A PODCAST POWERED BY PEGA
Bold
stories.
Future
focused.
When business changes, it challenges us – and necessarily so. Listen in as our hosts uncover what success looks like when innovative minds rise to new challenges and excel in the face of change.
June 22, 2021 | 23 mins
The power of authenticity and inclusivity in sports ft. Mel ReidPro golfer Mel Reid is in the game for more than just trophies. Listen as she talks about her journey as a player, the importance of being yourself, her efforts to make athletics a more welcoming place for all, and much more.
March 23, 2021 | 20 mins
Ep. 1: Abrupt disruption and the catalyst for innovation ft. Banu KannuEvery business’s best laid plans changed in 2020, forcing capable leaders to step up. One such leader is Banu Kannu, co-founder of Uncommon Conferences. Listen as Kannu shares her story of disruptive thinking and innovative direction.
March 23, 2021 | 23 mins
Ep. 2: The real cost of conducting mission-driven business ft. Jeanne Ross and Kumud KaliaMore than ever, brands are conducting bigger-picture business – but what does leading with a mission really mean? Organization theorist Jeanne Ross decided to find out. Hear her discuss her findings with Kumud Kalia, CIO at Guardant Health.
March 23, 2021 | 18 mins
Ep. 3: The startup built for the reinvention of work ft. David MoriccaThe pandemic changed how (and where) we work. Listen to CEO David Moricca – whose business Socialive was built to support remote work – speak about stepping up to make the transition to working-from-quarantine easier for businesses.
March 30, 2021 | 25 mins
Ep. 4: Designing the future of work ft. Clay RichardsonHow can strategic design thinking better empower the future of work? Clay Richardson, CEO of Digital Fastforward, talks about his research on taking a more human-centered approach to innovation and technology.
April 6, 2021 | 24 mins
Ep. 5: Rethinking the barriers to hiring ft. Daniel OkonkwoCriminal records. Background checks. There are numerous places where a candidate’s chances for a job can be squandered – often for a small mistake. By reframing how (and who) we hire, Daniel Okonkwo from JP Morgan Chase is working to change that.
April 13, 2021 | 23 mins
Ep. 6: Inclusive hiring strategies built to shatter the mold ft. Ginny ClarkeDiversity is critical to progressive business. But equitable hiring, especially in the tech industry, takes work. Hear how Ginny Clarke, former head of Diversity Hiring Leadership at Google, has made inclusivity a top credential across her career.
April 20, 2021 | 23 mins
Ep. 7: The evolving workplace impact of artificial intelligence ft. Tom DavenportWith artificial intelligence on the rise, are our jobs safe from a full technical takeover? The answer is more nuanced than you might think, but author and professor Tom Davenport breaks down how AI is transforming the ways we work.
April 27, 2021 | 23 mins
Ep. 8: The changing nature of how we work ft. Sophie WadeHow we work is only going to continue to change. Author and future of work expert Sophie Wade talks about where we’re headed as an adaptive workforce and what that means for work culture and beyond.
May 11, 2021 | 23 mins
Ep. 9: The real impact of artificial intelligence in healthcare ft. Stuart McGuiganThe power of AI lies in its ability to find patterns in data. IT expert Stuart McGuigan talks about how far AI has come and the impact it had in helping make a world beyond the pandemic seem possible.
May 18, 2021 | 23 mins
Ep. 10: Inventing a more germ-repellent future ft. Dr. Soleymani and Dr. DidarNecessity is the mother of invention – and after a global health crisis, better ways to curb the spread of germs are definitely necessary. Learn how two researchers invented a surface that repels certain bacteria.
May 25, 2021 | 23 mins
Ep. 11: Behavioral economics and the future of financial services ft. Gary ScholtenThrough strategic leadership and digital foresight, Principal Financial has become a customer-centric, knowledge-based, and technology-driven brand. Former CIO Gary Scholten breaks down how it happened.
June 1, 2021 | 23 mins
Ep. 12: Continual learning and the adaptation to the future of work ft. Kristine DeryIs employee experience central to your business strategy? Hear MIT research scientist and future of work specialist Kristine Dery share how employee empowerment, improv skills, and a bit of nosiness can unlock greater success in a new business world.
A Pega report
The future of work: What's next?
Technology has changed the way we work – but by how much? We commissioned a research study to find out.
