Winners' Circle

Rob Barrosa, President and CEO of Electrify America, joins Russ Fordyce on the Winners' Circle Podcast after winning the Sustainability Leadership Award (Organization) at the 2026 Sustainability Awards. Rob explains why his team built 350 kW chargers before the cars could use them, how battery storage and utility partnerships keep the grid in balance, and how ride and drive events, incentives and workforce training bring first-time drivers into EVs. If you have wondered what really holds EV-curious drivers back, this conversation has answers.

• Guest: Rob Barrosa, President and CEO
• Company: Electrify America
• Award: 2026 Sustainability Awards, Sustainability Leadership Award (Organization)

• [00:00] Welcome and the 2026 Sustainability Award
• [00:53] Inside Electrify America: 5,600 chargers across 47 states
• [02:55] What has changed since 2018
• [03:34] Betting on 350 kW before the cars arrived
• [04:57] Charging for drivers without a home charger
• [07:07] Batteries, the grid and the AI data center comparison
• [08:12] Inside the community-led education program
• [10:09] Ride and drive events and getting people in the seats
• [11:07] Training the next workforce
• [12:38] What really holds EV-curious drivers back
• [14:47] Exchange programs and cleaner air
• [16:17] The hard parts: utilities, permitting and the handshake
• [19:56] Location strategy: amenities, highways, then cities
• [23:33] Measuring what community programs deliver
• [26:00] Families, kids and the moment the lights go on
• [28:36] Where charging goes next: speed, trucks and the grid
• [30:50] Planning with utilities and cities
• [32:49] Wrap-up and thanks

• Build for where the market is going. Electrify America deployed 350 kW charging when many people said it was unnecessary, because the team knew longer range, faster charging vehicles were on the way. Today cars are pushing 400 to 600 kW, and some models charge at a megawatt.
• The hard parts are not just hardware. Utilities, permitting agencies and the car-to-charger handshake took years of education and a Northern Virginia lab with hundreds of thousands of testing hours. The next challenge is the grid, which is why battery storage and energy management matter.
• Awareness and price move drivers. Ride and drive events get people in the seat, incentives like $2,000 to $3,000 off address the price gap, and workforce training builds the people who will support the network.

• Electrify America
• Rob Barrosa on LinkedIn
• Electrify America on LinkedIn
• Nomination video on YouTube

Know an organization doing sustainability work worth celebrating? Learn about the Sustainability Awards and nominate them.

🎧 Subscribe to the Winners' Circle Podcast: bintelligence.com/podcast

Zach LaValley, CTO and EVP of Product, Data and Engineering at RapidSOS, joins Russ Fordyce to talk about the 2026 Stratus Award win and how connected phones, cars and smartwatches are reaching 911. Zach explains why RapidSOS adds a fast lane next to existing systems instead of replacing them, and how humans and AI share the work. He closes with two practical tips: enable the emergency health profile on your phone, and ask your vendors whether your car is connected.

• Guest: Zach LaValley, CTO and EVP of Product, Data and Engineering
• Company: RapidSOS
• Award: 2026 Stratus Awards, Solution / Platform as a Service (Product)

• [00:00] Welcome to the Winners' Circle
• [00:50] What RapidSOS does
• [02:46] Software, hardware and the redundancy backup
• [04:22] Why 911 infrastructure is slow to change
• [06:05] What happens when a device is not on the network
• [08:21] Ending the game of telephone
• [09:59] Better responses and the Cass County crash
• [11:52] Layering on top instead of replacing
• [13:58] Synthetic data and privacy
• [15:14] Earning trust with a fast lane
• [20:27] Humans in, on and over the loop
• [23:28] Call metadata and intelligence
• [24:51] Better decision support for dispatchers
• [26:36] The next three to five years
• [28:13] Check your emergency health profile

• The 911 call is only one signal now. Cars, phones and smartwatches can all send location and context, and RapidSOS connects them into 911 and out to responders in the field.
• Add a lane, do not rip out the road. Zach's team layers on top of existing systems so agencies can shift traffic at their own pace and always be able to go back.
• Choose the right human and AI relationship for each use case. Humans can be in the loop, on the loop or over the loop, depending on the job and the comfort level of the agency.

