Ayna Insights

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The Ayna Insights podcast features prominent leaders and influencers shaping the industrial and industrial technology sectors, discussing topics that are critical for executives, boards, and investors. Ayna Insights is brought to you by Ayna, a premier advisory and implementation firm in the industrial technology space, providing transformation and consulting services to its clients. To learn more about Ayna, please visit our website at www.ayna.ai. The views, information, and opinions presented in this podcast are solely those of the individuals involved and do not necessarily represent those of Ayna.AI or its affiliates. This podcast should not be considered financial or investment advice. Ayna.AI or its affiliates do not verify for accuracy any of the information contained in this podcast.

  1. 1d ago

    Kris Sennesael: Why There's No AI Without Hard Disk Drives

    In this episode of the Titanium Economy Podcast, Vineet Gupta, President and Head of Semiconductor at Ayna, speaks with Kris Sennesael, Chief Financial Officer of WD, about the company's reinvention as a pure-play hard disk drive business after spinning off its SanDisk flash unit in early 2025. Kris explains why he believes there is no AI without hard drives, how cloud, model training, agentic inference, and physical AI are compounding storage demand, and where WD's technology roadmap goes as drives climb toward 100-plus terabytes. He also details the balance sheet cleanup and shareholder returns since the separation, and his view on reshoring American manufacturing. Kris Sennesael is Chief Financial Officer of WD, the storage foundation for everyone - from consumers to cloud, AI, and OEM innovators operating at massive scale. He joined in May 2025 after nine years as CFO of Skyworks Solutions, and earlier served as CFO of Enphase Energy and Standard Microsystems and in senior finance roles at ON Semiconductor, AMI Semiconductor, and Alcatel Microelectronics. He holds bachelor's and master's degrees in economics from the University of Ghent and an MBA from Vlerick Business School. Discussion Points There's No AI Without Hard Drives: AI needs vast data, and vast data lives on HDDs, which hold about 80% of the world's stored data. In the data center stack of land, power, compute, memory, and storage, hard drives the critical layer that makes the rest usable. Why the Demand Looks Durable: Deep hyperscaler engagement gives WD unusual visibility, and Kris sees cloud, model training, agentic inference, and physical AI all compounding storage needs. On customer input, he puts exabyte HDD demand growth above 25% a year over the next five years. The Road to 100-Terabyte Drives: WD's answer is capacity, not more units. From today's 32-terabyte drives, HAMR and higher areal density push the roadmap toward 100-plus terabytes, raising price per drive while cutting cost per terabyte. From Cyclical to Secular: Storage once swung with PC cycles, but Kris says about 90% of WD's revenue is now cloud and hyperscaler. Since the spinout, the team has cleaned up the balance sheet and reached net cash, with free cash flow margin nearing 30% funding a dividend and buyback. Ayna is a premier advisory and implementation firm in the industrial technology space, leveraging a team of experienced leaders to help companies and investors drive performance improvement and value creation. The host of this episode Vineet Gupta is President and Head of Semiconductor at Ayna. For More Information Kris Sennesael LinkedIn Western Digital The Titanium Economy Ayna Website

