The Exchange: PwC's AI Leadership Series

Erik Brynjolfsson is the Jerry Yang and Akiko Yamazaki Professor and Senior Fellow at the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered AI (HAI), and Director of the Stanford Digital Economy Lab. He also is the Ralph Landau Senior Fellow at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research (SIEPR), Professor by Courtesy at the Stanford Graduate School of Business and Stanford Department of Economics, and a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER).

One of the most-cited authors on the economics of information, Brynjolfsson was among the first researchers to measure productivity contributions of IT and the complementary role of organizational capital and other intangibles. He has done pioneering research on digital commerce, the Long Tail, bundling and pricing models, intangible assets and the effects of IT on business strategy, productivity and performance.

Brynjolfsson speaks globally and is the author of nine books including, with co-author Andrew McAfee, best-seller The Second Machine Age: Work, Progress and Prosperity in a Time of Brilliant Technologies, and Machine, Platform, Crowd: Harnessing Our Digital Future as well as over 100 academic articles and five patents. He holds Bachelors and Master's degrees from Harvard University in applied mathematics and decision sciences and a PhD from MIT in managerial economics. His papers can be found at https://www.brynjolfsson.com/research.

Tim is currently Chief Technology Officer and Senior Vice President, Digital Core, at Eli Lilly and Company where he is responsible for technology strategy, global tech enterprise capabilities, the AI and automation centers of excellence, and the Lilly Tech Innovation Center based in Bengaluru, India. In this role, he directs a global portfolio of tech initiatives in partnership with Lilly information technology and business executives to achieve strategic business objectives. Projects delivered within his portfolio have been recognized nationally for digital innovation and visionary leadership, including the CIO100 Award and FutureEdge 50 Award as well as the Bio-IT World Best Practices Award in Clinical Research. In addition to corporate digital leadership, Tim serves on the board of directors for Yseop, a tech company focused on AI and natural language generation for regulated industries.

Tim has held several positions in the Tech@Lilly organization supporting research & development, US and Global sales and marketing, and manufacturing. In addition, he has held business roles in the Human Resources and Sales & Marketing components, including P&L responsibility as District Sales Leader for the Lilly Osteoporosis Specialty Business Unit. Tim earned his Bachelor of Science in Industrial Management and Computer Science from Purdue University and was honored to receive the Purdue Distinguished Alumni Award. Tim also earned his Master of Management (MBA) from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University in marketing and health service management.

Tim is a passionate advocate for STEM youth education and enjoys giving to support his community.

Stephane Kasriel is the Vice President of Product Management at Meta Fundamental AI Research (FAIR). He previously led Meta Financial Technologies, overseeing all payments across Meta’s platforms. He joined Meta, then called Facebook, in 2020 as VP of Product for its cryptocurrency offering, Libra.

Stephane was previously CEO of Upwork, where he led the company through its IPO in 2018. Stephane was an early employee at PayPal serving as global head of consumer products and managing director of PayPal France.

Stephane has played key roles in organizations including the World Economic Forum and the California Governor’s Future of Work Commission. He holds an MBA from INSEAD, a MS from Stanford in Computer Science and a BS from Ecole Polytechnique in France.

Michelle K. Lee is a digital transformation strategist, AI expert, and CEO & Founder of Obsidian Strategies, a firm that advises companies on identifying their highest return-on-investment digital transformation opportunities and deploying “responsible AI” solutions. Ms. Lee spent most of her professional career building some of our country’s most innovative, data-driven companies (Amazon and Google) and brings inter-disciplinary perspectives to her engagements based upon her experiences at the top levels of technology, law, business and government.

Recently, Ms. Lee was Vice President of the Machine Learning (ML) Solutions Lab and Computer Vision businesses at Amazon Web Services (AWS). In this role, Ms. Lee led a global professional services team to help envision the art of the possible and practical with machine learning to create new lines of business, enhance customer experiences and increase operational efficiencies. The team worked with countless companies across many industries to identify and implement their ML opportunities. Ms. Lee also led AWS’ computer vision business worldwide and was the business executive responsible for establishing AWS’ responsible AI efforts and team. Through these experiences, she has a unique understanding of the most fruitful applications of ML ripe for positive impact within organizations.