• RapidSOS
• Zach LaValley on LinkedIn
• 2021 911 Profile Database Report
• NHTSA publication DOT HS 809 896
• AARP guide to smartphone emergency info and Medical ID
• Nomination video on YouTube

Congratulations to RapidSOS on winning a 2026 Stratus Award. Know a team that deserves the same recognition? Learn more and nominate at the Stratus Award for Cloud Computing.

Subscribe to the Winners' Circle podcast: www.bintelligence.com/podcast

Zach LaValley, CTO and EVP of Product, Data and Engineering at RapidSOS, joins Russ Fordyce to talk about the 2026 Stratus Award win and how connected phones, cars and smartwatches are reaching 911. Zach explains why RapidSOS adds a fast lane next to existing systems instead of replacing them, and how humans and AI share the work. He closes with two practical tips: enable the emergency health profile on your phone, and ask your vendors whether your car is connected.

• Guest: Zach LaValley, CTO and EVP of Product, Data and Engineering
• Company: RapidSOS
• Award: 2026 Stratus Awards, Solution / Platform as a Service (Product)

• [00:00] Welcome to the Winners' Circle
• [00:50] What RapidSOS does
• [02:46] Software, hardware and the redundancy backup
• [04:22] Why 911 infrastructure is slow to change
• [06:05] What happens when a device is not on the network
• [08:21] Ending the game of telephone
• [09:59] Better responses and the Cass County crash
• [11:52] Layering on top instead of replacing
• [13:58] Synthetic data and privacy
• [15:14] Earning trust with a fast lane
• [20:27] Humans in, on and over the loop
• [23:28] Call metadata and intelligence
• [24:51] Better decision support for dispatchers
• [26:36] The next three to five years
• [28:13] Check your emergency health profile

• The 911 call is only one signal now. Cars, phones and smartwatches can all send location and context, and RapidSOS connects them into 911 and out to responders in the field.
• Add a lane, do not rip out the road. Zach's team layers on top of existing systems so agencies can shift traffic at their own pace and always be able to go back.
• Choose the right human and AI relationship for each use case. Humans can be in the loop, on the loop or over the loop, depending on the job and the comfort level of the agency.

• RapidSOS
• Zach LaValley on LinkedIn
• 2021 911 Profile Database Report
• NHTSA publication DOT HS 809 896
• AARP guide to smartphone emergency info and Medical ID
• Nomination video on YouTube

Congratulations to RapidSOS on winning a 2026 Stratus Award. Know a team that deserves the same recognition? Learn more and nominate at the Stratus Award for Cloud Computing.

Subscribe to the Winners' Circle podcast: www.bintelligence.com/podcast

Jack Zhang, Global Head of AI Transformation and Worldwide eSupport Strategy at Lenovo, joins The Winners' Circle to break down how Lenovo pushed its AI chat agent transfer rate below 5%, an industry leading number that covers every kind of customer issue. Jack shares the eight year journey behind that result, why he believes organizational structure matters more than model quality, and a surprising new signal that AI assistants are starting to act as customers themselves.

Jack Zhang, Global Head of AI Transformation and Worldwide eSupport Strategy, Lenovo

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jack-zhang-535b4733/

Website: https://support.lenovo.com/us/en

• [00:00] Introduction: Jack Zhang joins the Winners' Circle
• [00:50] Jack's role at Lenovo: 17 years, eSupport across 180+ countries
• [01:49] How the Run AI initiative started three years ago
• [04:38] Rebuilding the workflow instead of copying it into AI
• [07:53] Managing AI with AI: alert, notification, and quality assurance agents
• [09:46] An eight year AI journey, not an overnight build
• [12:53] Why Lenovo still offers a human first option in premier support
• [16:59] The metric that matters: transfer rate under 5%
• [18:12] Inside a touchless service journey, from chat to dispatch
• [20:41] Touchless, partial touchless, and 80% total automation
• [27:06] What most companies still get wrong about AI adoption
• [29:45] Protecting a legacy brand through an AI transition
• [34:27] Closing thoughts