    Kris Sennesael: Why There's No AI Without Hard Disk Drives

  2. Oct 19

    Jeff Dice: Inside Winsupply's Entrepreneur-Owner Playbook

    In this episode of the Titanium Economy Podcast, Akshay Sethi, President and Head of Commercial Excellence at Ayna, speaks with Jeff Dice, President of Winsupply, about how a distributor built on local ownership grew into an $8.4 billion business without going top-down. Dice explains the equity model behind Winsupply's 680-plus independently owned locations, how it absorbs acquisitions without eroding local culture, and why he believes AI will commoditize knowledge and reward grit instead. He also walks through the company's distribution expansion and his own path from auditor to president. Jeff Dice is President of Winsupply, the Dayton, Ohio-based wholesale distributor of construction and industrial supplies with roughly $8.4 billion in annual sales across more than 680 independently owned local companies. He joined Winsupply in 2004 as a regional financial officer and rose through internal audit, technology, and the company's Equity Group before becoming its sixth president in February 2023. A CPA, he holds a bachelor's in accounting from Indiana University and a master's in supply chain management from Wright State University. Discussion Points National in Scale, Local in Ownership: Winsupply has national reach without operating like a traditional national company. It’s made up of 680-plus independent C corporations spanning plumbing, HVAC, electrical, and waterworks. Rather than funneling decisions through a central office, the model puts them in the hands of local owners. Dice sees that as an advantage when it comes to moving quickly and staying close to customers, with Dayton serving as a support system rather than a command center. The Equity Model: A typical local company is 60% owned by Winsupply, 30% by its president, and 10% by key employees. That ownership structure gives local leaders a direct stake in the outcome. They set their own pricing and participate in dividends and uncapped profit sharing, making margin something they have a personal reason to protect. Acquiring People, Not Just Companies: Across 30-plus acquisitions in a decade, Dice's first rule is do no harm, keeping the people and customer ties that made the target worth buying. Integration is paced company by company, from day one to five years out. Grit Over Knowledge in the AI Era: Dice expects AI to make knowledge less of a differentiator. If everyone has access to the same tools, he argues, the advantage shifts to the people willing to keep pushing, stay close to the customer, and do the work. Winsupply’s minority stake in Dayton AI firm Mined XAI is one way the company is putting that thinking into practice, using AI to improve forecasting, purchasing, and e-commerce. Bigger Footprint, Distributed Wealth: A 1.6 million square foot expansion across Atlanta, Oklahoma City, and Dayton aims to put product within a day of every local company. Dice sees a larger, more connected network as a way to keep wealth distributed among owners while giving local companies the flexibility to respond to their own markets. Ayna is a premier advisory and implementation firm in the industrial technology space, leveraging a team of experienced leaders to help companies and investors drive performance improvement and value creation. The host of this episode Akshay Sethi is President and Head of Commercial Excellence at Ayna. For More Information Jeff Dice LinkedIn Winsupply Inc. The Titanium Economy Ayna Website

    Jeff Dice: Inside Winsupply's Entrepreneur-Owner Playbook

  3. Oct 5

    Greg Henderson: The Littelfuse Blueprint for Safe, Efficient Energy Transfer

    In this episode of the Titanium Economy Podcast, Vineet Gupta, President and Head of Semiconductor at Ayna, speaks with Dr. Greg Henderson, President and CEO of Littelfuse. Henderson explains what Littelfuse does, protecting the safe and efficient transfer of electrical energy from milliwatt devices to megawatt grid systems, and why electrification and AI data centers are turning a slow-growth market fast. Greg also discusses the company's strategy to increase revenue through a sharper market focus, a customer-centric go-to-market approach and scaling operational excellence. The conversation also explores Greg's journey from engineer to CEO, the future of AI-driven infrastructure, and why hidden industrial technology leaders play a critical role in powering the modern economy  Dr. Greg Henderson is President and CEO of Littelfuse, the roughly $2.4 billion industrial technology company enabling the safe and efficient transfer of electrical energy across automotive, industrial, data center, and consumer markets. He joined the board in 2023 and became CEO in February 2025, after nearly three decades in semiconductors at IBM, TriQuint, Tyco Electronics, Harris, Hittite Microwave, and Analog Devices. He holds a PhD in electrical engineering from Georgia Tech and a bachelor's from Texas Tech.    Discussion Points  A Slow Market Turns Fast: Littelfuse protects electrical energy in the failure and edge cases, from milliwatt medical devices to megawatt grid systems. For 50 years the market grew about 1% a year; Henderson says EVs data centers, and other electrical demands are now pushing it toward 5%, with rising energy density driving more protection content.  The 2030 Target and the 800-Volt Shift: Littelfuse aims to nearly double revenue to $4.5 billion by 2030 at 24 to 26% margins. As data center racks move from 48 volts toward 800 volts and near a megawatt each, arcing and safety risks jump, so Littelfuse high-voltage content per kilowatt runs two to four times higher.  A Picks-and-Shovels Position: Unlike suppliers focused on a single technology, such as liquid cooling, Littelfuse is positioned across the broader data center infrastructure stack. Data center and building infrastructure accounts for roughly 19% of revenue, while the remaining business is diversified across multiple segments and approximately 100,000 customers.  The Strategic Reset: After plateauing near $2 billion in revenue and becoming too product-centric, the team reset around three priorities: sharpen focus on where to play with particular focus on high growth markets, shift the go-to-market approach from product-led to customer-led; and strengthen operational execution. Henderson views the go-to-market transformation, which has been in place since January, as potentially the company’s single biggest driver of growth.  Ayna is a premier advisory and implementation firm in the industrial technology space, leveraging a team of experienced leaders to help companies and investors drive performance improvement and value creation. The host of this episode Vineet Gupta is President and Head of Semiconductor at Ayna.  For More Information Greg Henderson LinkedIn Littelfuse Inc Littelfuse LinkedIn The Titanium Economy Ayna Website

