Join your fellow IA FORUM Advisory Board peers for a light-hearted and engaging networking and social mixer.

Moderator: Jules Miller, IA Insights & Community Liaison Officer, IA FORUM

As finance teams face increasing pressure to modernize, automate, and accelerate outcomes, intelligent automation (IA) leaders are often called upon to guide tool selection, architecture decisions, and implementation strategies - while balancing risk, control, and measurable value. At the same time, they are increasingly expected to serve as strategic advisors, helping finance leaders make informed technology decisions that align with real business needs rather than hype-driven solutions.

As a result, IA leaders must help finance stakeholders navigate an increasingly crowded automation landscape - moving beyond the assumption that AI is the correct tool for every use case - and instead select fit-for-purpose tools aligned to specific finance workflows, maturity levels, and business objectives. Doing so requires strong internal client partnerships, clear decision frameworks, and the ability to translate technical possibilities into practical, finance-relevant outcomes.

Topics of discussion will include, yet will not be limited to:

• Partnering with finance leaders to identify, prioritize, and validate high-value automation use cases
• Selecting fit-for-purpose IA tools for finance workflows
• Educating internal finance stakeholders on automation options beyond AI and managing the AI “shiny object” mentality
• Establishing governance, decision frameworks, and operating models to scale finance automation responsibly

Jay Dhar, Vice President - Agentic AI & Process Transformation, U.S. BANK

Gnana Silaparasetti, Principal Technical Architect, SALESFORCE

Poornakala Sethuraman, Ph.D., Vice President, Data Science & Product Strategy, BANK OF AMERICA

Nikhil Kassetty, Software Architect - Artificial Intelligence, INTUIT

Moderator: SriHarsha Anand Pushkala, Director, Fraud Strategy & Analytics, ATLANTICUS

In the race to accelerate AI development, organizations face an increasingly complex web of governance, risk, and technology decisions - each influencing the others in unseen ways. Too often these disciplines are managed as independent silos, yet their true impact emerges only when they converge. The challenge is understanding how interdependencies among AI governance models, regulatory risk, and rapid technological innovation can create ripple effects that shape enterprise resilience, public trust, and even the future trajectory of industries.

Much like the concept of quantum entanglement - where the state of one entity instantly affects another - governance, risk, and technology have become inextricably linked in the AI era. Decisions made in one domain can amplify vulnerabilities or accelerate breakthroughs across all others. Understanding these entanglements is now essential for leaders tasked with ensuring responsible AI growth, balancing innovation with accountability, and guiding enterprises toward sustainable, transparent outcomes.

Topics of discussion will include, yet will not be limited to:

• Understanding quantum entanglement as a lens for interdependent AI governance, risk, and technology systems
• Evaluating whether entanglement across these domains is beneficial, inevitable, or destabilizing
• Identifying enterprise controls and frameworks to guide or prevent systemic risk
• Examining how strategic decisions today influence long-term ROI, market trust, and organizational survival

Duffie Brunson, Research Sabbatical & Director, Enterprise Data Oversight, FANNIE MAE