92. AI vs. Humans in the Boardroom: Whom Do You Trust, with Babs Ryan.
Release Date: 03/03/2026
100. Building Effective Boards in a Changing World with Ray Garcia
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In this episode of On Boards, co-hosts Joe Ayoub and Raza Shaikh welcome Ray Garcia, senior partner at PwC and leader of PwC’s Governance Insights Center, to discuss findings from its 2026 Annual Corporate Directors Survey. Drawing on responses from more than 600 corporate directors, Garcia explores how boards can improve their effectiveness, strengthen strategic oversight and adapt to a rapidly changing business environment. The conversation examines board assessments, cybersecurity and AI governance, the quality of information directors receive from management, and the need for more...
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99. What's Your Story with Anouk Pappers
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In this episode of On Boards, hosts Joe Ayoub and Raza Shaikh speak with Anouk Pappers, CEO of Signitt and founder of CoolBrands People. As a brand anthropologist, Anouk advises board directors, C-suite executives and leadership teams on developing their executive narrative and building their digital reputation. Throughout her career, Anouk has interviewed more than 900 CEOs, board members and business owners around the world, publishing 15 books around their stories. Anouk shares why networking for a board seat is a long-term process built on relationships, reputation and trust. She...
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98. Turning the Board into a Competitive Advantage with Betsy Atkins
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In this episode of On Boards, hosts Joe Ayoub and Raza Shaikh speak with Betsy Atkins, a three-time CEO, serial entrepreneur, and one of the most experienced public company directors in the U.S., having served on more than 38 public boards and through 17 IPOs. Betsy explains why a board stuck in an oversight mindset can never be a competitive asset, and what it actually takes for directors to lean into growth and innovation: mentoring the CEO, becoming a thought partner, opening doors, and thinking like an owner. She makes the case that the attributes that matter most in a director today are...
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97. The Modern Boardroom Playbook with Jonathan Foster
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In this episode of On Boards, Jonathan Foster joins hosts Joe Ayoub and Raza Shaikh to discuss what makes a board effective in today’s evolving governance landscape. Jonathan is the founder and managing partner of Current Capitals Partners. Drawing from his experience serving on more than 50 boards, Jonathan’s book, On Board: The Modern Playbook for Corporate Governance, shares lessons on board evaluations, activist thinking, shareholder accountability, and why the best directors listen first. The conversation also explores how boards should approach CEO activism, director...
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96. Board Matchmaker: Building Global Networks with Mark Hamill
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In this episode, Joe Ayoub and Raza Shaikh welcome Mark Hamill, CEO of The Naked Headhunter and co-founder of the Virtual Advisory Board (VAB). Mark shares the origin story of VAB from its start during the COVID-19 pandemic and how it scaled into a global network of over 1,300 members spanning 4,000 boards. The conversation dives into the power of peer-to-peer networks, the mechanics of building effective boards, and the tangible ROI that strong boards can deliver. They also unpack the realities of board recruitment, what it takes to land a first board seat, and why clarity of expertise...
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95. Curiosity, AI, and the Future of the Boardroom with Rod Adkins
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In this episode of On Boards, hosts Joe Ayoub and Raza Shaikh speak with Rod Adkins, board chairman, former IBM executive, and author of Curiosity Redefines the Limits. Rod shares insights from nearly 25 years of board experience, focusing on how directors can effectively oversee risk in an era of rapid technological disruption. The conversation explores how boards are evolving their governance structures to address increasingly complex risks tied to technology, cybersecurity, and artificial intelligence. Rod explains why traditional audit committees are often no longer sufficient on...
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94. Bringing Good Governance Home: Inside Co-op and Condo Boardrooms with Tina Larsson
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In this episode of On Boards, hosts Joe Ayoub and Raza Shaikh speak with Tina Larsson, a former Wall Street analyst, co-founder of The Folsom Group, and author of Living The High Life. Tina works with co-op, condo, and other HOA boards to improve governance to reduce costs, manage major building projects and oversee their shared residence effectively. Tina shares how she and her husband became involved in board governance after discovering that their New York City co-op board was poorly managed and incurring significant unnecessary expenses. After organizing their co-op neighbors...
