Technovation with Peter High (CIO, CTO, CDO, CXO Interviews)

The binding constraint on AI adoption is not access to tools. It is the organizational fear and mindset shift required to reimagine work entirely. In this episode of Technovation, Peter High speaks with Kristie Grinnell, EVP and Chief Information Officer at TD SYNNEX, about building company-wide AI fluency across a global workforce of nearly 30,000 employees. Grinnell joined TD SYNNEX roughly two years ago and holds executive sponsorship of its AI fluency strategy alongside full IT operational scope. She describes how TD SYNNEX structured fluency at three tiers, required every ELT member to produce an AI plan, and built Fluidworks.ai as an internal factory to scale governed AI across the organization. Key Highlights: Why AI adoption fails as a change management problem before it fails as a technology problem How a tiered fluency certification gives every employee a concrete path to AI readiness Why every AI agent at TD SYNNEX must carry a registered identity and a named human owner How agentic SOC triage turned tier-1 analysts into threat hunters Why TD SYNNEX policy holds employees accountable for the AI outputs they use This episode is sponsored by Tines. This episode is presented by Tines: Freedom to build. Complete security. No compromises. Learn more at tines.io

Most generative AI programs stall at the pilot stage. Zoetis reached 95% computer-based colleague adoption. In this episode of Technovation, Peter High speaks with Keith Sarbaugh, Chief Digital and Technology Officer at Zoetis, about how the world’s leading animal health company built an AI platform that colleagues actually use, and how Sarbaugh measures whether any of it is working. Sarbaugh spent over two decades in human pharmaceuticals at companies including Eli Lilly and Biogen before joining Zoetis in 2023. He now oversees IT, AI, data, cybersecurity, and global customer experience, and describes the role as more hybrid business-technology leader than traditional CIO. Key Highlights: Why Zoetis built a model-agnostic platform (Zen AI) with 10–11 LLMs rather than standardizing on one How a 350-person global Change Champion Network drove adoption faster than any top-down mandate What Sarbaugh’s Business Value Realization Framework requires teams to define before a project begins Where agentic AI earns its place: rules-based, high-value decisions like supply chain demand forecasting Why aggregating all customer touchpoints at 10x prior volume revealed service failures that NPS never could This episode is sponsored by Tines. This episode is presented by Tines: Freedom to build. Complete security. No compromises. Learn more at tines.io

Mastercard processes billions of transactions, and fraud doesn’t wait for rules-based systems to catch up. In this episode of Technovation, Peter High speaks with Nirav Mehta, Chief Technology Officer at Mastercard Services, about how the company uses AI to score transactions in the milliseconds between a card tap and approval, and what it takes to build that kind of infrastructure at scale. Nirav leads engineering, analytics, and decisioning for Mastercard’s $14B Services business, which spans fraud prevention, threat intelligence, data commercialization, and emerging agentic commerce. He explains how Decision Intelligence Pro prevented roughly $13B in fraud in 2026 alone before the holiday season, why the company treats data unification as a use-case-first problem rather than an architecture mandate, and how agentic commerce today resembles the early web, competing standards, good intent, unresolved identity questions. He also makes the case that senior technology leaders need to stay hands-on, not just well-read. Key Highlights: Decision Intelligence Pro stopped approximately $13 billion in fraud in 2026 year-to-date by applying AI models in the milliseconds between card tap and transaction approval Mastercard’s Data Commercialization Platform reduced location-data staleness from 8-10 weeks to hours and cut processing time from multiple weeks to under 10 minutes Agentic commerce is still in early-standards chaos, Mehta compares it to the web in its first years, and Mastercard’s bet is that its payments trust transfers directly to machine-to-machine contexts GenAI is compressing engineering team size: a two-person pod plus ten AI agents is already viable for smaller programs, and the scarce skill is now systems thinking, not coding ability Mehta makes the case for hands-on experimentation over passive learning, logging 1-1.5 hours of personal vibe coding daily since December 2025 This episode is sponsored by Tines. Freedom to build. Complete security. No compromises. Learn more at tines.io