    Greg Henderson: The Littelfuse Blueprint for Safe, Efficient Energy Transfer

  4. Sep 21

    John Engel: Conviction, Culture, and the Industrial Supercycle

    In this episode of the Titanium Economy podcast, John Engel, Chairman, President, and CEO of Wesco, talks to Gaurav Batra, CEO of Ayna, about how the company transformed into a global, tech-enabled supply chain leader through disciplined acquisitions, digital transformation, and a relentless focus on long-term value creation. He shares how and why Wesco stayed committed to its merger with Anixter during the uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic. After this merger they built a new company around a unified culture and exceeded integration and growth targets. John also discusses Wesco's approach to AI, why high-quality data is the foundation of successful digital transformation, and why he believes reshoring, electrification, and AI are driving an industrial supercycle. Recorded as part of Ayna's i250 recognition of the industrial companies shaping the American growth story, the conversation highlights the importance of culture, talent, leadership, supply chain resilience, and maintaining a long-term perspective in building enduring industrial businesses. John Engel is Chairman, President, and CEO of Wesco International, a B2B supply chain solutions leader with record 2025 sales of $23.5 billion across more than 50 countries. Its three segments span electrical and electronic, communications and security, and utility and broadband solutions. Engel joined Wesco in 2004 as Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, became CEO in 2009, and Chairman in 2011. He earlier held senior roles at Allied Signal, General Electric, and PerkinElmer.  Discussion Points Reshoring and the Industrial Supercycle: Engel calls reshoring a multi-decade realignment, not a quarterly print, with supply chain now a board- and country-level priority. Capital pouring into the US, Canada, and Mexico shows the shift is underway. He closes bullish on an industrial supercycle.  A Four-Part Leadership Playbook: Through two crises, Engel runs on four rules: protect your own capacity, hire the best talent, focus on what you can control, and stay a lifelong learner. The environment is out of your hands; the response is not. Stamina for a long race, not a sprint.    The Anixter Merger, Held Through the Crash: Announced just before the pandemic, Wesco held course through the volatility and beat its own three-year targets, delivering $2.4B in cross-sell synergies against a $170M goal.  Culture Trumps Strategy: Most big mergers fail on culture, not strategy, so Wesco built a new company with fresh vision, mission, and values from thousands of employees. Our approach to leadership was simple: the best talent wins. Put the best people in the right roles, drawing talent from Wesco, Anixter and beyond to build one high-performing leadership team.   Get the Data Right Before the AI: Data on customers, suppliers, and transactions is Wesco's biggest off-balance-sheet asset, now feeding an AI-native tech stack built on one data lake. Rush into AI without clean data, Engel warns, and you see no benefit. Prove value inside the four walls first, with tight use-case selection.  Ayna is a premier advisory and implementation firm in the industrial technology space, leveraging a team of experienced leaders to help companies and investors drive performance improvement and value creation. The host of this episode, Gaurav Batra, is CEO of Ayna. For More Information John Engel LinkedIn WESCO International The Titanium Economy ...

