AWS Executive Insights

Dr. Ruba Borno, AWS Vice President of Global Specialists and Partners, shares her journey from refugee to technology leader and reveals what drives purpose-driven leadership. As a daughter of Palestinian refugees who came to the U.S. during the first Gulf War, she learned early that opportunity is a gift—and believes in "leaving the ladder there" for others to climb. In this conversation with host Richard Taylor, Dr. Borno discusses building high-performing teams, leading 18,000 engineers through COVID-19, and scaling customer support through AI innovation. She shares critical leadership lessons: ask the right questions rather than having all the answers, trust your instincts, and create environments where teams can safely innovate and fail.

What does it take to migrate the heart of a nation’s banking system to the cloud? In this AWS Executive Insights fireside chat, Ben Cabanas sits down with Simon Davies, GM of Core Banking at Commonwealth Bank of Australia, to unpack one of the most mission-critical cloud transformations in financial services. With nearly 40% of Australia’s liquidity flowing through CBA’s core platform, the stakes were enormous. Simon shares how CBA migrated the world’s largest SAP core banking deployment to AWS while improving reliability, reducing infrastructure costs by 30%, and enabling real-time customer experiences. Beyond the technical achievement, he reveals how transparency, cultural alignment, and a rallying cry of “believe” helped mobilize thousands across the organization to deliver change at national scale.

What if AI's greatest potential isn't replacing humans—but empowering them? In this AWS Executive Insights fireside chat, Ian Wilson, VP of Senior Talent & Transformation at Amazon sits down with Edith Cooper, Co-Founder of Medley, Board Director at Amazon and PepsiCo, and former Goldman Sachs CHRO, to explore how leaders can navigate AI transformation while strengthening human connections. Cooper shares her "be bold and care" leadership philosophy, emphasizing that uncertainty demands more communication, not less. Discover how to create thriving workplaces where employees bring their full genius, apply human judgment to AI-driven insights, and build cultures of accountability and growth in partnership with other humans and AI technologies.

At AWS re:Invent's Executive Summit, Tom Godden, Executive in Residence at AWS, delivered a masterclass on transforming data analytics from a technical initiative to a core business driver—using Formula 1 racing as the ultimate example of data excellence in action. Learn how leading organizations leverage advanced analytics and AI to convert millions of data points into actionable insights that drive competitive advantage. Discover a proven framework for data excellence that focuses on customer-centric utilization, agile strategies, and adaptive architecture. From avoiding the "$50 million mistake" of trying to "boil the ocean" to implementing real-time analytics like F1 teams, this session reveals how to elevate your data strategy and create business victory in today's AI-powered economy.

In this rebroadcast from the Executive Summit at re:Invent, AWS Executives in Residence Jana Werner and Phil Le-Brun deliver a powerful keynote challenging traditional transformation approaches by trading the risk of massive overhauls for a culture of continuous advancement. Drawing from their experience leading large-scale change across diverse organizations, they identify 40 common anti-patterns that prevent organizations from becoming better versions of themselves. You'll hear candid stories and hard-won leadership lessons from extreme mountaineers to world-class poker players and Amazon's own Day 1 culture. This session offers fresh perspective to help you bring laser-like clarity to your goals, foster true ownership among your teams, and free your organization to move at the speed of its best ideas.

Andrew Ng is one of the world’s leading experts on AI, having co-founded DeepLearning.AI, serving as MGP of AI Fund, and as an adjunct professor at Harvard. In this special recap episode from the AWS Executive Summit, Ng sits down with Ishit Vachhrajani, AWS Global Head of Technology, AI, and Analytics for a unique 360-degree view of AI leadership challenges and opportunities organizations will face in 2026. Discover Ng's perspective on AI leadership as shaped by his practical startup experience, enterprise governance insights, and deep technical expertise, as well as his insights into how Amazon draws — and keeps — its leadership talent.

In this special encore episode from AWS re:Invent, AWS CEO Matt Garman joins Acquired podcast co-hosts Ben Gilbert and David Rosenthal for an in-depth conversation on AI, agents, and the future of business. Listen in as Garman shares his leadership journey from AWS intern to CEO, discusses why inference is becoming a fundamental building block for developers, and reveals how AI is enabling smaller teams to deliver exponentially more value. He also explores the organizational shifts enterprises must make to stay competitive, the evolution of agentic AI, and why agility and speed remain critical regardless of technological change. To catch the full interview session featuring additional speakers, Max Neukirchen (J.P. Morgan Payments), Greg Peters (Netflix), and Aravind Srivinas (Perplexity), click here to watch on YouTube -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ExjNvGYDiU.