Before Amazon, Ms. Lee served as the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). She led one of the largest intellectual property offices in the world and was the principal advisor to the President, through the Secretary of Commerce, on intellectual property policies. In this role, Ms. Lee brought AI and data analytics to this 200+ year old governmental agency to increase the quality, speed and consistency of patents issued. Prior to public service, Ms. Lee was an executive for 8 years at Google, a company that powerfully leverages data to drive revenues and enhance customer experiences.

Ms. Lee is a frequent speaker on AI, innovation and digital transformation, including with the Wall Street Journal, The World Knowledge Forum, Fortune, Bloomberg, NPR, the MIT Sloan Management Review, and at South-by-Southwest on topics such as “Unlock[ing] the Predictive Power of Machine Learning,” “Machine Learning and Your Business: The Journey from Concept to Reality,” “7 Lessons To Ensure Successful Machine Learning Projects,” and “Deploying Real World Machine Learning.”

Ms. Lee is an MIT AI Lab-trained computer scientist, who worked at the MIT AI and Hewlett-Packard Research Laboratories. Ms. Lee holds a B.S. and M.S. in electrical engineering and computer science, where she wrote her thesis on artificial intelligence, and a J.D. from Stanford. She enjoys contemplating how technologies can transform organizations to the benefit of our society.

Alan Murray is the founding president of the WSJ Leadership Institute, which was established to provide peer learning opportunities for corporate executives. The Institute includes The Wall Street Journal CEO Council, as well as the CFO, CMO, and CIO Networks.

Previously, Murray spent ten years at Fortune Media, where he served as editor-in-chief and then CEO. He was responsible for establishing Fortune as an independent company and is credited with turning around the 94-year-old media brand. While at Fortune, he wrote the CEO Daily newsletter and hosted the Leadership Next podcast. He also served for two years as chief content officer for Time Inc.

Before Joining Fortune, Murray spent two years as president of the Pew Research Center. Prior to that, he had a two-decade career at The Wall Street Journal, where he was Washington Bureau Chief and then Deputy Managing Editor, overseeing all digital, conferences, books and video operations. He also spent three years as Washington Bureau Chief for CNBC, where he cohosted Capitol Report nightly.

Murray is the author of five books, including, most recently, Tomorrow’s Capitalist: My Search for the Soul of Business. He is the recipient of the Ellis Island Medal of Honor, the Arthur W. Page Center Integrity in Public Communications award, and multiple journalism awards. He was a Morehead Scholar at the University of North Carolina, holds a MSc. degree in economics from the London School of Economics and completed the Senior Executive Program at the Stanford School of Business.

DJ Patil is considered as one the most influential data scientists in the world. He was appointed by President Obama as the very first U.S. Chief Data Scientist, he was tasked with making the largest organization in history—the U.S. Federal Government—a data driven enterprise.

Working directly with the highest ranking officials in government, DJ’s efforts led to the establishment of nearly 40 Chief Data Officer roles across a vast array of departments and programs. He helped establish new health care programs including the Precision Medicine Initiative and the Cancer Moonshot, new criminal justice reforms including the Data-Driven Justice and Police Data Initiatives that cover more than 94 million Americans, and led the policy efforts related to national data. Patil’s experience in national security initiatives is extensive, and for his efforts was awarded by Secretary Carter the Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service which the highest honor the department bestows on a civilian.

In the private sector, he led the product teams at RelateIQ which was acquired by Salesforce, was founding board member for Crisis Text Line which works to use new technologies to provide on demand mental and crisis support, and was a member of the venture firm Greylock Partners. He was also Chief Scientist, Chief Security Officer and Head of Analytics and Data Product Teams at the LinkedIn Corporation, where he co-coined the term “Data Scientist.” He has also held a number of roles at Skype, PayPal, and eBay.

He recently stepped back from his role as Chief Technology Officer and become a board member of Devoted Heath where the mission is to build a health care plan that take care of every member like they were family.

