Leadership in the Digital Age: Recent Episodes
Center for Digital Transformation
Welcome to Leadership in the Digital Age with Professor Vijay Gurbaxani, director of the Center for Digital Transformation at the Paul Merage School of Business at UC Irvine. Join us for thought provoking conversations with executives on the forefront of digital transformation.
Season 3, Episode 2 - Nicole Perlroth, Cybersecurity Reporter for the New York Times and author of “This Is How They Tell Me the World Ends” joins Vijay Gurbaxani to discuss the previously untold story of the cyberweapons market—the most secretive, invisible, government-backed market on earth—and offer insight into a new kind of global warfare. Based on years of reporting and hundreds of interviews, Ms. Perlroth lifts the curtain on a market in shadow, revealing the urgent threat that we face and how the US, arguably the most advanced cyber superpower in the world, has become the most targeted and vulnerable country.
Season 3, Episode 1 - UC Irvine Health has achieved some of the best results in the country for COVID patients. They’ve done this by consciously improving their practices over time, using technology to track outcomes, build feedback loops, and improve treatment protocols and clinical pathways. In this episode, Vijay Gurbaxani and Senior Industry Fellow Martin Giles speak with Dr. Daniel Chow, Board Certified Radiologist and Co-Director of the UCI Center for Artificial Intelligence in Diagnostic Medicine about his work at the hospital at the intersection of AI and healthcare.
Season 2, Episode 11 - All companies must address issues of personal data and privacy, cybersecurity, responsible and ethical use of AI, and develop the appropriate governance mechanisms. In a conversation with Vijay Gurbaxani, Lisa Hammitt, now EVP of AI at Davidson Technologies and former Global Vice President of Artificial Intelligence and Data at VISA, shares her perspective on how companies should navigate this challenging terrain.
Season 2, Episode 10 - Data is the lifeblood of both enterprises and business ecosystems. Leading data-driven organizations requires different capabilities than traditional organizations. In a conversation with Vijay Gurbaxani, DataStax CEO Chet Kapoor shares his thoughts about applying key principles of leadership and a strategic approach to technology to inspire change, promote growth, and make a difference.
Season 2, Episode 9 - Le Tote, a 7-year-old startup clothing rental company for professional women bought venerable retailer Lord & Taylor in November 2019. Then came the pandemic. By March 2020, the rug was pulled out from under Le Tote and both companies filed Chapter 11. Hear CEO Rakesh Tondon describe how the software Le Tote built, once crucial to the success of the company, remained its most valuable asset.
Season 2, Episode 8 - The self-driving challenges for a semi-truck are more complex than for cars, yet autonomous trucks are more likely to hit the market first. Learn from Kyle Quinn, SVP & CTO at PACCAR, and Sterling Anderson, Co-Founder & Chief Product Officer at Aurora, how they are working through these challenges and what it will take to get on the road.
Season 2, Episode 7 - Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB), a fund managing more than $450 billion, adopts a long-term perspective in its investment strategy. CPPIB explicitly accounts for the potential of digital disruption in evaluating its acquisition targets and emphasizes digital transformation in its portfolio companies. The company has undertaken several initiatives to transform from a deal-execution company to a software company by putting technology and data at the core of everything they do. In a conversation with Vijay Gurbaxani, Michael Zawalsky, Principal, CPPIB and Jim Walsh, CTO of GlobalLogic, discuss how they are partnering to achieve CPPIB’s vision.
Season 2, Episode 4 - IQVIA is the largest contract research organization in the world running hundreds of clinical trials for large pharmaceutical companies. When the pandemic hit, IQVIA was able to quickly apply its digital solution to maintain business continuity, initially focusing on monitoring of patients unable to get to trial sites due to lockdowns. IQVIA has also been working with LedgerDomain, a blockchain-based Communal Trust Platform, to ensure the provenance of vaccines. In a conversation with Vijay Gurbaxani, Greg Plante, Principal, R&D Advisory and Digital Transformation, and Ben Taylor, CEO of LedgerDomain, discuss the transformation of clinical trials.
Season 2, Episode 6 - Pandemic safety concerns, remote workforce, accelerating digital transformation, sustaining culture, and supporting innovation are now prominent issues on the board agenda. In a conversation with Martin Giles, CDT Senior Industry Fellow, two tech-savvy board directors, Diana McKenzie of MetLife and Change Healthcare and Melissa Lora of Conagra Brands, KB Home and MGIC Investment, discuss how their boards are addressing these issues.
