Rewiring Systems to Scale AI From Demos to Deliverables - Nina Edwards of Prudential Insurance
Release Date: 12/19/2025
Turning Market Shifts into Field Action for Medtech Commercial Teams - with Mike Monovoukas & Alex Wakefield of AcuityMD
The AI in Business Podcast
The reliance on historical data and manual CRM entry has created a significant gap between internal strategy and the real-time signals driving today’s complex medical technology market. In this episode, Mike Monovoukas, CEO and Co-founder, and Alex Wakefield, CRO at AcuityMD, examine how operationalizing AI through proactive market signals and field-based insights can drive revenue growth by increasing representative effectiveness. The discussion outlines frameworks for achieving 10x efficiency gains by integrating voice-driven workflows and predictive data to accelerate territory onboarding...
info_outline
Why Manual K-1 Workflows Are Breaking Under Modern Tax Complexity - with Ken Powell of K1x
The AI in Business Podcast
In today's episode sponsored by K1x, the accounting sector faces a critical inflection point as a deficit of 300,000 professionals intersects with escalating regulatory complexity and a doubling of alternative investment data. Ken Powell, Chief Revenue Officer at K1x, examines how sophisticated tax technology is facilitating a transition from experimental pilot programs to the institutional deployment of automated workflows that neutralize the limitations of manual compliance. The discussion outlines a strategic framework for implementing straight-through processing to extract intricate,...
info_outline
Building a Virtuous Cycle of Analytics in Global Enterprises - with Barry McCardel of Hex
The AI in Business Podcast
Enterprise data estates often optimize for platform expansion over decision velocity, producing reporting layers that signal activity but fail to accelerate strategic outcomes. In this episode, Barry McCardel, CEO at Hex, examines how leading organizations can compress the gap between executive questions and decision-grade insight to materially increase the enterprise value of data. The discussion focuses on tightening feedback loops, operationalizing collaborative and AI-augmented analysis, and redefining data ROI around adoption, trust, and measurable business impact rather than production...
info_outline
AI Use Cases, Deployment, and Measuring Real-World ROI - with Ylan Kazi of Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Dakota
The AI in Business Podcast
Today’s guest is Ylan Kazi, Chief Data and AI Officer at Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Dakota. With deep experience leading enterprise AI strategy in regulated healthcare, Ylan brings a grounded perspective on how organizations can innovate responsibly with emerging technology. Ylan joins Emerj Emerj Client Narrative & Content Strategy Lead Nick Gertsch to discuss how healthcare leaders can approach AI adoption through clear organizational posture, strong governance, and a focus on measurable customer and operational value. Ylan also shares practical takeaways, including balancing...
info_outline
Operationalizing Customer Service at Scale with Outcome-Driven Agentic AI - with Craig Walker of Dialpad
The AI in Business Podcast
Customer service leaders face rising pressure to resolve more interactions faster, while maintaining high-quality experiences — and many legacy systems and processes can’t keep up. In this episode, Craig Walker, CEO of Dialpad, joins Daniel Faggella, Emerj CEO and Head of Research, to break down how AI can augment human agents to handle routine requests like order status and password resets, freeing teams to focus on complex issues. He shares actionable strategies for enterprise leaders, from cleaning knowledge bases and analyzing ticket patterns to running controlled pilots and scaling AI...
info_outline
Pricing Changes in Small Commercial Without Governance Debt - with Barbara Stacer of Utica National Insurance Group
The AI in Business Podcast
The critical bottleneck in small commercial pricing is no longer the actuarial model itself, but the operational friction and administrative stagnation that occurs during the transition from indication to production deployment. In this episode, Barbara Stacer, Vice President and Head of Small Commercial Underwriting and Underwriting Operations at Utica National Insurance Group, unpacks how carriers can eliminate premium leakage and accelerate speed-to-market by implementing standardized operational infrastructure to automate versioning, documentation, and governance. The discussion outlines a...
info_outline
Funding Agentic AI in HR Without Losing Control - with Carey Smith of Blue Cross and Blue Shield
The AI in Business Podcast
Today’s guest is Carey Smith, Former President and CIO of XcelerateHealth and Chief Technology Innovation Officer (CTIO) of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota. XcelerateHealth is a health-tech startup and business unit of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota, focused on AI-driven digital products to transform healthcare insurance experiences. Carey joins Emerj’s Nick Gertsch to discuss how leaders can structure talent and workforce AI so decisions are consistent, reviewable, and aligned with organizational controls. Smith also shares practical steps for tightening decision rights,...
info_outline
Rethinking Pharma Commercial Targeting with AI - with Philip Poulidis of ODAIA
The AI in Business Podcast
Commercial life‑sciences teams are facing a widening gap between strong brand strategy and fragmented real‑world execution, driven by misaligned workflows, static targeting, and an inability to act at the speed patients move through their therapeutic journeys. In this episode, Philip Poulidis, CEO and Co-founder of ODAIA, unpacks how AI can close that gap by connecting brand intent to real‑time execution, enabling teams to prioritize the right HCPs, orchestrate engagement, and measure impact through outcomes rather than activity metrics. He highlights the practical shifts required to get...
info_outline
How AI Is Reshaping Shutdown and Turnaround Operations - with Raghu Ahobilam of NOV
The AI in Business Podcast
Today’s guest is Raghu Ahobilam, Global Director of Inventory and Assets at NOV. Raghu brings global leadership experience across inventory management, asset strategy, and operational transformation in the energy and industrial manufacturing sector. Raghu joins Daniel Faggella Emerj CEO and Head of Research to examine how enterprise data foundations and emerging AI capabilities are reshaping maintenance, asset utilization, and cross-functional decision-making in complex, legacy environments. Raghu also shares practical approaches to building KPI-driven dashboards, prioritizing predictive use...
info_outline
Trusted AI Architectures for Risk and Compliance Leaders - with Dean Alms & Eric Hensley of Aravo
The AI in Business Podcast
Enterprise risk leaders are currently struggling to move beyond static, episodic checklists while managing the data "fire hose" generated by continuous monitoring. In this episode, Dean Alms, Chief Product Officer, and Eric Hensley, Chief Technology Officer at Aravo, break down how AI-native orchestration transforms fragmented risk data into a holistic, board-level resilience strategy. They examine practical shifts toward exception-based monitoring, the automation of rote tasks like document ingestion, and the necessity of governing "responsible AI" practices within the vendor ecosystem. This...
info_outlineToday’s guest is Nina Edwards, Vice President of Emerging Technology and Innovation at Prudential Insurance. With decades of experience driving strategy, innovation, and AI-enabled growth at leading financial and consulting firms, Nina brings deep expertise in applied intelligence and emerging technology. Nina joins Emerj Editorial Director Matthew DeMello to unpack why 95% of AI pilots fail to deliver enterprise value and reveal strategies for translating productivity gains into measurable ROI by ditching pre-AI metrics. Nina also shares practical takeaways, including protected sandboxes that slash approval cycles from months to days, unified KPI glossaries standardizing cycle time and exception rates, outcome charters targeting business value, and human-centered operating models shifting teams from doing to deciding to scale pilots enterprise-wide. This episode is sponsored by Moody’s. Learn how brands work with Emerj and other Emerj Media options at emerj.com/ad1. Want to share your AI adoption story with executive peers? Click emerj.com/expert2 for more information and to be a potential future guest on the ‘AI in Business’ podcast!