Explore how AI is transforming consumer goods execution with Arvind Mathur, AWS Executive in Residence, and Anupam Sinha, CEO and Co-founder of Vxceed. Anupam reveals how Consumer Packed Goods (CPG) companies are leveraging predictive AI, generative AI, and agentic AI to close the execution reality gap that has plagued traditional trade for decades—turning delayed insights into real-time market responsiveness. From preventing stock-outs to achieving autonomous trade promotion optimization, discover how forward-thinking leaders are protecting market share against digital-first insurgent brands penetrating traditional retail channels. Learn why your field execution strategy—powered by AI that delivers actionable intelligence—has become your most critical competitive advantage in markets where traditional trade still drives 95% of volume.

How will agentic AI reshape tomorrow’s workforce? Join AWS Executives in Residence Stephen Brozovich, Jake Burns, and Miriam McLemore for a look at how agentic AI is changing entire enterprises—not just IT departments. Unlike previous technology shifts, agentic AI demands integrated cross-functional teams and a fundamental rethinking of competitive advantage. Our experts share candid thoughts on upskilling existing employees over hiring new talent, transforming data from siloed assets into accessible strategic resources, and building authentic experimentation cultures where leadership genuinely rewards risk-taking. Discover why your proprietary data—not the AI technology itself—will become your key differentiator, and learn how to build the agile, integrated teams essential for AI implementation success.

In this fireside chat with AWS CEO Matt Garman and AWS VP of Global Services, Uwem Ukpong, hear about the latest developments at AWS and why they matter to your business. Featured at the AWS Executive Summit at re:Invent, this discussion addresses everything from navigating data sovereignty with the European Sovereign Cloud, to building custom AI models with Nova Forge and Trainium chips, to transforming software development with frontier agents. Learn how AWS is helping enterprises unlock AI's full potential while maintaining control of their data and reimagining how teams work.

How do you run one of the world’s largest sovereign wealth funds (nearly $2 trillion) while innovating responsibly? In this episode of AWS Executive Insights, hear from Birgitte Byrne, CTO & COO of Norway’s Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM), about how NBIM is leveraging data-driven decision making and AI innovation to achieve resilience in the financial world. Take a listen as Tanuja Randery, AWS Managing Director for EMEA, interviews Byrne about NBIM's disciplined approach to digital transformation, including their decision to migrate to AWS public cloud and groundbreaking “Investment Simulator,” which uses AI to optimize trading decisions. Listeners will gain actionable insights on balancing innovation with pragmatism, building a culture of resilience, and leveraging generative AI for competitive advantage.

Discover how Amazon measures and improves developer experience at enterprise scale in this interview with Jim Haughwout, VP of Software Builder Experience at Amazon. Drawing from Amazon's retail business expertise, Jim reveals how the "cost to serve" metric transforms developer productivity measurement by focusing on system-level efficiency rather than individual performance. Learn how Amazon balances developer autonomy with standardization, implements tension metrics to prevent gaming, and leverages AI to re-imagine software development workflows. This essential discussion provides practical frameworks for quantifying developer experience improvements and connecting them directly to business value, from deployment automation to AI-assisted development at scale.

In this episode, we sit down with Lawrence Fong, Director of Digital and IT at Cathay Group, as he reveals how one of Asia's premier airlines is leveraging AI and machine learning to transform every aspect of their operations. Drawing from his 30+ years of experience at Cathay Pacific, Lawrence shares practical insights on building customer-centric digital transformation, fostering innovation culture, and managing change in the volatile aviation industry. Together with AWS Enterprise Strategist Xia Zhang, Lawrence discusses how leaders in highly regulated industries can embrace digital culture, build agile teams, and create innovation frameworks that drive measurable business outcomes while maintaining premium service standards.

Explore the transformative power of agentic AI with AWS Executives in Residence Tom Soderstrom and Miriam McLemore as they reveal how organizations can turn overwhelming data volume into actionable business outcomes. Drawing from their extensive experience leading digital transformation at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Coca-Cola respectively, our experts share practical insights on overcoming data paralysis, breaking down organizational silos, and implementing a culture of experimentation. From Formula 1's ruthless prioritization of data insights to NASA's global data sharing strategy, this episode provides real-world data success stories and essential guidance for business and IT leaders navigating the intersection of structured and unstructured data in the era of generative and agentic AI.

