When to Buy Versus Build AI Capabilities

In this special episode, host Cindi Howson pulls together the most useful, and hard-won, lessons from a year of conversations with Data Chiefs leading the GenAI charge. With generative and agentic AI no longer a side experiment, this episode spotlights five practices early adopters can rely on to move from pilots to profit. Expect straight talk on what to prioritize, how to bring people with you, and how to scale AI with the trust, literacy, and guardrails that make impact stick.

Key Moments:

• Tying AI to Real Dollars with Anand Iyer, Ecolab (02:10): Anand cuts through the GenAI FOMO and brings everything back to a simple survival test: if you can’t draw a straight line from an AI initiative to top-line growth or bottom-line savings, it won’t last. His lesson is a sharp reminder that “cool” doesn’t scale, value does. 
• Leading Through Ambiguity with Karen Stroup, WEX (06:01): Karen names what everyone’s feeling: ambiguity is paralyzing. She explains how leaders earn trust by shrinking the unknown into learnable, bite-sized experiments and creating the psychological safety people need to engage instead of resist.
• Building Practical AI Literacy at Scale with Josh Cunningham, Lloyds Banking Group (12:42):  Josh shares how Lloyds Banking Group makes literacy impactful by meeting people where they are. Rather than one-size-fits-all training, they pair broad fundamentals with role-specific learning so every business unit can build confidence in ways that match their actual work. 
• Scaling Responsible Agentic AI with Noelle Russell, AI Leadership Institute (25:09): Noelle steps in with a practical framework for building agentic systems that don’t go rogue. She walks through the POET framework and stresses that responsible AI isn’t a final checkpoint. It’s something you embed from the first idea to production, with guardrails that protect people and outcomes.
• Embedding AI Where Work Happens with Ilan Twig, Navan (32:35): Ilan tells a classic early-adopter story: start with a business problem, move fast, and be ruthless about what needs building versus buying. His lesson is that AI wins when it’s inside the workflow, supporting decisions at the point of impact rather than living in a separate tool. 
• Don’t Let Perfection Stall Progress with Ketan Karkhanis, ThoughtSpot (40:59): Ketan shares a culture gut-check: waiting for perfect metrics, perfect KPIs, or perfect clarity is how progress dies. He argues for visible, trust-building iteration, because in AI, speed to learning beats speed to certainty. 

Key Quotes:

• “One thing that people sometimes forget is that at the end of the day, it's all about are we either saving money or making money? And are you able to show that in the bottom line or the top line in a measurable way?” - Anand Iyer
• “I don't think there's any chief anything officer that should not be considering AI today. I think if you're not considering AI, you are at the risk of being disrupted because you're not going to be learning at the pace with the rest of the industry, and there's someone out there looking for a better way.” - Karen Stroup
• “It’s trying your best to meet people where they are… Finding a way to anchor the [AI] learning to something that's relevant to their day-to-day role is always going to make it land better.” - Josh Cunningham
• “ When people lose 70% of their trust in you, they just don't buy from you, they don't work for you, they don't talk about you… and your business starts to die. I think that trust component is a human component… and it is underpinning all the other philosophies that I have.” - Noelle Russell
• “When you asked me about how to educate yourself on AI, I think that companies must make a decision, and quickly, this or that.” - Ilan Twig
• “ Don't let perfection be the enemy of progress.” - Ketan Karkhanis

Guest Bios 

Anand Iyer

Anand Iyer is the SVP, Chief Data Officer at Ecolab, where he leads the company’s global data and analytics strategy. Based in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, he oversees enterprise data governance, business intelligence, engineering, and advanced analytics to accelerate Ecolab’s digital transformation. Since joining in 2018, Anand has held several senior roles, including VP of Enterprise Architecture and VP of Architecture for Commercial Digital Solutions, helping to scale IoT and data-driven platforms across the organization.

Karen Stroup

Karen joined WEX in 2022 as Chief Digital Officer, a newly created role. She brings more than 15 years of experience leading product management, digital, and innovation organizations focused on software as a service offerings, primarily in financial services.

Josh Cunningham

Josh Cunningham is the Group Head of Data and AI Culture at Lloyds Banking Group, where he leads the Data Culture Pillar—one of five strategic pillars in the Group’s data strategy. He is focused on embedding data-driven mindsets across the organization and empowering teams to unlock the full value of data.

Noelle Russell

Noelle Russell is a multi-award-winning speaker, author, and AI Executive who specializes in transforming businesses through strategic AI adoption. She is a revenue growth + cost optimization expert, 4x Microsoft Responsible AI MVP, and named the #1 Agentic AI Leader in 2025. She has led teams at NPR, Microsoft, IBM, AWS and Amazon Alexa, and is a consistent champion for Data and AI literacy and is the founder of the "I ❤️ AI" Community teaching responsible AI for everyone.

Ilan Twig

Ilan Twig is the co-founder and Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of Navan, the leading modern travel and expense management platform, globally. As CTO, Ilan drives Navan’s product development and engineering efforts, leveraging cutting-edge technologies — including AI — to enhance user experience and operational efficiency. 

Ketan Karkhanis

Ketan Karkhanis is the CEO of ThoughtSpot, the Agentic Analytics Platform company. Prior to joining the company in September 2024, Ketan was the Executive Vice President and General Manager of Sales Cloud at Salesforce. He returned to Salesforce in March 2022 after his time as the COO of Turvo, an emerging supply-chain collaboration platform. 

Hear more from Cindi Howson here. Sponsored by ThoughtSpot.