AWS Executive Insights

Most organizations are experimenting with AI. Far fewer are transforming with it. Bernhard Mühlreiter, Senior Partner at McKinsey & Company, makes the case for why that gap is closing and what it takes to be on the right side of it.In conversation with Richard Taylor, Retail and Consumer Goods Lead APJ at AWS, Mühlreiter outlines the three things that distinguish AI leaders: bold ambition, managing AI as a true transformation program, and broad-based capability building. He explores why lack of speed remains the biggest disappointment he sees in organizations today, and why, as Andy Jassy has noted, speed is ultimately a leadership decision.From T-shaped transformation frameworks to agile "digital factory" team structures, this episode offers executives a clear-eyed and practical perspective on how to move from isolated pilots to enterprise-wide AI impact.

Enterprise transformation is entering a new phase, and the organizations that get it right won't just be adopting A; they'll be fundamentally rethinking how work gets done. Rajendra Prasad, Group Chief Executive at Accenture Technology, shares how Accenture is helping enterprises use AI as an innovation lens to redesign core business processes, not just automate them.In conversation with Shaown Nandi, Vice President of AWS Technology, RP introduces Accenture's Reinvention Deployment Engineers (RDEs), a new class of talent that combines deep technology expertise, industry and business process knowledge, and change management capability to drive enterprise reinvention at scale. He also shares his framework for measuring AI ROI, why embedded instrumentation of value is non-negotiable, and what C-suite leaders need to understand about the shift from BI to AI as the new user interface.For leaders navigating the pressure to adopt AI quickly while delivering real business impact, this episode offers a practical and compelling roadmap.

Security leadership has never been just about technology, but in the age of AI, the stakes for getting it right have never been higher. George Gerchow, Chief Security Officer at Bedrock Data, brings a candid and hard-won perspective on what it takes to build high-performing security teams and lead with purpose in a rapidly evolving threat landscape.In conversation with Clarke Rodgers, Senior Principal from the Office of the CISO at AWS, George shares how the security leader's role has shifted from basement-level blocker to boardroom-level business partner, and why approachability, vulnerability, and transparency are now core leadership traits. He explores how AI is transforming both sides of the security equation, from agentic tools that help defenders scale, to AI-powered bots lowering the barrier to entry for threat actors.From DevSecOps to responsible AI frameworks to the case for reviving defense in depth, this episode offers security leaders a grounded and practical perspective on building teams and strategies that can move fast without compromising trust.

AI is reshaping not just what software can do, but how it gets built and by whom. JB Brown, VP of Engineering at Smartsheet, shares how his team is navigating that shift from both sides of the equation, developing AI-powered capabilities for customers while fundamentally rethinking how engineers do their work.In conversation with Chris McNabney, Director of Solution Architecture at AWS, JB explains how Smartsheet's intelligent work management vision, powered by a Knowledge Graph built on Amazon Neptune, is giving customers digital teammates that help drive strategic outcomes at a speed and scale previously out of reach. He also shares the concrete productivity gains his engineering teams are seeing with tools like Roo Code and Amazon Bedrock, including an 80% reduction in CI pipeline time and around a 60% drop in average token costs.From managing agentic workflows to building AI that earns enterprise trust, this episode offers engineering and product leaders a grounded look at what it takes to lead AI transformation from the front.

What does it mean to secure the world's largest hyperscale cloud, while AI rewrites the rules of identity, threat detection, and security culture? In this episode of AWS Executive Insights: Security Series, Clarke Rodgers sits down with Amy Herzog, Chief Information Security Officer at AWS, for a candid conversation on what it takes to lead security at scale in the age of AI.Amy draws on her experience leading consumer AI products to argue that security should accelerate innovation, not hinder it. She explores how AWS is deploying AI for defense, why agentic AI demands a rethink of identity, and how the Security Guardians program embeds security culture across the entire organization.

What distinguishes organizations that capture real value from AI from those still experimenting?In this episode of AWS Executive Insights, Roger Premo, Global Head of Strategy at IBM, breaks down the practical lessons behind IBM’s own AI transformation. From embedding generative AI into everyday workflows to codifying an agentic development lifecycle, IBM has paired leadership commitment with disciplined execution to drive measurable results.Premo discusses how hybrid cloud architecture enables agents to access data across heterogeneous environments, why data product management is now a business imperative, and how governance must be built into AI systems from the start. This essential discussion offers leaders a framework for moving beyond isolated pilots and building scalable, secure, and value-driven AI capabilities. Thank you to IBM for their partnership and participation in this discussion.