In this episode of AWS Executive Insights, Tanuja Randery, VP and Managing Director of EMEA for AWS interviews Darren O'Kelly, CEO of Untold Studios, a next-generation creative powerhouse that has earned BAFTA and Grammy nominations for its groundbreaking work across advertising, music, and film. The conversation explores O'Kelly's journey from traditional VFX production to co-founding an entirely cloud-based creative studio that launched in just six weeks, challenging industry conventions with projects ranging from Super Bowl commercials to Netflix's "The Crown." O'Kelly shares his leadership philosophy of combining "two-thirds experience and one-third naivety," discussing how this approach has enabled Untold Studios to build a culture of excellence that attracts global talent, including major artists like Adele, Billie Eilish, and Oasis. The discussion also delves into the impact of AI and emerging technologies on the creative industry, O'Kelly's commitment to mentorship and diversity, and his vision for the future of storytelling.

Learn how to balance AI innovation with risk management in this episode of AWS Executive Insights, featuring Adam Marré, CISO at Arctic Wolf. Drawing from his unique background spanning everything from the US Army, to video game design at Disney Interactive, to FBI cybercrime investigations, Marré shares his perspective on building next-generation security operations and navigating AI security controls in today's threat landscape. He offers advice for translating security risk into business language, managing third-party risk, and implementing AI-powered security operations without replacing human judgment. Marré also discusses the value of building more diverse security teams through programs like Tech-Moms. This conversation is essential listening for security leaders navigating the intersection of AI innovation, talent development, and enterprise risk management.

Dive into the "AI multiverse" with AWS Executives in Residence Jake Burns and Tom Soderstrom as they explore why some organizations are seeing massive productivity gains with agentic AI while others struggle to see value. Drawing from their extensive enterprise experience, they reveal how treating AI agents like human team members - with clear specifications, iterative feedback, and proper context - can unlock unprecedented productivity gains that far exceed the reported 30% improvements. Burns and Soderstrom share practical insights on creating a culture of experimentation, emphasizing why traditional ROI metrics may hinder innovation and why "return on attention" could be a better early indicator of success. From leveraging multi-agent systems to democratizing AI adoption through "centers of engagement," this episode offers essential guidance for leaders seeking to position their organizations on the right side of AI transformation. Don't miss these actionable strategies for winning in the age of agentic AI!

In this episode, we’re unpacking the remarkable cultural transformation of Guardian Life, a 165-year old insurance company that’s embracing startup thinking to drive innovation. Hear from Erin Culek, Head of Financial Protection and Retirement Solutions at Guardian, as she discusses how combining AI solutions with customer-centric innovation has dramatically improved the company’s service delivery, reducing four-week processes to near-instant results. Drawing from her experience leading both strategy and business operations, Culek shares how Guardian's "test and learn" culture combined with Amazon’s “two-pizza team” approach is accelerating digital transformation across the enterprise. From fostering a culture of experimentation to implementing transformative AI initiatives, this episode offers essential insights for leaders navigating legacy transformation. Don’t miss this inspiring conversation about turning institutional wisdom into competitive advantage through startup thinking.

Examine the evolving landscape of digital trust and identity security with Jacob DePriest, VP of Security and CISO at 1Password. Drawing from his diverse experience at the NSA, GitHub, and 1Password, DePriest shares best practices for managing shadow AI, implementing confidential computing, and addressing the emerging challenges of agentic AI. He emphasizes the critical balance between enabling innovation and maintaining robust security measures in an AI-driven world. From securing credentials with advanced authentication to navigating the complexities of AI governance, this episode examines how to build trust and security in an era where AI is reshaping digital identity management.

Join Olympic silver medalist Jenna Strauch as she shares powerful insights from her remarkable journey to Olympic success. Drawing parallels between elite sport and business leadership, Strauch reveals how data-driven decision-making, constructive feedback, and a focus on process over outcomes drives high performance. She discusses building resilient teams, managing setbacks, and fostering a culture where failure leads to growth. Her experience as part of the Australian Dolphins' leadership team demonstrates that true success comes from valuing people and mentoring the next generation of leaders. This episode is essential listening for leaders looking to empower high-performance teams through times of high-stress and transformation.