• AI transformation is an organizational project as much as a technical one. Lenovo's leadership consolidated three separate product support teams into a single group on one knowledge platform before scaling its AI agent, and Jack argues that the people and structure of an organization are usually the real barrier to transformation, not the technology itself.
• The numbers behind Lenovo's AI support hold up under scrutiny. A sub 5% transfer rate, roughly 60% fully touchless resolution on hardware issues, and 80% combined automation only work because Lenovo built a chain of specialized sub agents, a knowledge agent, a fulfillment agent, and a dispatch step, rather than one general purpose chatbot, and because every new version is simulated and regression tested before it reaches a real customer.
• Customer service is starting to shift from person to company interactions toward AI to AI interactions. Jack shared that 3 to 5% of Lenovo's survey feedback now comes from customers' own AI assistants rather than the customers themselves, a signal that companies need to start optimizing content and building direct agent to agent connections now, not later.

• Lenovo eSupport: https://support.lenovo.com/us/en
• Jack Zhang on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jack-zhang-535b4733/
• Gartner: 40% of enterprise applications to feature task specific AI agents by 2026
• Zendesk CX Trends 2026 Report on customer expectations for AI powered service

Jack Zhang won Executive of the Year at the 2025 BIG Awards for Business. Learn more about the award program and see this year's open categories at BIG Awards for Business.

Never miss an episode of The Winners' Circle. Subscribe at bintelligence.com/podcast.

The trade show industry generates roughly 600,000 tons of waste a year, and Rhiannon Andersen has spent 21 years inside it. As CMO and owner of Steelhead Productions, she helped rebuild the company’s economics around rented components and custom overlays, led the business through B Corp certification, and pushed sustainability into all 13 departments.

This episode covers what actually worked, what it cost the owners, and why measuring sustainability every month is what makes the program real.

Rhiannon Andersen, CMO and Owner, Steelhead Productions
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rhiannonandersen/
Website: https://www.steelheadproductions.com/

• [00:00] Welcome and the least sustainable industry
• [00:57] What Steelhead Productions does
• [01:12] Recognizing bad industry practices
• [01:50] Renting the base, customizing the overlay
• [03:30] Becoming a certified B Corporation
• [04:02] The nine month B Corp application
• [05:10] From social work to marketing
• [06:27] Restarting after 9/11 and COVID
• [08:27] Why face to face is growing again
• [10:06] What happens when a show ends
• [11:49] Sustainability across 13 departments
• [12:19] Binders to iPads and hand dryers
• [14:37] One water station, 30,000 bottles diverted
• [15:17] Paying for sustainability from owner distributions
• [16:03] Cutting energy use per employee by 60%
• [16:26] Measuring consistently
• [17:42] Six years as one of Nevada’s best places to work
• [20:14] Give Happy and paid volunteer time
• [21:23] Advice for owners
• [22:56] Congratulations and close

1. Trade show waste is a business model problem, not just a materials problem. Steelhead’s access model rents the structural components and sells customization on top, so booths still look custom while more parts return to inventory instead of the landfill.
2. Sustainability works when every department owns a piece. Printed project binders became iPads, paper towels became hand dryers, and one water station diverted about 30,000 plastic bottles in a year. The individual changes look small, but together they matter.
3. Consistency is the program. Steelhead reports sustainability metrics every month at a company wide meeting, even during the busiest weeks. If leadership lets it slip, the team reads it as optional.

• Steelhead Productions: https://www.steelheadproductions.com/
• B Corporation certification: https://www.bcorporation.net/
• Trade show waste data: https://www.accesstca.com/blog/waste-reduction-exhibit-program/
• 2025 State of Events report: https://www.bizzabo.com/blog/power-of-in-person-events-2025

Steelhead Productions won Sustainability Initiative of The Year in the Business Intelligence Group Sustainability Awards for the Exhibit Happy initiative.

Submit a nomination: https://www.bintelligence.com/awards/sustainability-awards

New episodes of The Winners’ Circle every week: https://www.bintelligence.com/podcast

The marketing team behind S&P Capital IQ Pro won a 2026 Sammy Award for CapIQ Reinvented, a repositioning effort that combined a Nasdaq Tower billboard, a first-ever Reddit pilot, and a from-scratch generative engine optimization program. In this episode, Chyna Murphy and four teammates explain what each tactic was meant to do, which ones produced revenue, and how long it really takes for AI engines to reference your brand.

