Ayna Insights

Lewis “Lou” Von Thaer is President and CEO of Battelle, the world’s largest independent nonprofit applied science and technology organization. With a team of over 40,000 highly skilled and trained employees, Battelle provides companies and governmental agencies with comprehensive scientific solutions, serving multiple markets, including health care, industry, national security, infrastructure, and...

Ludovic Phalippou is a specialist in asset management with a focus on investments in private-equity funds. He is a professor of financial economics at Oxford’s Saïd Business School, heads their FAME Group, and has strong links with senior practitioners in the industry. He speaks at practitioner conferences, appears in the media internationally, and is the author of Private Equity Laid Bare. Here,...

Chetan Dube, founder and CEO of Amelia, an industry-leading cognitive agent, has an ambitious goal: to free mankind from the shackles of mundane daily tasks and chores so creative minds can soar and create a better world for all of us. According to Chetan, with AI at a tipping point of exceeding human levels of comprehension, it is no longer a choice for businesses to use AI or not; it is a choice...

Brett Cope, President and CEO of Powell Industries recounts his leadership of a 75-year-old family business with a can-do attitude. He shines a light on the importance of culture in enabling a small company to weather the many economic storms and stay on the path of continuous improvement and value creation despite business cyclicality. Powell Industries designs, manufactures, and services custom-...

Meghan Juday is chairman of the board at Ideal Industries, a family-owned multinational corporation engaged in diversified industries. In this describes her firsthand experience of managing a successful family-run business. A key advantage is a long-term perspective, expressed on the company’s website as “seeing our business in generations, not quarters,” which fosters an entrepreneurial culture....

HEICO Corporation’s turnaround story has created headlines for the past 20 years. The company designs, manufactures, and sells aerospace, defense, and electronics-related products and services in the United States and internationally. It can boast of a decade of industry-leading operational performance and shareholder value creation, propelled by its acquisition and transformation of 88 businesses...

Gregory Rustowicz, Vice President of Finance and CFO of Columbus McKinnon, shares his thoughts on the company’s strong track record of value creation and resilience through the pandemic and the changing dynamics in the material handling industry. Columbus McKinnon is a global leader in lifting and motion-control technology, and they are “moving businesses forward with smart solutions for high-valu...

Robert (Bob) L. Luddy, one of the most talented, persistent, and enduring entrepreneurs in the U.S., shares his journey of transforming CaptiveAire to an industry leader. Bob discusses CaptiveAire’s focus on continuous growth and improvement, the rich culture of perfection, and the passion of bringing right technologies and products to its customers.   Founded by Bob in 1976 as a small fire suppre...

Chris Krebs, a renowned expert in cybersecurity, shares his thoughts on the current issues facing cybersecurity around the world, including the current situation in Ukraine, the 2020 election, the Colonial Pipeline hack, and other attacks on critical infrastructure. He also discusses how organizations can anticipate, prevent, and recover from these types of attacks in the future.   Mr. Krebs is a...

Rodrigo Liang, CEO and co-founder of one of the most well funded AI start-ups – SambaNova Systems – talks about the rapid transition to the AI world, the parallels of this transition with the internet era, and the industries that are already witnessing disruptions through AI. Rodrigo discusses the fundamental shift required in the hardware architecture and the merits of a software-first approach o...

Professor Christopher Monroe, an international leader in quantum computing, discusses the current state of play in the space, the path to quantum advantage, and the applications that will benefit once we get there. He also shares his views on increased consolidation that he expects to see amongst quantum computing players going forward and the need for greater collaboration between the different c...

Professor Hany Farid is called the ‘father of digital forensics’. In this episode hediscusses the pace of development in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the threats and opportunities presented by fully synthesized content. He also suggests the need for fundamental change in the business model for the technology sector, especially in context of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML...

Professor John Martinis is a a pioneering thought leader in quantum computing. In this episode he offers an insider’s view of the present and future of the technology that could revolutionize computing and the industries that depend on it. Dr. Martinis is a professor of physics at the University of California, Santa Barbara, set out to prove quantum supremacy over classical computers. His research...