    John Engel: Conviction, Culture, and the Industrial Supercycle

  5. Sep 1

    Vijay Sankaran: Turning Johnson Controls Into an AI-Powered Buildings Company

    In this episode of the Titanium Economy Podcast, Akshay Sethi, President and Head of Commercial Excellence at Ayna, speaks with Vijay Sankaran, Chief Digital and Information Officer at Johnson Controls, about digitizing a company with more than 140 years of history. Sankaran explains why buildings have proven harder to digitize than other industries, how the OpenBlue platform delivers energy efficiency and predictive maintenance, and how it is evolving from dashboards into an agentic system. The conversation also covers Johnson Controls' fast-growing data center cooling business, enterprise data architecture, and cybersecurity for operational technology. Vijay Sankaran is Vice President and Chief Digital and Information Officer at Johnson Controls, the global leader in smart, healthy, and sustainable buildings, with operations in more than 150 countries. He joined in 2021 as Chief Technology Officer, leading the OpenBlue digital platform, and since 2024 has held a broader digital and customer-facing mandate across innovation and development. He was previously CIO at TD Ameritrade and spent over a decade in senior technology roles at Ford. He holds a degree in mathematics and computer science from MIT and an MBA from Duke's Fuqua School of Business, and serves on the board of Veralto Corporation. Discussion Points Why Buildings Are Harder to Digitize: Five years in, Sankaran's biggest lesson is that buildings resist digitization more than automotive or healthcare, since one building can hold devices from 50 different OEMs and portfolios mix owned, leased, and third-party-run sites. Rather than trying to be all things to all people and they’ve focused on mission-critical and large real-estate customers. Where OpenBlue Delivers ROI: The value comes through in three areas: 10 to 20% annual energy savings from optimized cooling, predictive fault detection that catches problems before they escalate, and emissions tracking for requirements such as New York's Local Law 97. Making that possible also meant teaching a hardware workforce to think beyond individual units and understand the systems they operate within. Owning the Data Center Thermal Chain: Since acquiring Silent-Aire in 2021, Johnson Controls has built an end-to-end position in data center cooling, from air-cooled chillers to coolant units near the rack, adding a 2025 strategic investment in direct-to-chip specialist Accelsius for cold-plate cooling. Data centers are now its fastest-growing segment, spanning hyperscalers and new operators worldwide. From Dashboards to Agents: Next-generation OpenBlue shifts the platform from dashboards to an agentic system, using AI to curate and normalize building data, then running vertical agents starting with hospitals. The same pattern runs enterprise-wide, where a new AI workflow reads 300-page RFPs and auto-generates quotes across ERPs. Security, and Leaders vs Laggards: As OT systems grow more connected, Sankaran points to the 2022 Tempered Networks deal and its zero-trust overlay that cloaks and encrypts building devices to shrink the attack surface. Across his career, he argues the AI winners will redesign whole processes rather than bolt agents onto every step, backed by curated data and people who think differently. Ayna is a premier advisory and implementation firm in the industrial technology space, leveraging a team of experienced leaders to help companies and investors drive performance improvement and value creation. The host of this episode Akshay Sethi is President and Head of Commercial Excellence at Ayna. For More Information Vijay Sankaran LinkedIn