It is a candid look at a legacy B2B brand relearning how to earn attention, build trust, and show up in search, social, communities, and AI answers.

• Chyna Murphy, Senior Marketing Manager, S&P Global Market Intelligence
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chynamurphy/
• Company: https://www.spglobal.com/market-intelligence/en/
• Also featured: Nicki Brooks, Louise Jeong, Rosario Quesada, and Denise, global marketing strategy lead

• [00:00] Welcome and the 2026 Sammy Award win
• [00:27] CapIQ Reinvented as repositioning
• [02:03] Reddit, SEO, AEO, and GEO
• [02:53] Extending a legacy brand
• [05:55] Times Square and the projection mapped room
• [08:36] SEO is found, GEO is referenced
• [14:56] Measuring AI visibility
• [17:21] Reddit results
• [19:20] Revenue versus attention
• [22:59] FAQs, Wikipedia, and first-party YouTube
• [36:45] Why in-person workshops still work

1. Awareness and revenue tactics need different scorecards. The Nasdaq Tower billboard, Reddit ads, and Wimbledon activation drove reach. Webinars and thought leadership generated more than a thousand leads and closed opportunities.
2. GEO is not just SEO with a new name. It requires showing up on surfaces you do not fully own, including media coverage, Wikipedia, Reddit, YouTube, and community platforms. The team expects three to six months before results appear.
3. The best content serves people and AI systems at the same time. Short workflow tutorials help students learn the platform while giving large language models a first-party source to reference.

• S&P Capital IQ Pro: https://www.spglobal.com/market-intelligence/en/
• Chyna Murphy: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chynamurphy/
• AI search citation study: https://searchengineland.com/ai-search-engines-cite-reddit-youtube-and-linkedin-most-study-473138
• LLM referral data: https://searchengineland.com/what-13-months-of-data-reveals-about-llm-traffic-growth-and-conversions-470115
• Reddit Q4 results: https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/412624/reddit-advertising-surges-in-q4-grows-user-base.html
• LinkedIn video statistics: https://blog.hootsuite.com/linkedin-statistics/

Chyna and the CapIQ Reinvented team won in the Power Players category of the 2026 Sales and Marketing Technology Awards, also known as The Sammy. Nominations are open: https://www.bintelligence.com/awards/sales-and-marketing-technology-awards

New Winners' Circle episodes drop every week: https://www.bintelligence.com/podcast

Over ninety percent of people will develop cataracts after 65, while the ophthalmology workforce is not keeping pace. Julie Brewer, Senior Vice President of Global Franchises at Alcon, joins Russ Fordyce to explain how UNITY VCS combines front of the eye and back of the eye surgery into one console, why that can support roughly one more case per day, and how Alcon is bringing the platform to surgeons, ASCs, and patients.

Alcon was named an Overall Winner in the 2026 BIG Innovation Awards for UNITY VCS.

Julie Brewer, Senior Vice President, Global Franchises, Alcon
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/julie-brewer-b4898824/
Company: https://www.alcon.com

• [00:00] Welcome and award
• [00:51] Alcon's mission
• [01:38] Julie's healthcare career
• [02:29] Value propositions
• [03:29] UNITY VCS explained
• [04:04] Cataracts and capacity
• [05:39] One console for two procedures
• [06:08] Protecting OR space
• [07:29] Selling through field, service, clinical, and equipment teams
• [10:04] Upgrade strategy
• [11:10] Surgeon trust
• [13:06] OR efficiency studies
• [14:07] Medicare pressure
• [16:24] Connected care
• [17:24] Microscope, diagnostics, and ARDI
• [18:53] AI in eye care
• [19:43] Oculomics
• [22:25] RxSight and adjustable lenses
• [24:05] Rural eye care
• [25:40] What changed in Julie's view

1. Cataract demand is rising while the ophthalmology workforce tightens. Since recruiting alone cannot solve the gap fast enough, throughput per surgeon becomes critical.
2. UNITY VCS combines anterior and posterior capability in one console. That protects operating room space, reduces workflow friction, and can support roughly one additional procedure per day.
3. Adoption depends on trust. Alcon's established presence in eye care, its Centurion and Constellation installed base, and hands-on surgeon experience help practices move to the next generation platform.