AI is reshaping every stage of pharmaceutical distribution, but only if the organization is built to absorb it. In this episode of Technovation, Peter High speaks with Pawan Verma, Executive Vice President and Chief Data and Information Officer at Cencora, about leading technology and data strategy at one of the world’s largest healthcare companies ($320B+ in revenue, 5 million pharmaceuticals moving through its network daily). Verma joined Cencora in 2024 after serving as Global CIO at MetLife, with earlier leadership at Foot Locker, Target, and Verizon, a cross-industry arc that shapes how he thinks about patient access, workforce transformation, and what AI can and cannot replace in leadership. Key Highlights: Why “centered-out” change management outperforms both top-down mandates and bottoms-up experimentation How Cencora evaluates AI investments against a four-bucket prioritization model, including long-term sustaining value Where AI is shortening the pharmaceutical chain: virtual clinical cohorts, faster drug discovery, and real-time inventory optimization Why pharmaceutical supply chains demand a different standard of precision than conventional logistics What AI cannot replace: the ability to unlearn, reframe on new emotional data, and hold authentic human connection This episode is sponsored by Tines. This episode is presented by Tines: Freedom to build. Complete security. No compromises. Learn more at tines.io

What separates a great founder from a great company? For XYZ Venture Capital Founder and Managing Partner Ross Fubini, execution is only part of the equation. The company also needs to find its “wave.” In this episode of Technoventure, Fubini joins Peter High to unpack the investment philosophy behind XYZ’s bets on founder networks, defense technology, and AI. Drawing on his experience as an engineer, entrepreneur, executive coach, and investor, he explores: Why XYZ built an early thesis around the Palantir talent network What Fubini saw in Anduril before other investors embraced defense technology Why exceptional execution still needs a market “wave” How AI changes software development, defensibility, and venture investing Why forward-deployed engineers are becoming increasingly important Fubini also shares how he personally uses AI to research, challenge investment theses, and sharpen his thinking.

What happens when AI moves beyond generating content and starts autonomously optimizing the physical world? In this episode of Technovation, Peter High speaks with Riaz Raihan, Senior Vice President and Chief Digital Officer of Trane Technologies, about how the company is applying AI, connected equipment, and massive volumes of IoT data to make buildings more autonomous and energy efficient. Riaz explains how BrainBox AI acts as an “autopilot” for complex HVAC systems, continuously making small adjustments to optimize energy use without sacrificing comfort. He also discusses Trane Technologies’ three-pillar AI strategy, responsible data use and cybersecurity, and a future in which smart, resilient buildings coordinate energy consumption, storage, and generation autonomously.   This episode is presented by Tines — Freedom to build. Complete security. No compromises. Learn more at tines.io  

Bobcat is transforming machines that were once physical “tool carriers” into software-enabled, connected products. Behind that evolution is a broader effort to modernize the digital foundation of the business. In this episode of Technovation, Peter High speaks with Bobcat Chief Digital Officer Roy Greco about harmonizing global processes, building a trusted data intelligence platform, and scaling practical AI applications. They explore how Bobcat is: Building a digital foundation for faster growth Preparing trusted data for AI and analytics Applying AI to equipment service and logistics Bringing voice-enabled AI into machines Using connected equipment to improve customer uptime This episode is presented by Tines — Freedom to build. Complete security. No compromises. Learn more at tines.io This episode is also presented by Retool — Build internal software better, with AI. Learn more at retool.com

Moving from reactive operations to predictive AI starts with trusted data. In this episode of Technovation, Peter High speaks with Ajay Waghray, EVP and Chief Information Officer of PG&E, about the technology, data, process, and people transformation behind the company’s shift toward more predictive and proactive operations. Waghray explains how PG&E combines trusted asset, weather, environmental, sensor, and smart-meter data to support continuous monitoring and AI-driven decision-making. He shares how these capabilities have helped avoid 19 million outage minutes, prevent 28 potential ignitions, and eliminate more than 5,000 emergency response hours. The conversation also explores PG&E’s three-pillar AI strategy, foundation, democratization, and execution, and why cybersecurity, responsible AI, and standardized processes must advance together. Listen to the full episode to hear how PG&E is building the foundation for predictive AI at enterprise scale. This episode is presented by Tines — Freedom to build. Complete security. No compromises. Learn more at tines.io This episode is also presented by Retool — Build internal software better, with AI. Learn more at retool.com