In this #AWSExecutiveInsights conversation, Tom Soderstrom, AWS Executive in Residence, talks with Erin Kraemer, Sr. Principal Technical Product Manager for AWS Agentic AI, who draws on 25 years at Amazon to explore how organizations move from AI experimentation to production, built on observability, guardrails, and bringing your people along the journey.

From covering the front desk as an intern to leading global business strategy, James Waters’ career at Booking.com mirrors the company’s own transformation. Now Chief Business Officer, Waters reflects on how experimentation, data-driven decision making, and a strong customer focus have powered Booking.com’s growth. As generative AI reshapes the travel industry, he shares how the company is evolving its connected trip vision while reinforcing responsible AI principles and strong technical foundations. This episode offers leaders a thoughtful perspective on scaling innovation, sustaining culture through change, and using AI to amplify human ingenuity.

Dr. Ruba Borno, AWS Vice President of Global Specialists and Partners, shares her journey from refugee to technology leader and reveals what drives purpose-driven leadership. As a daughter of Palestinian refugees who came to the U.S. during the first Gulf War, she learned early that opportunity is a gift—and believes in "leaving the ladder there" for others to climb.In this conversation with host Richard Taylor, Dr. Borno discusses building high-performing teams, leading 18,000 engineers through COVID-19, and scaling customer support through AI innovation. She shares critical leadership lessons: ask the right questions rather than having all the answers, trust your instincts, and create environments where teams can safely innovate and fail.

What does it take to migrate the heart of a nation’s banking system to the cloud?In this AWS Executive Insights fireside chat, Ben Cabanas sits down with Simon Davies, GM of Core Banking at Commonwealth Bank of Australia, to unpack one of the most mission-critical cloud transformations in financial services. With nearly 40% of Australia’s liquidity flowing through CBA’s core platform, the stakes were enormous.Simon shares how CBA migrated the world’s largest SAP core banking deployment to AWS while improving reliability, reducing infrastructure costs by 30%, and enabling real-time customer experiences. Beyond the technical achievement, he reveals how transparency, cultural alignment, and a rallying cry of “believe” helped mobilize thousands across the organization to deliver change at national scale.

What if AI's greatest potential isn't replacing humans—but empowering them? In this AWS Executive Insights fireside chat, Ian Wilson, VP of Senior Talent & Transformation at Amazon sits down with Edith Cooper, Co-Founder of Medley, Board Director at Amazon and PepsiCo, and former Goldman Sachs CHRO, to explore how leaders can navigate AI transformation while strengthening human connections. Cooper shares her "be bold and care" leadership philosophy, emphasizing that uncertainty demands more communication, not less. Discover how to create thriving workplaces where employees bring their full genius, apply human judgment to AI-driven insights, and build cultures of accountability and growth in partnership with other humans and AI technologies.

At AWS re:Invent's Executive Summit, Tom Godden, Executive in Residence at AWS, delivered a masterclass on transforming data analytics from a technical initiative to a core business driver—using Formula 1 racing as the ultimate example of data excellence in action. Learn how leading organizations leverage advanced analytics and AI to convert millions of data points into actionable insights that drive competitive advantage. Discover a proven framework for data excellence that focuses on customer-centric utilization, agile strategies, and adaptive architecture. From avoiding the "$50 million mistake" of trying to "boil the ocean" to implementing real-time analytics like F1 teams, this session reveals how to elevate your data strategy and create business victory in today's AI-powered economy.

In this rebroadcast from the Executive Summit at re:Invent, AWS Executives in Residence Jana Werner and Phil Le-Brun deliver a powerful keynote challenging traditional transformation approaches by trading the risk of massive overhauls for a culture of continuous advancement. Drawing from their experience leading large-scale change across diverse organizations, they identify 40 common anti-patterns that prevent organizations from becoming better versions of themselves. You'll hear candid stories and hard-won leadership lessons from extreme mountaineers to world-class poker players and Amazon's own Day 1 culture. This session offers fresh perspective to help you bring laser-like clarity to your goals, foster true ownership among your teams, and free your organization to move at the speed of its best ideas.