Jo Richardson
Director, Corporate Communications
Pegasystems
Jeanne Ross
Principal Research Scientist (retired),
MIT Center for Information Systems Research (CISR)
Mel Reid is an English golfer who began her career as rookie of the year in 2008 and joined the LPGA Tour in 2017. After six wins on the Ladies European Tour, she won her first LPGA Tour event in October 2020. Reid is a pro ambassador for Athlete Ally, an organization educating athletic communities at all levels about the obstacles to inclusion for LGBTQIA+ people. Reid’s commitment to and advocacy for the LGBTQIA+ community aligns with Pega’s core value of inclusivity, which we believe fosters creativity and innovation.
Kristine Dery is a Research Scientist at MIT Sloan School of Management in the Center for Information Systems Research (MIT CISR).
Kristine’s research in the dynamic between technology and the way people work has been a focus of her publications and teaching for the last fifteen years.
Currently, she is investigating how organizations design their employee experience to enable their people to deliver value in the digital world. Her research questions focus on:
- how digital capabilities are deployed internally to create more effective ways of working and
- the impacts of new ways of engaging with talent in the digital era. This work has stemmed from a historical research focus on the relationship between HRM and IT, mobile connectivity, human resource information systems, gamification, and remote working.
Kristine serves as a Senior Editor for MIS Quarterly Executive, and has published in Sloan Management Review and other leading academic and practitioner publications.
Prior to her academic career, Kristine held management roles in the tourism and airline industries in Australia, New Zealand, and the UK.
Kristine is based in Sydney and is responsible for fostering research relationships with companies in AsiaPac and the delivery of workshops for senior executives and nonexecutive Board directors.
About MIT Centre for Information Systems Research (CISR) (cisr.mit.edu)
Supported by a consortium of over 90 public and private organizations from all over the world, researchers at CISR have been studying one key question since the establishment of the Research Centre in 1974: How do organizations generate business value from IT?
Grounded in the MIT tradition of rigorous field-based research (MIT’s motto is “Mens et Manus” - “Mind and Hand”), MIT CISR’s mission is to help executives address the digital challenges of leading dynamic, global, and information-intensive organizations. Through close relationships with our sponsoring organizations and other practitioners, MIT CISR researchers have done ground-breaking research on Digital Strategy, Digital Workplace, Data Strategy, Innovation Portfolios and Enterprise Architecture and many other topics of interest to digital leaders. We have developed concepts and frameworks to guide management practice and support digital leaders to reframe organisational understanding of digital. The relevance of our research is ensured by the active participation of corporate sponsors from a wide range of industries.
Gary Scholten served as executive vice president, CIO, and Chief Digital Officer of Principal Financial Group. He was named CIO in 2002, CDO in 2017 and served in those roles until he retired in 2020. He was responsible for overseeing the global company’s use of technology and driving digital strategy into all aspects of the business, as well as leading the company’s use of offshore staffing and overseeing Global Sourcing. Prior to being named CDO, Scholten led corporate strategy and provided executive oversight of Human Resources for Principal.
While at Principal Scholten chaired Principal Global Services, Private Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Principal Financial Group. He also served on two Principal International Chilean Boards and on the board of Robust Wealth, an acquired FinTech subsidiary. Scholten previously served multiple terms as Chairman of the Board for the Technology Association of Iowa.
In retirement, Scholten was named an MIT Center for Information Systems Research fellow, serves on the Board of Advisors for Paanini, Inc. and is a member of Diamond CIO Council. He is pursuing Board of Director opportunities with public and private companies.
Leyla Soleymani received her PhD from University of Toronto in 2010 in Electrical and Computer Engineering and joined McMaster as an Assistant Professor in 2011. Dr. Soleymani is currently an Associate Professor and University Scholar in the Departments of Engineering Physics and Biomedical Engineering at McMaster and is the Canada Research Chair (Tier II) in Miniaturized Biomedical Devices. Dr. Soleymani’s research is focused on developing new materials for improving the performance of biosensors and biointerfaces. The materials developed by Dr. Soleymani has been applied to point-of-care biosensors for molecular diagnostics (landmark paper published in Nature Nanotechnology) and pathogen repellent materials (referred to as RepelWrap) that significantly reduced the accumulation of bacterial and viral contamination on surfaces (published in ACS Nano, covered extensively in mainstream media including CNN Health, and funded by the Department of National Defence). Dr. Soleymani was awarded the Ontario Early Researcher Award in 2016, the Engineering Innovation of the Year Award by the Ontario Society of Professional Engineers (Hamilton/Halton) in 2020, and the grand prize for Tech Brief’s Create the Future Contest in 2020 for her work on biosensors and biointerfces. Dr. Soleymani has 60 high-impact publications and holds several patents in the areas of biosensing and biointerfaces. Multiple patents from Dr. Soleymani’s research have been licensed by Canadian and multi-national biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies. More recently, Dr. Soleymani has co-founded a start-up company to commercialize the RepelWrap for reducing the spread of infectious disease through high touch surfaces. Dr. Soleymani is an active member of the Biomedical Engineering community and is a frequent invited speaker at international conferences such as the Electrochemical Society (ECS) meetings, American Society for Chemistry (ACS) meetings, and Pittcon. Dr. Soleymani’s research has been broadly covered by the national and international mainstream media including CTV News, CNN Health, the Guardian, and the Times of India to name a few, generating tremendous interest from the industry and healthcare communities.
