Jeff DeMarrais, SVP and Chief Communications Officer at Cognizant, shares insights on how corporate communicators can stop defending legacy PR methods and start using AI to unlock measurable business value. Having spent his career driving communication strategy across tech and media powerhouses—from NBC and GE to IBM and Cognizant—Jeff is at the forefront of bridging the "velocity gap" between enterprise AI investment and actual business outcomes.

In this episode, Jeff joins Andrew Bleeker to discuss why defending traditional PR workflows is the fastest way to get left behind. Together, they explore how Cognizant ran a Guinness World Record-breaking vibe coding event, how multi-agent digital twins are revolutionizing executive communications, and why AI-powered "borrowed knowledge" is actually creating more demand for entry-level talent rather than replacing it.

In this episode:

• Closing the AI Velocity Gap: Why enterprise leaders must shift from casual experimentation and "token maxing" to structured implementation that delivers clear ROI.

• Building Digital Twins and Custom Agents: How Cognizant uses multi-agent systems to replicate authentic executive voices and proprietary tools like "Fortune Teller" and "Agency in a Box" to identify media white space and scale PESO comms models.

• The Russian Nesting Doll Metric: Why traditional clip packs are just "data exhaust" and how to link media coverage to message pull-through, quarterly business reviews, and budget growth.

• AI-Enabled Early Careers: Why capturing enterprise institutional memory allows recent college graduates to bypass years of routine data gathering and perform higher-level strategic tasks on day one.

• Personal Sandbox Experimentation: Why communicators should test tools on low-stakes personal projects—like Jeff's automated fantasy football blog—to build coding confidence and ask better questions of tech partners.

Allyson Park, SVP and Chief Communications Officer at Walmart, shares insights on how the world's largest retailer is navigating the intersection of transformational technology, human trust, and workforce empowerment. Overseeing a massive communication network that connects over 2.1 million global associates and spans an internal retail media ecosystem with its own P&L, Allyson is pioneering a "people-led, tech-powered" approach to corporate storytelling and modern brand reputation.

In this episode, Allyson joins Andrew Bleeker to discuss how her team actively deploys generative AI to stress-test strategic thinking, eliminate operational friction, and build custom workflow tools without requiring a technical background. Together, they explore the meticulous orchestration behind Walmart's recent textbook CEO transition, how communications functions must defend brand narrative against misinformation and Generative Engine Optimization (GEO), and why the most critical asset for any professional is acting as the CEO of their own career.

In this episode:

• The People-Led, Tech-Powered Philosophy: Exploring Walmart’s foundational approach to AI that keeps humans firmly in the loop, alongside the company’s massive commitment to upskilling its frontline and corporate workforce through debt-free education and OpenAI and Google AI certifications.

• AI as a Strategic Sparring Partner: How Allyson personally leverages a custom AI agent as an unvarnished teammate to challenge her own certainty, identify structural bias, and analyze critics' perspectives rather than using it as a simple drafting tool.

• Vibe Coding in Corporate Communications: A look at "Code Puppy," an open-source tool developed internally at Walmart that has enabled over 50% of Allyson's comms team to vibe code their own custom agents for automated web scanning, content flow tracking, and deep background research.

• Clarity, Continuity, and Confidence: An inside look at the multi-month communications timeline surrounding the transition from long-time CEO Doug McMillon to John Furner, and how careful sequencing of tone, visuals, and messaging preserves market and internal trust.

Maureen Davenport, Head of Corporate Affairs at KPMG, shares insights on navigating the operational shift of AI from isolated IT departments directly into the hands of the workforce. With a career dedicated to steering brand reputation and corporate communications at the highest levels, Maureen is currently helping anchor one of the world’s leading professional service firms through its most collaborative digital shift yet: moving from AI experimentation to full orchestration.

In this episode, Maureen joins Andrew Bleeker to discuss why the most successful integration of AI relies on treating the technology as a sophisticated thought partner rather than a transactional tool. Together they explore what evaluated data from over a million organizational prompts reveals about workforce adoption, how custom AI "reporter agents" are revolutionizing executive prep, and why human EQ and judgment matter more than ever at the entry level.

In this episode:

• The Sophisticated Prompter: Fascinating takeaways from KPMG’s research partnership with the University of Texas evaluating over a million user prompts, and why treating AI as a teammate accelerates expertise.

• Simulating the Media Landscape: How communications teams are using custom AI agents to mimic specific reporters' voices and tones to better prepare leadership for high-stakes speeches and interviews.

• The Trifecta of Work: A look into how AI fundamentally rewrites the workforce, the work itself, and the workplace—including how KPMG is embedding tools like Anthropic’s Claude into their digital gateway platform.

• The Return of EQ: Why automating routine tasks like baseline press release writing elevates the immediate demand for critical thinking, human connection, and liberal arts capabilities from day one.