• UNITY VCS and CS: https://www.myalcon.com/professional/surgical/unity-vcs-cs/
• Alcon time and motion study
• Ophthalmology workforce projections
• CMS cataract facility fee proposal
• Oculomics and retinal imaging research

Alcon was recognized as an Overall Winner in the 2026 BIG Innovation Awards for UNITY VCS. Nominations are open: https://www.bintelligence.com/awards/big-innovation-awards

Winners' Circle Podcast: https://www.bintelligence.com/podcast

Encycle CEO AP Issa joins Russ Fordyce to talk about the energy crunch almost nobody is pricing in yet. She explains why utilities missed the data center wave while preparing for EVs, how 21 years of rooftop HVAC data became Encycle's moat, and why the equipment building owners already have is the only lever they can pull this quarter.

Encycle won a 2026 Sustainability Leadership Award from Business Intelligence Group for AI-driven HVAC optimization that requires no new hardware.

AP Issa, Chief Executive Officer, Encycle
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/apissa/
Company: https://www.encycle.com

• [00:00] Welcome and the 2026 Sustainability Leadership Award
• [00:35] Optimization, demand response, and what Encycle does
• [01:53] From sales floor to CEO
• [02:17] Machine learning before buildings were cloud-ready
• [04:16] The capacity gap and grid requirements
• [05:03] What deployment looks like today
• [05:40] Why no new hardware changed the model
• [07:25] Legacy data as the advantage
• [08:00] AI is only as good as the data
• [10:59] Customer data quality and tagging
• [13:36] HVAC lessons from manufacturing automation
• [14:23] The ignored asset on the roof
• [15:21] Catching a failure 45 days early
• [18:31] First 30-day customer surprises
• [21:14] Nobody has a data problem anymore
• [22:28] Capacity, California, PJM, and the energy crunch
• [25:43] Rate increases and utility filings
• [26:23] EVs, electrification, and data center power
• [28:00] Opportunity in a constrained market

1. The energy crisis is arriving as a pricing event, not a blackout. Rates rose about ten percent across the 2010s, then twenty nine percent from 2020 through last year. Utilities have already filed $18.6 billion in increases for 2027, making load reduction and demand response urgent.
2. In applied AI, the model is downstream of the data. Encycle's edge comes from years of controller installs, submetered loads, rooftop unit data, weather zones, and operating history.
3. Commercial HVAC is still too reactive because the equipment is out of sight. Trend data can help teams catch failing units weeks early, order parts before seasonal rushes, and reduce emergency calls.

• Encycle: https://www.encycle.com
• Swarm Logic, Swarm Chorus, and Chorus AI
• OpenADR and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
• PJM Interconnection demand response programs
• EIA CBECS: https://www.eia.gov/consumption/commercial/

Encycle won the 2026 Sustainability Leadership Award from Business Intelligence Group. Nominations are open: https://www.bintelligence.com/awards/sustainability-awards

Winners' Circle Podcast: https://www.bintelligence.com/podcast
Russ Fordyce: https://bintelligence.us/russ.html

Amanda McGuckin Hager is helping brands use business texting as a high-value, high-trust marketing and customer engagement channel. At True Dialog, Amanda works with colleges, universities, retailers, financial services companies, and brands across many industries to connect with people through SMS, RCS, CRM integrations, APIs, and emerging AI-driven messaging tools. True Dialog recently won a SAMI Award for its work in SMS and business messaging.

In this episode, Russ and Amanda discuss why SMS has become such a powerful channel. Unlike email, text messaging lives next to messages from family, friends, and the people consumers trust most. That makes the channel incredibly valuable, but only when brands respect the opt-in, keep lists clean, and send messages people actually want.

The conversation explores RCS, or Rich Communication Services, and how it is turning messaging into a more interactive, branded, visual experience. Amanda explains how True Dialog built a no-code RCS visual composer so marketing and growth teams can create rich messages without relying on developers or API work.

Russ and Amanda also discuss lessons from analyzing more than a billion brand text messages, why customers who opt in usually want to hear from brands, how True Opt Out uses AI-powered sentiment detection to catch non-standard opt-out requests, and why list hygiene is both a compliance issue and a customer experience issue.

