CXO Secrets by EDS

Technology transformation is often seen as a challenge of systems, platforms, and processes. But as AI accelerates the pace of change, the organisations that succeed aren't necessarily those with the newest technology - they're the ones that earn the trust of their people. Because while transformation may be driven from the top down, it's only successful when it's embraced from the bottom up.

In this episode of CXO Secrets, David McClelland sits down with Don Styer, Chief Technology Officer and Senior Vice President at Serco North America, to explore why culture is the foundation of every successful technology transformation. Drawing on a career that spans the US Navy, consulting, and executive leadership, Don shares how organisations can harness AI, automation, and digital innovation without losing sight of the people they're designed to support.

Don explains why he believes the most overlooked skill in technology leadership is translation - the ability to bridge the gap between business strategy and technical delivery - and why trust, curiosity, and incremental change consistently outperform large-scale "big bang" transformation programmes. He also shares lessons from leading digital transformation in government, including how Serco helped modernise citizen healthcare services through automation, AI, and a relentless focus on outcomes.

Topics include:

• Why successful transformation starts with culture, not technology
• How trust drives AI adoption across an organisation
• Why "big bang" transformations often fail - and what works instead
• Building AI solutions that deliver measurable business value, not innovation theatre
• Lessons from transforming citizen healthcare services through automation and AI
• Why the best technology leaders are translators between business and engineering
• The importance of curiosity, mentorship, and diverse thinking in high-performing teams
• Leading through change by focusing on people, process, technology, and culture
• How to balance innovation with governance in highly regulated environments
• Why the best leaders don't just fix problems - they finish them

Technology has always changed the way we learn. From calculators to the internet, each new innovation has sparked fears about what might be lost along the way. But with the rise of AI, education is facing a disruption unlike any before it - one that challenges not just how students access information, but how they develop judgment, critical thinking, and the skills they'll need for the future.

In this episode of CXO Secrets, David McClelland sits down with Eric Upchurch, Chief Technology Officer at Fort Worth Independent School District, to explore what responsible technology leadership looks like in education. Leading technology for nearly 70,000 students, Eric shares how schools can embrace AI without losing sight of their core mission: preparing young people to become capable, thoughtful, and engaged citizens.

Eric discusses why he believes LLMs are "a calculator for human language", the opportunities and risks of bringing AI into the classroom, and how educators can adapt teaching methods to develop critical thinking rather than simply prohibit new technologies. He also reflects on lessons from a career spanning healthcare, municipal government, and education, explaining why technology leadership is ultimately a people business built on trust, empathy, and stewardship.

Topics include:

• Why AI may be the biggest disruption education has faced in a century
• What it means to think of LLMs as "a calculator for human language"
• Teaching students to use AI responsibly rather than resisting it
• Balancing innovation with privacy, security, and digital citizenship
• The challenge of protecting young people in an AI-enabled world
• Why schools must prepare students for workplaces shaped by AI
• Leading technology teams through constant change and uncertainty
• Why the best technology leaders focus on people, not just platforms
• The importance of trust, stewardship, and public responsibility in education
• How leadership in education can shape the next generation of citizens

Technology transformation is often framed as a challenge of systems, platforms, and innovation. But as organisations pursue ambitious digital futures, the real obstacle is rarely the technology itself - it’s helping people navigate the journey.

In this episode of CXO Secrets, David McClelland sits down with Sarah Leteney, CIO at Urenco, to explore why successful transformation is ultimately about trust, communication, and bringing people through change. From leading major ERP programmes and driving IT/OT convergence to balancing growth with cost optimisation, Sarah shares how technology leaders can build confidence in uncertain times.

Sarah reflects on her unconventional path from biology researcher to CIO, her experience working on both sides of the supplier-client relationship, and the lessons she's learned about leadership, empathy, and organisational change. She also discusses the challenges of modernising critical infrastructure, managing transformation without a fixed roadmap, and why understanding people remains the most important skill in any technology role.

Topics include:

• Why people embrace the future but fear the journey
• Leading large-scale ERP and business transformation programmes
• Bridging the gap between IT and operational technology
• Building trust between internal teams and technology suppliers
• Managing change in highly regulated and critical industries
• Balancing growth, innovation, and cost optimisation
• The role of empathy and communication in effective leadership
• Why successful transformation is ultimately about people

Modernisation at scale isn’t just about migrating to the cloud - it’s about building for uncertainty. While many organisations chase shiny innovation and AI headlines, the real challenge is creating technology foundations resilient enough to evolve with constant change.

In this episode of CXO Secrets, David McClelland sits down with Antoine Jacoutot, CTO at Believe, to explore what it takes to modernise a global music tech platform powering more than 800 billion streams. From navigating technical debt and large-scale cloud migration to cutting through AI hype and avoiding “innovation theatre”, Antoine shares how calculated risk and resilient leadership drive transformation.

Antoine reflects on leading Believe’s major cloud transformation, integrating complex acquired technologies, and why building for the unknown is essential in fast-moving digital industries. He also shares his philosophy of embracing calculated risk, building high-performing teams, and ensuring AI delivers real value rather than empty promises.

Topics include:

• Modernising legacy platforms to support global scale
• Why calculated risk is critical to successful transformation
• Navigating technical debt across complex acquisitions
• Moving beyond AI hype to focus on measurable value
• Building teams that thrive in uncertainty
• Why great technology leaders build for the unknown
• Scaling innovation in the fast-moving music industry

In this special reunion episode of CXO Secrets, we bring back three standout leaders from across the series - Hammond Reddie, Anaïs Beaucousin, and Martin Covill - to reflect on what’s changed, what’s challenged them, and what leadership really looks like in today’s high-pressure environment.