Dr. Didar is an assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering, School of Biomedical Engineering and a member of the Institute for Infectious Disease Research (IIDR) at McMaster University. He is also Canada Research in Nano-Biomaterials. Before joining McMaster in 2016, Dr. Didar was a postdoctoral fellow at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University. There, he designed and developed a robust and clinically relevant extracorporeal dialysis-like treatment (DLT) device for sepsis. Since joining McMaster in 2016, he has established a world class interdisciplinary research platform on smart, multifunctional nano-biomaterials, and has fostered strategic industry collaborations within the biomedical and food sectors. Due to his contributions to this field, he was awarded the Ontario Early Researcher Award in 2019 and the Engineering Innovation of the Year Award by the Ontario Society of Professional Engineers in 2020. In 2019, Dr. Didar co-invented a plastic wrap (RepelWrap) that repels pathogens from surfaces. This technology won the 2020 Grand Prize for the Create the Future Design Concept by Tech Briefs magazine. RepelWrap is currently being adapted for halting the spread of COVID-19. Dr. Didar has published over 40 journal papers, over 10 patent applications and has presented over 30 national and international invited talks and keynote speeches.
Sophie Wade is an international keynote speaker and author of Executive MBA textbook Embracing Progress. Next Steps for the Future of Work. She is a LinkedIn Instructor with popular courses on Empathy for Sales Professionals and HR Professionals and Generation Z. After senior strategy and finance roles, she is now the Workforce Innovation Specialist and Founder of Flexcel Network, a Future-of-Work consultancy. Sophie’s executive advisory work and transformative workshops help companies adapt for current business conditions and establish sustainable ways of working for long-term growth. Her interventions enable executives and managers attract, engage, and retain a productive, multigenerational, and distributed workforce. Sophie received a BA and MA from Oxford University and an MBA from top international business school, INSEAD.
For two years, Mr. Stuart McGuigan, was a member of the Senior Executive Service, Chief Information Officer (CIO) and the Assistant-Secretary level head of the Bureau of Information Resource Management on March 25, 2019. As Chief Information Officer (CIO), he establishes technology strategic direction and provides oversight for $ 2.4B of technology programs across the Department.
Mr. McGuigan joined the Department of State from Johnson & Johnson where he was responsible for global Information Technology strategy and operations for an organization with 130,000 employees at over 170 overseas and domestic locations. With an established reputation for rapidly aligning technology innovation with global business needs, Mr. McGuigan brings over 33 year of industry background including experience as Senior Vice President and CIO of CVS Caremark, Senior Vice President and CIO of Liberty Mutual, and Senior Vice President of Information Services for Medco Health Solutions.
Mr. McGuigan earned Master of Science and Master of Philosophy degrees in the Cognitive Science program at Yale University and has a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology from Fairfield University. In 2018, Mr. McGuigan was inducted into www.CIO.com’s CIO Hall of Fame, and he is the recipient of the “Lifetime Contribution Award” from NASSCOM—India’s top not-for-profit IT organization, enabling India’s growth of its $154 billion dollar IT-Business Process Management (BPM) industry.
Tom Davenport is the President’s Distinguished Professor of Information Technology and Management at Babson College, a Visiting Professor at Oxford University’s said School of Business, a Fellow of the MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy, and Senior Advisor to Deloitte’s Analytics and AI practice. His most recent book is The AI Advantage from MIT Press, and he’s written twenty books and over 300 articles for Harvard Business Review, MIT Sloan Management Review, and many other publications. He has been named one of the world’s Top 25 Consultants by Consulting magazine, one of the 100 most influential people in IT by Ziff-Davis magazines, and one of the world’s top fifty business school professors by Fortune magazine.
