Walter Haydock, StackAware: In Search Of AI Governance Certification
From The Road to Accountable AI by Kevin Werbach
April 9, 2026 · 33 min · Season 5 · Episode 5
About this episode
Walter Haydock discusses the need for AI governance certification and the importance of quantitative risk assessment in AI management.
Walter Haydock draws a direct line from military risk management to the enterprise AI challenge. His argues that organizations need to stop doing "math with colors," and move toward quantitative assessment that assigns dollar values to potential AI failures. Much of the conversation in this episode focuses on ISO 42001, the global standard for AI management systems, which Haydock has championed and which his own firm has gone through. He draws a three-part taxonomy of AI governance frameworks: legislation you either comply with or don't, voluntary self-attestable frameworks like the NIST AI RMF, and externally certifiable standards like ISO 42001 that bring independent verification. Haydock outlines a forward-looking vision in which certification, insurance, and legal safe harbors reinforce one another. Machine-readable audit data will eventually allow insurers to make informed underwriting decisions about AI risk, reducing uncertainty for both enterprises and their customers. Though, as he acknowledges, we are still far from that environment, with AI audits today still roughly 90% manual. Walter Haydock is the founder of StackAware, which helps AI-powered companies manage…
People in this episode
Host: Kevin Werbach
Guest: Walter Haydock
Topics covered
- AI governance
- risk management
- ISO standards
- quantitative assessment
- enterprise AI
- certification
Keywords
- AI governance
- ISO 42001
- risk management
- quantitative assessment
- certification
- NIST AI RMF
- enterprise AI
- audit data
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: StackAware, NIST, ISO 42001, U.S. Marine Corps, Homeland Security Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives, National Counterterrorism Center
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