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Stuart McGuigan to Deliver Keynote Address at the Spark Executive Forum



STATELINE, Nev., Feb. 8, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Spark Executive Forum is pleased to announce that Stuart McGuigan, Former CIO at the US Department of State and Johnson & Johnson, will serve as the opening keynote speaker during the two-day event taking place April 20-21 in Napa, California.


In his keynote, McGuigan will discuss how organizations can focus on creating business value while balancing corporate culture, risk, technology, and innovation priorities. McGuigan is an industry thought leader having previously served as Global CIO of Johnson & Johnson, CVS Caremark and Liberty Mutual, along with his most recent experience at the US Department of State. During his term, he led several transformational initiatives including the US Department of State's journey during the COVID-19 crisis. 


Yates Ltd, sole sponsor of the Spark Executive Forum, is a leading consulting firm that helps clients develop strategic partnerships that enable new business models, drive innovation, create savings, and deliver transformational outcomes. Yates created the Spark Executive Forum to provide senior leaders with a private, non-commercial venue for collaboration and idea exchange on relevant issues, opportunities and trends impacting their business. Founded in 2018, Spark has become a premier event for C-level executives, attracting participation from some of the most influential and prominent leaders in the business and technology leadership community.


"The meaning of business value varies across organizations, but understanding the specific goals and drivers for each organization is crucial for success. The recent global changes we are experiencing have made this focus more critical, but in some ways - more elusive," said Charlotte Yates, Founder of the Spark Executive Forum and CEO of Yates Ltd. "Stuart is a visionary leader and has valuable insights to address this topic head on, and provide crucial guidance on how C-suite executives can navigate the opportunity in front of them. We're thrilled to have him keynote our April Spark session."


More information on the Spark Executive Forum can be found here. 


For Spark Executive Forum 

Michael Voellinger, Managing Director 

mvoellinger@yatesltd.com     


SOURCE Yates Ltd


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Enterprises Aim to Move Beyond Pilots, Accelerate Consumption of AI in 2024—Everest Group, Yates Ltd. Despite the global economic turndown, enterprises widely adopted AI in 2023, with generative AI playing a substantial role, according to a survey of CIOs conducted by Everest Group and Yates Ltd. DALLAS, January 18, 2024 — If chief information officers (CIOs) have their way in 2024, expect to see more enterprises making adoption of generative artificial intelligence (gen AI) a strategic priority with an aim to move past small pilots to scaled implementations. This forecast summarizes the sentiments of more than 100 CIOs interviewed by Everest Group in collaboration with Yates Ltd. The survey also revealed that improving the velocity of existing operations is the primary motivation driving enterprise gen AI initiatives. Key Findings from the Survey: Sixty-one percent (61%) of global enterprises are actively exploring and piloting gen AI and 22% have already deployed gen AI for at least one or more processes. Another 15% plan to pilot gen AI soon. The three top objectives CIOs are trying to achieve through gen AI are: accelerating consumption of existing digital tools reducing the latency of knowledge sharing shortening the product development lifecycle. CIOs identifying their top three challenges to scaling gen AI initiatives most often named lack of clarity on success metrics (73%), budget/cost concerns (68%) and the fast-evolving technology landscape (64%). Additionally, 55% named data security and privacy concerns, while 41% cited talent shortage. See the full press release here . You can also access the full report here .
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WPP to Deliver Keynote Address at the Spark Executive Forum AI Session STATELINE, NEVADA, USA, November 2, 2023 /EINPresswire.com/ -- The Spark Executive Forum is pleased to announce that Yuri Aguiar, Chief Enterprise Data Officer at WPP, and Roy Armale, SVP of Product and Platform at WPP, will co-keynote the AI-focused session taking place November 8, 2023, in New York City. In their joint keynote, Armale will discuss how WPP is utilizing generative AI to spur innovation and create business value both internally and externally for clients. Aguiar will cover the elements of scale when working with enterprise data and the efforts to automate a complex environment of structured and unstructured data. "Generative AI has created a step change in the way large enterprises are thinking about what’s possible in terms of efficiency, growth, and competitive advantage, but it requires planning for an entirely new set of opportunities and challenges," said Charlotte Yates, Founder of the Spark Executive Forum and CEO of Yates Ltd. "Senior executives need a fresh approach to setting strategy and a risk framework that accelerates the evaluation of partners, investments, and use cases. WPP has been at the forefront of AI adoption, and we’re thrilled to have them join us to share their story and key learnings.” “Yuri and I are honored to speak at the Spark Executive Forum this year,” said Roy Armale, SVP of Product and Platform at WPP. “AI continues to be a driving force behind WPP’s technology strategy and transformation and is reshaping the landscape of the advertising industry at an unprecedented scale. We look forward to delving into this topic with business leaders at the Forum.” Yates Ltd, organizer and sole presenter of the Spark Executive Forum, is a leading consulting firm that helps clients create the strategy, roadmaps, funding, and execution plans to modernize their operations and achieve critical business goals. Spark provides senior leaders with a private, non-commercial venue for collaboration and idea exchange on relevant issues, opportunities, and trends impacting their business. Founded in 2018, Spark has become a premier event for C-level executives, attracting participation from some of the most influential and prominent leaders in business and technology. For Yates Ltd: Michael Voellinger Yates Ltd +1 201-888-1925
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If you missed it, please see CEO Charlotte Yates and Managing Director Michael Voellinger in this recent LinkedIn Live event hosted by Everest Group: Software-defined platform operations is a rising trend unlocking immense potential in businesses. It allows businesses to think holistically about how they create value and how that value is measured. The model also accelerates innovation by productizing the dynamics between operations and technology. This shift to a product and platform-based mindset can produce greater organizational agility and customer focus and achieve goals and value faster. But success requires new recruiting and retention strategies, organization designs, strategic supplier relationships, and ongoing change management. Join moderator Michael Voellinger, Managing Director at Yates Ltd., with Peter Bendor-Samuel, Founder and CEO at Everest Group, Charlotte Yates, Founder and CEO at Yates Ltd., and Stuart McGuigan, Former Chief Information Officer at Johnson & Johnson, as they explore the path to software-defined operating platforms and the ways in which organizations must learn, adapt, and make new investments. Our speakers will explore: ✅ How companies can embrace and drive change through a platform mindset ✅ How to implement a new governance structure to support software-defined operating platforms ✅ How to adapt to a different trajectory of investments
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