R. Daniel Okonkwo, Esq. is an attorney and public policy expert with significant experience in the policy, advocacy, the nonprofit sectors. Daniel currently serves as the Market Lead—Mid-Atlantic, in Community Engagement at JPMorgan Chase & Co. In this role, he is responsible for building relationships with key stakeholders, grantmaking in the Mid-Atlantic region, and meeting the firm’s CRA obligations. Daniel also manages a national grant portfolio, which focuses on nonprofit capacity building and civil rights organizations.
Daniel comes to JPMorgan Chase from Ballast Research where he advised Fortune 500 companies on their federal and state advocacy. Prior to Ballast Research, Daniel was a founding member and the Executive Director of D.C. Lawyers for Youth (DCLY), a policy and advocacy organization that worked to reform the District’s youth justice system. While working to start DCLY, Daniel was a Senior Consultant in the Regulatory Practice Group at the EOP Group, Inc., a lobbying and political consulting firm. He started his career as a trial attorney in the Office of the Public Defender in Miami, FL where he represented clients in the County Court Division and Felony Drug Court. Prior to entering law school, Daniel had an accomplished career as a professional basketball player.
Daniel has extensive ties to the local and national nonprofit networks and municipal leaders. He currently sits on the board of the Juvenile Law Center (Philadelphia). He has served as an appointee to the District’s Juvenile Justice Advisory Group, the Safer Stronger DC Advisory Committee, the Non-Profit Advisory Committee, and most recently, the Commission on Health Equity. Daniel also values supporting local nonprofits and has been a board member of the DC Alliance of Youth Advocates, Advocates for Justice in Education, the WAMU (88.5FM) Community Council, and the National Juvenile Justice Network.
Daniel received his J.D. from Georgetown University and a B.A. from Yale University.
Ginny Clarke was most recently Director, Executive Recruiting at Google from August 2016 until November 2020. In this role, she led the Diversity, Non-tech Recruiting, and the Leadership Internal Mobility teams. Her team of North American recruiters found and hired senior leaders (Directors +) for finance, sales, marketing and other G&A functions across Google.
She recently left to form Ginny Clarke, LLC, her own talent and leadership consulting business, which includes keynote speaking, podcasting and writing. Her podcast, Fifth Dimensional Leadership is for leaders, thinkers and future-makers dedicated to creating the conscious workplace of tomorrow.
Before Google, Ginny was a Partner at Spencer Stuart, the global executive search firm, based in Chicago. For 12 years, she worked in the firm’s Financial Services and Financial Officer Practices, and co-founded and led Spencer Stuart’s Global Diversity Practice. She left Spencer Stuart to write a book titled Career Mapping: Charting Your Course in the New World of Work, which was published in 2011. The book provides a framework that empowers individuals to plot and assess their professional competencies, and strategically navigate their careers.
After the book was published, Ginny ran her own executive search and talent management firm for 3 years before becoming a Senior Partner for Executive Search in the U.S. at Knightsbridge, a Canadian human capital solutions firm.
Ginny started her career in banking at First National Bank of Chicago (now Chase). After a short stint, she spent a number of years in the real estate investment management business with Jones Lang LaSalle (“JLL”) and Prudential Real Estate Investors. Her responsibilities included asset management, portfolio management, capital raising and client servicing.
She earned her BA in French and Linguistics from the University of California at Davis, and her MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School. Ginny is the single mother of an adult son, Julian, who works in the entertainment industry.
Clay is the co-founder of Digital FastForward. He has spent most of his career helping leaders build and execute strategies around new disruptive technologies. Formerly with Forrester Research, a leading market research firm, Clay oversaw research and client advisory projects focused on digital innovation, digital automation, design thinking, and lean startup practices.
Jo has over 20 years in the PR & Communications industry, managing multiple clients and PR programs first at agencies and then in-house, running pan-European programs that align with corporate strategy.
Focused on working with internal teams to help bring our great customer stories to life. Jo likes to influence colleagues & customers to view earned media content as 'business development & prospecting collateral' that is valuable on many levels - for the sales cycle, for storytelling, for building your own internal brand & reputation!
Prior to her retirement in 2020, Jeanne Ross spent almost 27 years conducting academic research that targeted the challenges of senior business and technology leaders at large global companies. She authored four books, developed 60 case studies of innovative companies, and published in leading business outlets, including Harvard Business Review, Sloan Management Review, and The Wall Street Journal. She also taught masters and executive level classes, facilitated corporate workshops, and led discussions of business design (i.e. enterprise architecture) with executive committee members of major companies.