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93. Multi-generational family businesses with David Karofsky
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In this episode of On Boards, hosts Joe Ayoub and Raza Shaikh welcome David Karofsky, a principal consultant with The Family Business Consulting Group and co-author of So, you're in the Family Business: A Guide to Sustainability. David brings both professional expertise and personal experience to the discussion, having grown up in a multi-generational family business and later building a family business consulting practice alongside his father. Most recently, his son Adam has also joined David in his consulting practice. He shares how family businesses operate at the unique intersection...
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92. AI vs. Humans in the Boardroom: Whom Do You Trust, with Babs Ryan.
On Boards Podcast
In this episode of On Boards, hosts Joe Ayoub and Raza Shaikh speak with Babs Ryan, an innovation executive, board director, and AI strategist with experience spanning global technology, marketing, consumer products, and financial services. Ryan discusses the evolving role of artificial intelligence in governance, the future of AI on boards of directors, and realistic scenarios for AI adoption, in a discussion about the possible ways AI can be integrated into boardrooms. The episode also explores broader governance issues, including board refreshment and oversight responsibilities, and how AI...
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91. Reinforcing Board Cybersecurity with Gary Evee
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In this episode of On Boards, hosts Joe Ayoub and Raza Shaikh welcome Gary Evee, cybersecurity leader and founder and CEO of Aprivé. His company is pioneering a concierge approach to cybersecurity protection, providing services that protect high-value individuals and families from the digital threat landscape. Drawing on more than 25 years of experience across IBM, cybersecurity leadership, and board service, Gary explains how breaches increasingly originate through individuals rather than systems. He highlights how personal devices, home networks, and online data exposure create...
info_outlineIn this episode of On Boards, hosts Joe Ayoub and Raza Shaikh speak with Babs Ryan, an innovation executive, board director, and AI strategist with experience spanning global technology, marketing, consumer products, and financial services.
Ryan discusses the evolving role of artificial intelligence in governance, the future of AI on boards of directors, and realistic scenarios for AI adoption, in a discussion about the possible ways AI can be integrated into boardrooms.
The episode also explores broader governance issues, including board refreshment and oversight responsibilities, and how AI could help surface blind spots in leadership decision-making.
Key takeaways
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AI as an accelerator
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Ryan believes that an AI entity on the board could be programmed to make decisions in the best interests of shareholders.
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AI would be able to look far beyond a typical human board members’ scope of knowledge and realm of experience.
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Organizations should focus on strategic and operational priorities with CEOs applying AI to those priorities, where it would be most effective.
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AI is evolving in the boardroom but not enough to take a board seat, at least in the near future
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Short term: Boards receive education on how to utilize AI as a tool to prepare for meetings, review minutes and retrieve information.
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Mid-term: Focus on strategy and building confidence with AI and use it to challenge assumptions and help identify blind spots and risks.
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Trust in AI, like trust in new board members, must be earned over time through consistent, reliable contributions.
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Legal, regulatory, and cultural readiness will ultimately determine how far AI can go, and when, in serving formal governance roles
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- Exposing governance weaknesses
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Concerns about AI exposing bias or underperformance point to broader challenges around board evaluation and refreshment.
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AI adoption in the boardroom may accelerate necessary conversations about board member accountability, succession, and governance discipline.
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Strong boards with high-performing directors are more likely to welcome AI-enabled scrutiny.
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Quotes
“ AI is not a strategy and it's not a product. It's an accelerator, something that helps you do something else better, faster, higher quality.”
“People should stop looking for the ‘use case’ for AI and focus on their current strategic and operational priorities and then apply AI where it makes sense.”
“An AI entity on the board… can be programmed to actually give decisions or answers in the best interest of the shareholders, which people don’t always do.”
Links
The Board Selection Short List: Will It Be You or AI?
Guest Bio
Babs Ryan was chief innovation officer of GE Capital’s largest division where one of her many patents generated $800M in incremental revenue. A dual US/UK citizen, she has been onsite in 97 countries. She was a director and audit committee member of Workers Federal Credit Union with $2.6B in assets, overseeing M&A negotiations and CEO succession.
She is strategic advisor for Kintera AI, offering no code back-office processing/reconciliation and regulatory violation remediation for banks; board director and investment committee member at MarTech Main Street, Inc., a private multigenerational family business; and an advisory board director at Aviva Labs, a global beauty/aesthetics manufacturer and distributor.
Babs has also served as CEO of a marketing agency acquired by WPP, SVP of innovation at Capgemini’s product design division (AI, digital twins, biosensors, MedTech, robotics), Agile principal at Thoughtworks, and GVP digital transformation at Publicis Sapient.