From rising cyber threats and third-party risk to “panic as a service” and crisis decision-making, this episode dives into the realities of navigating uncertainty at the highest level. Our guests share hard-earned lessons on leading through ambiguity, building resilient security cultures, balancing legacy systems with innovation, and staying calm when it matters most.

Plus, as always, each guest passes a question to the next—uncovering fresh insights into trust, communication, and the human side of cyber leadership.

If you want to understand how today’s CXOs are adapting, responding, and preparing for what’s next, this is a conversation you won’t want to miss.

AI coding tools are accelerating development to “machine speed” - but many organisations still aren’t seeing the value. While more code is being written than ever, getting it into production remains slow, complex, and full of friction.

In this episode of CXO Secrets, David McClelland sits down with Martin Reynolds, Field CTO at Harness, to explore the real bottleneck in software delivery: everything that happens after the code is written. From testing and security to deployment and governance, the “outer loop” is struggling to keep pace.

Martin shares how forward-thinking organisations are rethinking their processes - designing workflows around AI, not just adding it in. The conversation covers how to move from “machine speed in” to “machine speed out,” and why trust, guardrails, and cultural change are essential to making AI work at scale.

🎧 Topics include:

• Why faster coding isn’t translating into faster delivery
• The hidden complexity after code is written
• How to scale AI across the full software lifecycle
• Building trust and guardrails for AI-driven processes
• Putting AI into your organisational structure

Quantum computing isn’t a future problem anymore - it’s a present-day risk hiding in plain sight. While organisations focus on AI and immediate threats, adversaries are already collecting encrypted data today, betting on the ability to break it tomorrow.

In this episode of CXO Secrets, David McClelland sits down with Patty Voight, Executive Managing Director, CISO and Head of Technology Risk at Webster Bank, to explore why quantum risk demands attention now. From “harvest now, decrypt later” strategies to the fragility of digital trust, they unpack what’s really at stake for organisations holding long-lived, high-value data.

Patty shares how security leaders must shift from reactive defence to proactive resilience - embedding security into business growth, prioritising identity governance, and preparing for a post-quantum world without waiting for Q-Day. The conversation highlights why trust, not technology, is the true currency of modern cybersecurity.

🎧 Topics include:

• The real meaning of “harvest now, decrypt later”
• Why quantum risk is already a business issue, not a future one
• Protecting long-term, high-value data in a post-quantum world
• The growing challenge of identity governance and non-human identities
• How CISOs can enable growth while strengthening security
• Preparing for quantum without overreacting to the hype

#CXOSecrets #EDS

Harvest Now, Decrypt Later: The Quantum Threat You Can’t Ignore - CXO Secrets Podcast by EDS

Application modernisation isn’t just about replacing legacy systems - it’s about enabling organisations to scale faster, respond in real time, and unlock the full value of their data.

In this episode of CXO Secrets, David McClelland is joined by Dave Hoon, CTO at Norseman Defense Technologies, to explore how event-driven architecture, cloud-native design, and AI are reshaping the way enterprises build and operate applications. Drawing on extensive experience working with public sector and defence organisations, Dave explains why breaking down monolithic systems is key to unlocking agility, resilience, and real-time decision-making.

They discuss the challenges of modernising legacy platforms, the role of event-driven architectures like Kafka, how AI can accelerate code analysis and development, and why simplicity is often the ultimate goal of complex IT transformation.

A must-listen for CIOs, architects, and technology leaders navigating the shift from legacy systems to modern, scalable application ecosystems.

AI isn’t just about speed or automation anymore - it’s about knowing when technology should lead, and when humans must stay in control. For today’s executives, the real challenge is scaling innovation without sacrificing trust.

In this episode of CXO Secrets, David McClelland sits down with Dan Van Tran, CTO of Collectors, to explore what it takes to modernize operations while protecting the core asset every business depends on: confidence. From clearing massive operational backlogs to embedding AI responsibly, they discuss why disciplined execution - not shiny tools - determines whether transformation succeeds.

Dan shares lessons from scaling a legacy-heavy organization during hypergrowth, building AI as a bridge rather than a destination, and guiding teams through rapid change without breaking trust. The conversation reveals why leaders who focus on outcomes over hype are best positioned to turn emerging technology into measurable advantage.

🎧 Topics include:

• Treating technology as a bridge, not the outcome

• Scaling trust during rapid operational growth

• Where AI delivers real leverage - and where it doesn’t

• Change management in the age of constant innovation

• Balancing automation with human judgment

#CXOSecrets #EDS

Building Bridges, Not Buzzwords: Scaling Trust in the Age of AI - CXO Secrets Podcast by EDS

AI is no longer just a productivity tool. The real challenge for today’s leaders is deciding when - and how - to trust AI with real business decisions.

In this episode of CXO Secrets, David McClelland is joined by Andreas Sulejewski, CEO and Co-Founder of Neptune Software, to explore what it takes to move AI from experimentation to execution. From co-pilots and citizen developers to autonomous agents, they discuss why governance, trust, and leadership (not technology) are the biggest barriers to enterprise AI success.

Andreas shares lessons from building Neptune on top of SAP, the rise of AI agents in business processes, and why organizations that fail to embed AI at the core risk falling behind.

Topics include:

- Why productivity gains are only the starting point for AI

- The leadership shift required for autonomous AI

- Moving from pilots to execution in enterprise environments

- Trust, governance, and AI at scale

- What 2026 could mean for AI-driven organizations

#CXOSecrets #EDS

Leadership or Loss: Turning AI into a Core Business Capability - CXO Secrets Podcast by EDS