Banu Kannu is co-founder and chief experience officer at Uncommon Conferences, a consultancy that empowers organizations to drive change through virtual and in-person participant-led gatherings. She is a seasoned marketer, content creator and business development professional with over 15 years' international experience across several industries. She’s passionate about the big picture but doesn’t lose sight of the small details that keep everything ticking. Her diverse and international background make her an ideal bridge – between people, organizations and ideas.
With over 30 years of experience, Kumud Kalia is a global business executive who has led organizations in multiple industry sectors, from startup to large companies. He is familiar with scaling for high-growth, M&A, in/outsourcing, critical business processes and all aspects of information technology and cyber-security. Kumud has lived and worked in multiple countries, and is currently located in Silicon Valley as Chief Information Officer at biotech leader Guardant Health. He has operating experience as a cybersecurity leader, internet & cloud technology leader, and has led countless business transformation initiatives.
David Moricca is the founder & CEO of Socialive, an enterprise video creation & live streaming SaaS platform. Trusted by organizations from startups to the Fortune 100, Socialive brings unprecedented ease and scale to high-quality video content creation for teams across the enterprise.
With 15 years of leadership and innovation in digital media, David is helping drive and shape the video-first communications revolution in business. Before Socialive, David developed and launched Scholastic's first digital learning platform and worked as a strategy consultant at McKinsey & Company.
A New Jersey native, David holds a B.A. from UNC Chapel Hill and a J.D. from Harvard Law School.
With an international career spanning 15+ years, Banu Kannu has been in management roles in B2B organizations, responsible for online & offline marketing, story-telling, live & virtual unconferences, business development and strategy. Banu is passionate about better diversity, equity & inclusion practices, particularly in the maritime & energy industries. Banu has lived and worked in Australia, Singapore and China whilst travelling extensively throughout Europe, Asia & the US. All about the big picture, she never loses sight of the small details that make everything possible. Her diverse and international background makes her the ideal bridge – between people, organizations and ideas.
Jo has over 20 years in the PR & Communications industry, managing multiple clients and PR programs first at agencies and then in-house, running pan-European programs that align with corporate strategy.
Focused on working with internal teams to help bring our great customer stories to life. Jo likes to influence colleagues & customers to view earned media content as 'business development & prospecting collateral' that is valuable on many levels - for the sales cycle, for storytelling, for building your own internal brand & reputation!
With over 30 years of experience, Kumud Kalia is a global business executive who has led organizations in multiple industry sectors, from startup to large companies. Familiar with scaling for high-growth, M&A, in/outsourcing, critical business processes and all aspects of information technology and cyber-security. Kumud has lived and worked in multiple countries, currently located in Silicon Valley as Chief Information Officer at biotech leader Guardant Health. He has operating experience as a cybersecurity leader, internet & cloud technology leader, and has led countless business transformation initiatives.
Jeanne Ross conducts academic research targeting the challenges of senior business and technology leaders at large global companies, particularly the 100 companies that sponsor MIT CISR (Center for Information Systems Research). She has facilitated discussions of business design (i.e. enterprise architecture) with executive committee members of major companies.
Jo has over 20 years in the PR & Communications industry, managing multiple clients and PR programs first at agencies and then in-house, running pan-European programs that align with corporate strategy.
Focused on working with internal teams to help bring our great customer stories to life. Jo likes to influence colleagues & customers to view earned media content as 'business development & prospecting collateral' that is valuable on many levels - for the sales cycle, for storytelling, for building your own internal brand & reputation!
David Moricca is the founder & CEO of Socialive, an enterprise video creation & live streaming SaaS platform. Trusted by organizations from startups to the Fortune 100, Socialive brings unprecedented ease and scale to high-quality video content creation for teams across the enterprise.
With 15 years of leadership and innovation in digital media, David is helping drive and shape the video-first communications revolution in business. Before Socialive, David developed and launched Scholastic's first digital learning platform and worked as a strategy consultant at McKinsey & Company.
A New Jersey native, David holds a B.A. from UNC Chapel Hill and a J.D. from Harvard Law School.
Jo has over 20 years in the PR & Communications industry, managing multiple clients and PR programs first at agencies and then in-house, running pan-European programs that align with corporate strategy.
Focused on working with internal teams to help bring our great customer stories to life. Jo likes to influence colleagues & customers to view earned media content as 'business development & prospecting collateral' that is valuable on many levels - for the sales cycle, for storytelling, for building your own internal brand & reputation!