Artificial intelligence is rapidly transforming how organizations evaluate risk, analyze markets, and drive operational efficiency. In financial services alone, global AI spending is projected to surpass $97 billion by 2027, reflecting how deeply data-driven technologies are reshaping decision-making. For private equity firms—where hundreds of potential investments may be screened each year—the ability to analyze information faster and more intelligently could fundamentally change how deals are sourced, evaluated, and managed.

But what does AI actually mean for private equity leaders making billion-dollar decisions—and how might it reshape both investment strategy and portfolio management?

On this episode of Demystifying IT, host Saurajit Kanungo speaks with Brent Williams, CEO and Founder of Telic Ventures, about how technology—especially AI—is reshaping the private equity landscape. The conversation explores the structure of private equity investing, how firms evaluate companies’ technology stacks, and why AI may become a key tool for investment analysis, portfolio monitoring, and operational improvement.

Key topics from the episode include:

• How AI can streamline deal sourcing and diligence by rapidly analyzing large volumes of information about companies, industries, and management teams.

• The role of technology assessment in investment decisions, including evaluating a company’s data quality, systems, and digital maturity.

• The evolving financial ecosystem in Texas, where initiatives like the Texas Stock Exchange and major corporate relocations are accelerating Dallas–Fort Worth’s emergence as a financial hub.

Brent Williams is the CEO and Founder of Telic Ventures and a seasoned private equity leader with more than 30 years of experience building and scaling companies. He spent over two decades as a Senior Partner at The Halifax Group, where he helped deploy more than $4 billion in investments across multiple industries and now serves the firm as a senior adviser. Throughout his career, Williams has served on numerous private and public company boards, bringing deep expertise in investment strategy, operational growth, and leadership in high-performance organizations.

Artificial intelligence has already moved beyond the hype cycle and into the day-to-day reality of business operations. Companies across industries are rushing to integrate AI into their workflows, but many are running into the same challenge: it’s relatively easy to build something that works in a demo, and much harder to make it reliable at scale. As AI begins to influence everything from policy decisions to core business operations, that gap between experimentation and execution becomes critical. The organizations that close it move faster and operate smarter—because at its core, AI isn’t just a tool, it’s a system for making better, lower-risk decisions in the real world.

So what does it really take to move beyond AI experiments and demos—and build production-grade systems that consistently deliver real business value?

Welcome to Demystifying IT, brought to you by CG Infinity. In the latest episode, CEO Saurajit Kanungo sits down with Eric Rasmussen, Vice President of Delivery, to unpack what modern AI architecture really looks like—and where companies are getting it wrong. The discussion spans practical implementation strategies, architectural design principles, and the evolving role of AI in enterprise decision-making.

What you’ll learn…

• How to spot and prioritize high-impact AI use cases by focusing on real workflows instead of top-down strategy.
• How a modern AI architecture is structured—and what it takes beyond the core layers to make it production-ready.
• How to apply AI as an augmentation tool that strengthens human decision-making rather than replacing it.

Eric Rasmussen is a Principal AI Architect and enterprise AI leader with over 12 years of experience designing and deploying large-scale machine learning, NLP, and LLM-driven systems in regulated environments. He specializes in building production-grade AI platforms—spanning agentic systems, RAG, MLOps, and real-time decisioning—while establishing the governance and architecture needed for scalable, compliant adoption. Currently Vice President of Delivery at CG Infinity and formerly a senior AI leader at Charles Schwab, he has led end-to-end AI initiatives that translate complex business needs into reliable, high-impact enterprise solutions.

As organizations navigate accelerating digital transformation, tighter margins, and increasing organizational complexity, the role of consultants is being re-examined. Today’s most effective consulting leaders are no longer valued simply for delivering projects, but for bringing outside perspective, cross-industry insight, and the ability to lead through ambiguity. Most large organizations today are not short on talent or intelligence. What they lack is distance—enough perspective to see where long-standing assumptions are quietly limiting progress.

That raises a timely question many executives and consultants alike are asking: what actually differentiates a great consultant from a good one in today’s environment?

In this episode of Demystifying IT, host Saurajit Kanungo, CEO of CG Infinity, sits down with Jared Shoemaker, Principal at CG Infinity, to unpack what modern consulting really looks like in practice. Their conversation moves beyond frameworks and deliverables to explore perspective, leadership under pressure, and how consultants can create lasting impact—not just for clients, but across industries and within their own teams.

Together, they discuss the evolving value of consulting, how strong leaders manage complexity without micromanagement, and what it takes to integrate a demanding career with a meaningful personal life.

Top insights from the talk…

• Why perspective matters more than expertise alone: How consultants help organizations escape legacy thinking by bringing cross-industry insight and challenging assumptions.
• The anatomy of effective leadership in consulting: From disciplined delegation and transparent risk management to building trust without constant oversight.
• Integration over balance: How senior leaders can set boundaries, protect time, and stay present across work, family, and community without burning out.

Jared Shoemaker is a Principal at CG Infinity with more than 15 years of experience leading large-scale, multimillion-dollar business and digital transformations across financial services, SaaS, energy, automotive manufacturing, and retail. He specializes in operational excellence, strategy, and digital transformation, with a proven ability to align business and technology teams through disciplined program leadership, change management, and agile delivery. An MBA graduate of SMU Cox School of Business, Jared is known for translating data and complex ideas into clear strategic insight that drives measurable business performance.

Artificial intelligence is no longer a future experiment—it’s operational reality. According to McKinsey’s State of AI in 2025 survey, 88 percent of organizations now report regular AI use in at least one business function. Yet while adoption is widespread, most companies are still in the early stages of scaling AI and capturing true enterprise-level value. The tools are everywhere. The transformation, however, is still in progress.

So here’s the leadership challenge: How do you move from experimenting with AI to leading with it—without losing control of risk, culture, and human judgment?

On this episode of Demystifying IT, host Saurajit Kanungo, CEO of CG Infinity, sits down with Andrew C. Jackson, President and Founder of BravoTECH, to explore what leadership looks like in the age of AI. Drawing on more than four decades in technology staffing and workforce strategy, Jackson shares what he’s seeing across Fortune 500 and mid-market companies—from the rise of AI-driven hiring tools to the growing demand for data talent—and why human oversight remains the defining factor in successful AI adoption.

Top insights from the talk…

• Why “AI can lie with conviction” and the necessity of keeping a human in the loop.
• The risks of AI-driven hiring, including fake candidates and deepfake interviews—and why face-to-face interaction still matters.
• Why curiosity—not job titles like “prompt engineer”—will define the most valuable employees of the next decade.

Andrew C. Jackson is the Co-Founder and President of BravoTECH, a national IT staffing and professional services firm he has led since 1996, building it into a multi-award-winning organization serving Fortune 500 and mid-market clients across the U.S. With more than 30 years of experience in technology staffing and workforce strategy, he has driven profitable growth, expanded national operations, and established a strong reputation for ethical leadership and client relationship management. A recognized industry leader and Fellow of the Society for Information Management (DFW chapter), Jackson is also known for his community impact and long-standing leadership across business and nonprofit organizations.