The episode also covers MCPs, AI agents, TrueConnect, verified sender, first-party data, RCS engagement, publisher sponsorship opportunities, compliance, global opt-out expectations, and why now is the time for marketers to start building their owned messaging lists.

Topics Covered:

[00:00] Welcome and intro, Amanda McGuckin Hager and True Dialog

[00:58] What True Dialog does as a business texting platform

[01:30] RCS and the rise of richer messaging

[01:51] No-code RCS visual composer for marketers

[03:12] Building RCS messages like rich email experiences

[04:00] Lessons from more than a billion brand text messages

[04:45] Why opted-in consumers usually want brand messages

[05:16] MCPs, APIs, AI, and vibe-coded messaging apps

[06:19] SMS as a critical notification and communication channel

[07:03] True Opt Out and AI-powered opt-out detection

[08:46] Sentiment analysis, compliance, and list hygiene

[09:46] Why opt-outs are part of healthy marketing

[10:28] TrueConnect and using phone numbers as unique identifiers

[11:38] RCS as a richer alternative to crowded email channels

[12:17] Engagement rates for RCS versus plain SMS

[13:23] Early customer results and RCS adoption

[14:00] Verified sender and branded RCS messages

[15:31] Why verification helps keep the channel clean

[16:41] Carrier blocking, TCPA pressure, and opt-out compliance

[17:34] Where messaging goes after RCS

[18:35] Publishers, first-party lists, and sponsored alerts

[20:14] SMS open rates, click-through rates, and return on ad spend

[21:26] Advice for marketers getting started with text messaging

[22:30] Final thoughts on RCS, SMS, AI, and the future of messaging

Roger Brown is helping consumers give phones, laptops, tablets, and other electronics a second life. At Allstate Protection Plans, Roger works at the intersection of device protection, trade-ins, reuse, repair, and sustainability. Allstate Protection Plans recently won a 2026 Sustainability Award for its program with Staples, which makes it easier for customers to trade in old devices and instantly receive value through a Staples gift card.

In this episode, Russ and Roger discuss why so many consumers say they want to do the right thing with old devices, yet only a fraction of phones make it into reuse programs. Roger explains that the gap usually comes down to three things: convenience, trust, and incentive. People need the process to be easy, they need to know their personal data will be protected, and they need a clear financial reason to act.

The conversation explores how Allstate Protection Plans and Staples redesigned the trade-in experience around customer choice. Customers can use a traditional mail-in process or choose an instant option that provides value up front through a Staples gift card, backed by a short-term credit card hold. Roger explains why offering both options matters, because customer preferences were nearly split between instant value and the traditional process.

Russ and Roger also discuss why trade-ins and protection plans are becoming more connected, how device leasing and anytime upgrade programs are changing consumer expectations, why right to repair is a tailwind, and how reuse can extend a device’s life across multiple owners.

At its core, this is a conversation about building a sustainability program that works because it also works for customers, retailers, and the business. Roger’s message is clear: the best circular economy programs remove friction, create trust, reward action, and make reuse part of the normal buying experience.

Topics Covered:

[00:01] Welcome and intro, Roger Brown and Allstate Protection Plans

[00:38] What Allstate Protection Plans does

[01:14] Why protection plans matter as devices get more expensive

[02:11] Why consumers do not always trade in old devices

[03:55] How protection plans and trade-ins became connected

[05:35] Leasing, financing, and the future of device ownership

[07:25] Why trade-in programs were clunky for so long

[09:16] Data security, trust, and device wiping

[10:29] How phone trade-ins became simpler

[11:19] Building the Staples trade-in experience

[12:50] Instant value versus traditional mail-in trade-ins

[14:10] Staples gift cards and customer convenience

[15:01] Using credit card holds to reduce trade-in risk

[16:13] Launching nationwide and across Canada

[16:55] Measuring trade-ins as part of new device sales

[17:46] What surprised the team after launch

[18:53] Sustainability and device chain of custody

[19:10] How traded-in devices get a second life

[20:53] Right to repair as a tailwind

[21:30] Extending device life across multiple owners

[23:09] Closing the gap between idle devices and reused devices

[24:19] E-waste, affordability, and economic value

[25:52] Why right to repair may expand in North America

[27:08] Making sustainability part of retail culture

[28:20] Final thoughts on Staples, customers, and sustainability