Season 2, Episode 5 - T-Mobile had just merged with Sprint when the pandemic hit and online connectivity became more important than ever. In a conversation with Martin Giles, CDT Senior Industry Fellow, Cody Sanford, EVP and CIO, shares how they are managing through the challenges of business volatility, customer connectivity, and the changes in consumer behavior that will persist beyond the end of the pandemic.
Season 2, Episode 3 - Hit with an unprecedented decline in demand, United is going to where the customers are. Coming up with new app offerings, pricing, and flexible tickets for the leisure traveler, United is catering to this customer segment to survive. In a conversation with Vijay Gurbaxani, Linda Jojo, EVP Technology and CDO, describes how United is using software to accelerate and improve their airline faster than before with the intent to come out stronger, better, and more customer friendly in the end.
Season 2, Episode 2 - Carbon is the world’s leading digital manufacturing platform making custom products for companies as diverse as Adidas and Ford, at scale. In a discussion with Martin Giles, CDT Senior Industry Fellow, Joe DeSimone, Co-founder and Board Chair, shares how the company pivoted their software-driven chemistry from making helmets, running shoe soles, and car parts to making face shields and nasal swabs during the pandemic, extending their core competence into new markets on the frontline.
Season 2, Episode 1 - Since we launched the Center in 2012, we’ve tried to understand digital transformation, the business reinvention that is unleashed by the move to the digital world. This year, the global coronavirus pandemic has accelerated digital transformation. In this talk, which serves as an introduction to this year’s conference podcast series, Vijay Gurbaxani, Founding Director, explores the themes of business continuity, survival, business model innovation, and the move to a different, still unknown, economic future, one that Jerome Powell, Chairman of the Federal Reserve, has called digitally leveraged. In this episode, he shares examples of a number of companies, some fortunate, some less so, and how they have adapted.
Season 1, Episode 8 - Google is utilizing advances in machine learning and artificial intelligence to accelerate progress in everything from consumer products to healthcare and life sciences. In a conversation with Michael Chui, Partner at McKinsey Global Institute, Philip Nelson explains how AI is advancing scientific discovery today and what it will be able to do in the future.
Season 1, Episode 7 - This provocative session features industry expert Don Jones who predicts novel ways in which we will manage our own health in the near future. Expect to be surprised.
Season 1, Episode 6 - As companies embrace the next phase of the digital revolution, the business risks are increasing. Digital transformation requires large capital investments, new regulatory regimes like GDPR raise the level of complexity, and digital competence in executive (and board) ranks is essential. Three talented board members – Roxanne Austin, Board Director, Target, Abbott, AbbVie and Teledyne; Mary Dillon, CEO, Ulta Beauty and Board Director, Starbucks and KKR; Greg Spierkel, Board Director, MGM Resorts, Schneider Electric and PACCAR - all with extensive CEO experience, share their thoughts on the role of Boards in digital transformation.
Season 1, Episode 5 - Blockchain technologies, such as smart contracts and distributed ledgers, are already transforming supply chain management, payment processing, and asset protection. How will you leverage these technologies to create real business value? Hear leading authority Brian Behlendorf discuss where the technology is headed, which companies should be thinking about implementation in the next few years, and what challenges should they consider.
Season 1, Episode 4 - Ulta Beauty is a best-in-class growth story in retail, offering its customers a highly personalized experience. Offering rewards for online and instore purchasing, Ulta Beauty’s loyalty program represents a staggering 95% of revenues. Ulta Beauty is building digital expertise, both internally and through acquisitions. Hear CEO Mary Dillon describe how Ulta Beauty is leveraging its digital capabilities to become a standout leader in the beauty retail space.
Season 1, Episode 3 - Can small investments add up to financial security? Technology disruptor Acorns is betting on it. In a conversation with Michael Chui, Partner at McKinsey Global Institute, CEO Noah Kerner describes how the company saw an opportunity to change millennial perceptions about savings and investment. Powered by a sophisticated software platform, Acorns has been able to scale effectively, attracting major investors like BlackRock and PayPal and grow to over 3.5 million users investing for their future.
Season 1, Episode 2 - With outstanding growth and performance, Adobe has taken the market for creative content by storm. What did it entail to reinvent a traditional box product company into the world’s leading maker of marketing software and digital media? Hear CEO Shantanu Narayen tell how he led Adobe’s transformation and what he sees for the future.
Season 1, Episode 1 - While the digital imperative continues unabated, the context for reinvention has changed substantively. While the promise is real, the perils – dominant platforms that threaten innovation and reduce competition, privacy scandals, hate speech and fake news, black box AI, job losses, income inequality, lack of workforce diversity – have also come into clear focus. How can executives lead their companies to business success amidst a set of pressing societal challenges?