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Episode 990

Talent Strategies for an AI Future: CIO Insights from TD SYNNEX, Zurich, and Western Digital

July 3, 2025
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About the Guest

Kristie Grinnell

Chief Information Officer at TD SYNNEX
Kristie Grinnell is Chief Information Officer of TD SYNNEX, a Fortune 100 global technology distributor. She joined TD SYNNEX in January 2025 and leads the company’s technology and digital strategy to enable customer and partner success at scale.

Madhu Ramamurthy

Chief Information Officer at Zurich North America
Madhu Ramamurthy is Chief Information Officer of Zurich North America, a highly regulated insurance leader where she’s driven digital and AI transformation for more than two decades, enabling incremental adoption of emerging technologies while maintaining compliance and trust.

Sesh Tirumala

Chief Information Officer at Western Digital
Sesh Tirumala is Chief Information Officer of Western Digital, one of the world’s largest data storage providers. At Western Digital, he oversees global IT, aligning the company’s architecture, operations, and talent strategy with its innovation agenda.

Episode Overview

In this episode of Technovation, we feature a panel from the Metis Strategy Summit moderated by Ozlem Ulusoy, exploring how senior technology executives are preparing their talent for an AI-driven future.

Joining the conversation are Kristie Grinnell, CIO of TD SYNNEX; Madhu Ramamurthy, CIO of Zurich North America; and Sesh Tirumala, CIO of Western Digital. Together, they share how they create safe spaces for experimentation, assess and reskill their workforce, and strike the balance between innovation and governance.

The panelists discuss approaches to building transparent and explainable AI models, retaining subject matter expertise, and aligning people, process, and technology to unlock business value while managing risk.

Topics include:

  • Creating “playgrounds” for safe AI experimentation

  • Building transparent, incremental AI in regulated industries

  • Assessing and reskilling talent across IT architecture, data, and operations

  • Balancing insourcing, outsourcing, and SME development

  • Fostering a mindset of curiosity, business literacy, and innovation

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