As a member of the faculty at the University of Maryland, his research focused on nonlinear dynamics and chaos theory and he helped start a major research initiative on numerical weather prediction. As an AAAS Science & Technology Policy Fellow for the Department of Defense, Dr. Patildirected new efforts to leverage social network analysis and the melding of computational and social sciences to anticipate emerging threats to the US. He has also co-chaired a major review of US efforts to prevent bioweapons proliferation in Central Asia and co-founded the Iraqi Virtual Science Library (IVSL). In 2014 he was selected by the World Economic Forum as a Young Global Leader and is also a Member of the Council of Foreign Relations.

As Trimble’s Senior Vice President of AECO, Schwartz is responsible for leading Trimble’s global construction software portfolio delivering on the promise of connected workflows and data throughout the construction continuum.

Schwartz has served as Trimble’s Chief Digital Officer, leading the transformation initiatives of Trimble's business systems, processes, and infrastructure to better serve the customer through the transition to "as-a-service" business models. Schwartz has also served as the vice president of Civil Construction Software Systems responsible for software solutions connecting the physical and digital worlds for project owners, civil engineers, and contractors. These solutions optimize the design process, allowing customers to collaborate with owners and contractors to deliver projects on time and under budget. Schwartz was chief operating officer of a joint venture between Trimble and Caterpillar as well as serving in several senior management roles in finance and technology throughout his career.

Danny Tobey is Chair of DLA Piper's AI & Data Analytics practice, a successful software founder, and medical doctor.  Recognized by the United Nations for his “profound insights on the intersection of AI, law, and ethics,” Danny has been named Innovative Lawyer of the Year by the Financial Times and led Business Insider’s list of top AI lawyers.  Danny has represented several of the major foundation model makers and six of the Fortune 10 on AI business enablement and risk management.  His work on red teaming generative AI and proactive compliance was recognized by American Lawyer for 2024 best use of generative AI and by the Financial Times as the 2024 new service for the management of risk.  Danny is a founding member of the United Nation’s AI Law & Justice Institute and has helped defend the first litigations involving AI hallucinations.  His writing was recognized by the U.S. Library of Congress as “the best of the best in the legal profession.”

Danny has been an invited speaker on AI and law at prestigious events such as the AAAI's inaugural AI, Ethics, and Society conference, Stanford Law School's CODEX FutureLaw Conference, the National Association of Corporate Directors, the Business Council, the Attorney General Alliance, and the Wall Street Journal’s Modern General Counsel Forum. Danny's writings on technology and law are published in the Yale Journal of Law & Technology, the National Law Journal, and the Proceedings of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence, among others.

Born in Dallas, Danny is a graduate of Harvard College, Yale Law School, and UT Southwestern Medical School. At Yale Law, he received the Scharps Prize for best paper in the graduating class, as well as the Gruber Prize for the best paper on biological sciences and the law. At Harvard, he received the Philo Sherman Bennett Award for the best essay discussing the principles of free government and the John Harvard Scholarship for academic achievement of the highest distinction. At UT Southwestern, he received the Southwestern Foundation Scholarship for outstanding scholastic achievements.  Danny led a successful software company from inception to acquisition. He is very active in his community, most recently chairing the board of the non-profit AT&T Performing Arts Center and winning the 2024 Obelisk award from Business Council for the Arts.  Danny has also historically served on the Executive Committee of the Yale Law School Association.

Sean is Co-Founder of Hence Technologies and author of Unruly: Fighting Back when Politics, AI and Law Upend the Rules of Business (Wiley 2025). Sean's research focuses on the intersection of politics, law and technology. Hence builds software to help companies manage an unruly world.

Sean spent over a decade at Eurasia Group, the top global affairs consultancy, where he was the Global Deputy CEO.

Sean is a noted speaker and columnist whose work has been carried by all major press outlets (NYT, FT, Bloomberg etc) and who has appeared on all major broadcast channels (CNN, BBC, ABC etc). He even once had the quote of the day in the New York Times!

He is an alumnus of HBS, Georgetown, and UC Berkeley.