition of Neustar, Venkat has led a sweeping modernization of the company’s tech stack—culminating in the creation of OneTru, a platform powering data governance, analytics, and AI innovation at scale. Venkat shares how his 7,000-person global team built a single pane of glass to manage petabytes of sensitive data across 30+ countries and hundreds of products. He also discusses how TransUnion’s OneTru and TruIQ platforms are enabling internal teams and external clients to rapidly build, deploy, and govern real-time machine learning models.

“Technology at American Express provides the foundation for everything we do at the company,” shares Ravi Radhakrishnan, EVP & CIO of American Express, as he outlines the company’s AI strategy, continuous modernization philosophy, and data-driven customer focus. In this episode, Ravi offers an inside look at how American Express is evolving its technology foundation to power trust, security, and world-class service. From AI governance to the Intuitive Servicing Portal, he breaks down key strategies shaping the company’s digital future.

“AI is the New UI” at S&P Global. In this episode, Swamy Kocherlakota, EVP and Chief Digital Solutions Officer, shares how the 165-year-old market intelligence leader is scaling AI and reimagining digital ecosystems. Swamy discusses S&P Global’s transition to a product operating model that drives innovation at scale, and how Kensho, the company’s AI “speedboat,” accelerates generative AI breakthroughs. He explains how S&P Global delivers essential intelligence across platforms—from desktops and APIs to AI agents embedded in digital ecosystems—and how the Four Ps Framework (Potential, Productivity, People, Protect) guides responsible AI adoption across the enterprise. Swamy also introduces sFlow and Spark, internal tools that empower employees to build and share AI-driven workflows. Tune in to explore how S&P Global is transforming its vast data assets into actionable insights and next-generation customer experiences.

Capital One has long been recognized as a digital-first financial services company. Now, it’s productizing its tech DNA into standalone B2B software. In this episode, Peter High speaks with Ravi Raghu, President of Capital One Software, about how internal cloud and data security capabilities led to the launch of an enterprise SaaS business—starting with offerings like Slingshot and Data Bolt.

968: From used-car retailer to tech-powered industry leader—CarMax is redefining automotive retail. In this episode, Peter High speaks with Shamim Mohammad, EVP and Chief Information and Technology Officer at CarMax, about the company’s bold transformation into a digital-first business. Shamim shares lessons from his 12+ years with the company, including nearly a decade as CIO and over six years as CTO. He discusses CarMax’s transition to a product operating model, its pioneering use of generative AI tools like Skye and Rhodes, and how data governance, platform agility, and agentic AI are powering customer and associate experiences. He also reflects on the company’s culture of innovation, his board service at UNFI, and the leadership values that have fueled CarMax’s continued growth.

Generac Power Systems is no longer just a generator company — it’s becoming a full-stack energy technology platform. In this episode of Technovation, CIO Talal Butt offers a behind-the-scenes look at how he’s reshaping the $4.3B manufacturer’s technology landscape to support that evolution. Speaking directly to senior IT and digital leaders, Talal shares how he’s building a modern digital ecosystem from scratch — one that’s powered by real-time data, platform thinking, and AI-driven decisioning. From architecting Generac’s first scalable data governance program to operationalizing GenAI use cases and redefining the partner experience, this episode is a playbook for CIOs navigating transformation in legacy industries.

From predicting the next flavor trend to revolutionizing procurement with AI, Guy Peri is leading a bold digital transformation at McCormick & Company. In this episode of Technovation, host Peter High speaks with Guy about how he’s bringing AI and data strategy to life at a 135-year-old flavor giant. Drawing from nearly three decades at Procter & Gamble, Guy shares how McCormick is building a modern digital backbone, using AI to forecast demand and ingredient pricing, and upskilling employees into citizen data scientists.

What does it take to digitally transform a global manufacturing giant? In this episode of Technovation, host Peter High speaks with Regina Salazar, Chief Digital and Information Officer at Novelis, about how the world’s largest aluminum recycler is scaling enterprise-wide innovation through technology. Regina shares how she unified IT and digital into a single operating model, launched a global business relationship framework, and enhanced Novelis’ data architecture to support AI at scale. She also discusses the company's ambitious smart factory in Alabama, how digital twins are reshaping operations, and Novelis’ roadmap to becoming a tech-enabled, sustainable enterprise.