    Vijay Sankaran: Turning Johnson Controls Into an AI-Powered Buildings Company

  6. Aug 3

    Mark Schwartz: Building the Operating System for Construction

    In this episode of the Titanium Economy Podcast, Mohit Jaju, President and Head of Operations Excellence at Ayna, speaks with Mark Schwartz, Group President of AECO Software at Trimble, about how a company built on positioning hardware became one of the largest software and AI platforms in construction. Mark explains why transformation is 80% people and process and only 20% technology, how Trimble moved from running acquisitions independently to integrating them from day zero, and what it takes to put AI agents on top of decades of fragmented construction data. The conversation covers Agent Studio, operational intelligence, capital discipline, and why writing code faster does not make enterprise software easy. Mark Schwartz is Group President of AECO Software at Trimble, the $3.6 billion company connecting the physical and digital worlds across construction, geospatial, and transportation. Fiscal 2025 closed with a record $2.39 billion in annualized recurring revenue as the shift to subscription nears completion. Schwartz joined via acquisition in 2010, spent a decade in finance and operations, and became Chief Digital Officer in 2020 before taking over AECO. He unveiled Trimble's AI strategy and Agent Studio at Dimensions in November 2025, followed by the April 2026 acquisition of Document Crunch. Discussion Points Why Transformation Is 80% People, Not Technology: Get the people and change management right, build the process around them, wrap technology last. Bend technology to a broken process and complexity wins. The same discipline now shapes the product: the built world as a connected system of systems, not scattered apps. From Independent Acquisitions to Day Zero Integration: A decade of leaving acquisitions alone produced fragmented teams, data, and workflows, what Schwartz calls the ‘appification’ of construction. Now integration starts on day one, led by a single contracting and go-to-market motion. Run four or five times, sharper each time. Agent Studio and the Data Beneath the Agents: Agent Studio began as an internal platform for 1,500 AECO developers, then opened to customers for their final-mile workflows. Agents are only as good as the data under them. With 39 million projects in Trimble Connect, the first win is finding what matters, from the current design to a single risk clause. Capital Discipline and the Limits of AI Code: Exiting agriculture and mobility into joint ventures left Trimble simpler to run and faster on capital allocation. On AI writing production code, Schwartz rejects the "SaaS apocalypse." The gains are real, but his team takes out more code than it adds, and a vibe-coded prototype is not secure, enterprise-grade software. Can AI Bend Construction's Flat Productivity Curve: Schwartz challenges the claim that productivity has been flat since the 1970s: buildings are more complex and safety bars far higher. AI is the next tool, like the robotic total station that turned a two-person survey into a one-person job. AI tools alone lift productivity 10 to 15%, but changing team structure and workflow first, then adding AI, drives gains of 30 to 50%. Ayna is a premier advisory and implementation firm in the industrial technology space, leveraging a team of experienced leaders to help companies and investors drive performance improvement and value creation. The host of this episode Mohit Jaju is President and Head of Operations Excellence at Ayna. For More Information Mark Schwartz LinkedIn Trimble Inc The Titanium Economy

    Mark Schwartz: Building the Operating System for Construction

  7. Jul 28

    Buvna Ayyagari: From Chip Design to Healthcare's AI Frontier

    In this episode of the Titanium Economy Podcast, Buvna Ayyagari, SVP of New Ventures at Synopsys, talks to Vineet Gupta, President and Head of Semiconductor at Ayna about how the simulation and AI capabilities that transformed chip design can also revolutionize health and life sciences. She explains how Synopsys, further strengthened by its ANSYS acquisition, is uniquely positioned to apply its multi-physics simulation and AI expertise to the hardest problems in health and life sciences. Buvna draws a parallel between the evolution of EDA in chip design and the journey ahead for healthcare, arguing that ecosystem collaboration, standardization, and reusable models are key to accelerating adoption. She also shares her personal mission to make quality healthcare universally accessible through technology, and offers career advice centered on curiosity, resilience, and following your passion. Buvna Ayyagari is SVP of New Ventures at Synopsys, where she leads the company's expansion into health and life sciences, applying AI-powered multi-physics simulation to improve patient and population-level outcomes. Her career spans senior roles at Intel, Applied Materials, and Renesas, including scaling Synopsys's Interface IP business and building a materials-to-systems digital twin platform at Applied Materials. Discussion Points Synopsys Today and the ANSYS Acquisition: Synopsys has grown from an EDA software provider into a full silicon-to-systems engineering company. The ANSYS acquisition adds deep multi-physics simulation capabilities that make the healthcare push possible. New Ventures' Charter and Healthcare's AI Inflection Point: New Ventures applies Synopsys's simulation assets beyond silicon. Healthcare AI adoption is now outpacing most other sectors, though current use is concentrated in efficiency gains rather than patient outcomes. AI-Powered Simulation in Practice: The most mature use cases are in cardiovascular medicine, spanning device design, patient-specific sizing, positioning, and post-placement risk assessment. Biology's variability and ethical constraints make it a fundamentally harder modeling problem than chip design. The EDA Playbook: Just as EDA evolved from fragmented tools into a vertically integrated, standardized workflow, Health & Life Sciences needs the same journey. Reusable, FDA-approved simulation models, shared across the ecosystem, are the key to accelerating adoption. Regulatory Progress and Economic Incentives: The FDA's growing acceptance of simulation-based evidence and emerging per-case reimbursement models are the two forces that need to align for computational healthcare to scale. Ayna is a premier advisory and implementation firm in the industrial technology space, leveraging a team of experienced leaders to help companies and investors drive performance improvement and value creation. The host of this episode Vineet Gupta is President and Head of Semiconductor at Ayna. For More Information Buvna Ayyagari LinkedIn Synopsys Inc The Titanium Economy Ayna Website

