PwC Pulse - a business podcast for executives PwC

As fractured geopolitics, social tensions and global events unfold, we are presented with opportunities to strengthen trust among our stakeholders. It is more important than ever to build growth strategies that emphasize diversity, equity and inclusion, and motivate people to support the needs of our communities.   

In this episode, Shannon Schuyler, PwC’s Chief Purpose and Inclusion Officer, is joined by Carin Taylor, Chief Diversity Officer of Workday, to discuss how building trust through transparency and leveraging the right data can drive an equitable future for businesses, their people and communities at large.

For the full transcript, please visit pwc.com

About the podcast participants
Shannon Schuyler is PwC’s US Chief Purpose & Inclusion Officer - working to activate PwC’s purpose to build trust in society and solve important problems and to create a fulfilling employee experience.

Responsible for furthering diversity, inclusion and equity across the firm’s workforce, she connects purpose with belonging to create an environment in the firm that celebrates identity and intersectionality as a way to drive innovation and business value.

Shannon worked alongside US Chair and Senior Partner Tim Ryan to lead CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion™, the largest CEO-driven business commitment to advance diversity and inclusion. In this role, she drove the strategy for engaging more than 2,400 company CEOs, academic institutions and associations.

Carin Taylor is chief diversity officer at Workday and has global responsibility for the development and execution of Workday’s inclusion and diversity strategy. Additionally, Carin serves on the board of Watermark, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to increase the number of women in leadership positions.

Prior to joining Workday, Carin served as the head of diversity, inclusion, and innovation at Genentech where she was responsible for strategic initiatives including executive coaching, building and leading highly effective teams, and increasing employee engagement. She was also responsible for creating strategies to successfully recruit, develop, and retain diverse workforces as well as enabling large organizations to leverage diversity and inclusion to drive innovation. Before Genentech, Carin held various positions in human resources, inclusion and diversity, finance, and customer service at Cisco Systems.

Companies have been using artificial intelligence (AI) technology for years. But as AI rapidly evolves, it has the power to reshape industries and transform today’s businesses. How can AI improve your business? What is Generative AI? What are the risks to consider?

In this episode, Joe Atkinson, PwC’s Chief Products and Technology Officer, is joined by Ramayya Krishnan, Dean of Heinz College of Information Systems and Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon University, to explore the evolution of AI, how it can unlock opportunities and the critical role ethics and responsibility will play in its success.

For the full transcript and speaker bios, please visit pwc.com.

The metaverse has attracted both a lot of attention and a lot of skepticism. But first, what is the metaverse? What are the possible risks, how does it connect to web3 and how can businesses build trust into their metaverse activities from the start?

In this episode, Roberto Hernandez, PwC’s Global Metaverse Leader and US Customer Strategy & Experience Leader, is joined by Chris Duffey, Head of AI Innovation and Strategy for Adobe, at PwC’s Emerging Tech Exchange. Listen as they discuss these questions and the current and future impact of these emerging technologies on the business landscape.

To learn more on the topics and research discussed, check out PwC’s 2023 Metaverse Predictions.

For the full transcript, please visit pwc.com.

About the podcast participants
Roberto Hernandez is a Principal in PwC’s Consumer Finance practice. He has extensive experience in advising banking and lending clients on customer experience, strategy, operations , risk management, process improvement, and consumer compliance. Roberto has over 17 years experience in the financial services industry in both a consulting capacity and also working for two of the top 10 global financial institutions. Roberto is a frequent speaker at industry conferences and the author of several news articles as well as whitepapers on the topics of customer experience, operational strategy, regulatory compliance response, and target operating model design.

Chris Duffey spearheads Adobe’s strategic development design partnerships across the creative enterprise space. 
Chris’ keynotes have received over 50 million impressions and his work has been featured by more than 100 global media outlets on topics including the Metaverse, Web3, NFTs, DAOs, generative experience design, computational creativity, the role of human + machine, and AI-enhanced creativity. 
Chris is the author of the award-winning book Superhuman Innovation, the world’s first book co-authored by AI about AI. And has written the forthcoming book Decoding the Metaverse: Expand Your Business Using Web3.

It’s no secret that fast fashion often drives the clothing industry. Business models hinge on the concept that styles can change quickly — and it’s essential to keep up. But quick pivots also can correlate with low quality products that can add to landfills and contribute to unsustainable business practices.

Allbirds is among the companies looking to kick the habit. Not only has Allbirds established aggressive sustainability goals, but it’s also backing them up with results. In this episode Alan Jones, National TMT Deals Leader and San Francisco Office Managing Partner at PwC, is joined by Joey Zwillinger, Co-CEO at Allbirds, to discuss how companies can take their sustainability initiatives to a higher level.

About the podcast participants

Alan Jones, serves as the Managing Partner of PwC's Bay Area & Northwest market, responsible for leading a team of more than 4,300 PwC professionals across San Francisco, San Jose, Sacramento, Seattle and Portland offices.

Joey Zwillinger Co-CEO at Allbirds has long been passionate about making things from renewable resources, which led him to start Allbirds and begin tackling sustainability issues in the fashion industry.

For the full transcript, please visit pwc.com

Big challenges can yield big payoffs — for everyone. That’s why some companies are positioning themselves to be game changers. These companies are innovating new technologies that can enable exponential returns on investments at the center of new business models and pointing it towards solving major societal challenges, all to create value for stakeholders along the way.

In this episode, Sundar Subramanian, US Strategy& Leader, is joined by Heather Lavallee, CEO of Voya Financial, to explore how game-changing companies like Voya are challenging the status quo and redefining the future of business.

About the podcast participants

Sundar Subramanian serves as the PwC US Strategy& Leader. He brings an investor mindset to value creation. By applying systems thinking and advanced analytics to decision-making, Sundar builds business models, improves performance and creates transformative value.

Heather Lavallee is chief executive officer, and a board member, of Voya Financial, Inc. With 30 years of experience in the financial services industry, Heather is a collaborative leader who excels in building high-performing businesses. Prior to assuming her current roles, Lavallee served as the company’s president and CEO-elect, overseeing Voya’s Workplace Solutions and Investment Management businesses, as well as Voya’s technology and data organizations, strategy and risk teams. Previously at Voya, Heather served as CEO of Wealth Solutions, and prior to that she was president of the company’s Tax-Exempt Markets business, and earlier she was president of Employee Benefits (now Health Solutions).

For the full transcript, please visit pwc.com

After a series of crises, from the pandemic to geopolitical issues to the current economic conditions, executives are becoming seasoned in handling challenges. Today we’ll explore how executives can evaluate evolving risks, meet the changing needs of their stakeholders and lean into the strengths of their organization.
In this episode Julia Lamm, Workforce Transformation Principal at PwC, is joined by Melanie Foley, Executive Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer at Liberty Mutual, to discuss the challenges executives are facing today and what they can focus on to keep their companies moving forward.

About the podcast participants

Julia Lamm serves as PwC’s Workforce Transformation Principal focusing on financial services clients. She is a leader in the development of PwC’s point of view on the workforce of the future and how financial institutions are responding post-COVID. In addition to her work with clients, Julia is a featured thought leader at PwC, and is often cited in the media including The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg and CNBC.

Melanie Foley is Executive Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer of Liberty Mutual Insurance. In her role, she leads Liberty Mutual’s talent, procurement, brand and communications, real estate, community investments, sustainability, and workplace services functions.

For the full transcript, please visit pwc.com