    Buvna Ayyagari: From Chip Design to Healthcare's AI Frontier

  8. Jul 13

    Scott Barbour: Inside ADS's Growth Blueprint

    In this episode of the Titanium Economy Podcast, Scott Barbour, CEO of Advanced Drainage Systems, talks with Akshay Sethi, President & Head of Commercial Excellence at Ayna, about how ADS grew from a $2 billion to $10 billion market cap through operations, acquisitions, and capital allocation. Scott explains how ADS manages stormwater and septic systems while recycling 500 million pounds of plastic annually, and how acquisitions like Infiltrator and NDS expanded their water management capabilities. The conversation covers focus, operational discipline, engineering innovation, and what it takes to attract talent to industrial businesses. Scott Barbour is President and CEO of Advanced Drainage Systems (ADS), the North American leader in stormwater and on-site septic solutions, with approximately $3 billion in revenue and a market cap exceeding $10 billion. Before ADS, he spent 27 years at Emerson Electric in senior roles across business units, geographies, and P&Ls. Since becoming CEO, Barbour has driven a 6x increase in market cap through disciplined pricing, manufacturing transformation, acquisitions including Infiltrator and NDS, and a pioneering recycled plastics strategy. Discussion Points (00:00) — Introduction & The ADS Industrial Story Scott Barbour is introduced as the CEO who grew ADS from a $2 billion to $10 billion market cap. He contextualizes ADS within the American industrial story, emphasizing the company's role in managing one of the world's most critical resources: water. (06:25) — The Three Value Creation Levers Behind 6x Market Cap Growth Barbour outlines the triad of strategic pricing, manufacturing and logistics transformation, and disciplined acquisitions that drove shareholder value creation. The Emerson-instilled philosophy of growing sales, profits, and cash in sequence is identified as the foundational financial framework. (11:04) — Material Conversion Strategy & the Infiltrator/NDS Acquisitions The long-runway opportunity in converting infrastructure from concrete and clay to high-performance plastics is examined alongside the Infiltrator and NDS acquisitions. Barbour explains how each expanded market participation, neutralized competitive threats, and diversified ADS's profit profile toward higher-margin products. (20:27) — Sustainability, Recycling, and the $65M Engineering & Technology Center Recycling 500 million pounds of plastic annually is framed as an operational and economic advantage, not a marketing construct. The $65 million engineering and technology center consolidates previously fragmented R&D, enabling disciplined development in material science, tooling, and water quality. (34:44) — Leadership Lessons, Industrial Focus, and the Talent Imperative Drawing on 27 years at Emerson, Barbour identifies capital allocation, operational focus, and avoiding strategic drift as the disciplines most critical to industrial leadership. He names attracting engineering and manufacturing talent — not capital — as the defining challenge for American industry. Ayna is a premier advisory and implementation firm in the industrial technology space, leveraging a team of experienced leaders to help companies and investors drive performance improvement and value creation. The host of this episode Akshay Sethi is President and Head of Commercial Excellence at Ayna. For More Information Scott Barbour LinkedIn ADS Website The Titanium Economy Ayna W...

    Scott Barbour: Inside ADS's Growth Blueprint
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About

The Ayna Insights podcast features prominent leaders and influencers shaping the industrial and industrial technology sectors, discussing topics that are critical for executives, boards, and investors. Ayna Insights is brought to you by Ayna, a premier advisory and implementation firm in the industrial technology space, providing transformation and consulting services to its clients. To learn more about Ayna, please visit our website at www.ayna.ai. The views, information, and opinions presented in this podcast are solely those of the individuals involved and do not necessarily represent those of Ayna.AI or its affiliates. This podcast should not be considered financial or investment advice. Ayna.AI or its affiliates do not verify for accuracy any of the information contained in this podcast.

Information

  • Creator
    Ayna
  • Years Active
    2022 - 2026
  • Episodes
    91
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 AYNA
  • Show Website
    Ayna Insights

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