In an era of rapid technological shifts, supply chain instability and global uncertainty, building resilience has become essential for long-term business success. Our panel of leading academics and experienced business leaders will share real-world examples and offer practical advice for future-proofing your organization. Join us for an in-depth dialogue exploring how businesses today can enhance their capacity to anticipate, adapt and thrive amid volatility and change.

 

PANELISTS

Senator David W. Craven, Jr.

North Carolina General Assembly

Kevin Lavender

Executive Vice President, Head of Commercial Banking, Fifth Third Bank

Christian Lundblad

Richard "Dick" Levin Distinguished Professor of Finance and Senior Associate Dean for Faculty and Research, UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School

 

MODERATOR

Sekou Bermiss

Associate Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship, UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School

Will recent advances in AI complement human expertise, thereby increasing its value, or render it increasingly unnecessary, thus reducing its value (even if jobs are not in net eliminated)? David Autor will frame this question through the lens of three technological revolutions of the last two centuries: the Industrial Revolution, the Computer Revolution, and the AI Revolution. In each, the types of expertise that were rewarded changed substantially, with vastly uneven consequences for workers in different occupations and possessing different education levels. These forces will play out differently in the AI era than in preceding decades. While the future is not a forecasting exercise –– we are collectively creating it –– Autor will discuss the opportunities that AI opens for the labor market, as well as some of the risks it poses.

 

SPEAKER

David Autor

Daniel (1972) and Gail Rubinfeld Professor, Margaret MacVicar Faculty Fellow, MIT, and 2024 Kenan Institute Distinguished Fellow

Major innovations – think electricity or computerization – are often underestimated when introduced. Moreover, in popular imagination, disruption happens overnight, but in reality, innovation’s impacts take time. Are we at the outset of an innovation-induced disruption? Will generative AI and other technologies dominate or will mitigating forces temper these technologies’ takeover? Three experts  discuss how businesses should adapt to the potential reshuffling of the competitive landscape.

 

PANELISTS

Josh Lerner

Jacob H. Schiff Professor of Investment Banking, Harvard Business School, and 2024 Kenan Institute Distinguished Fellow

Heather Miller

Vice President, Digital Transformation, Smurfit Westrock

Bruce Van Saun

Chairman and CEO, Citizens Financial Group

 

MODERATOR

Gerald Cohen

Chief Economist, Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise

The Atlantic staff writer and author of its “Work in Progress” newsletter, Derek Thompson sits down for a fireside chat about a key driver in business resiliency – its workforce. He’ll speak to what data and reporting say about the age of distraction, the importance of employee autonomy, and how and when digital tools for efficiency start to undermine productivity.

 

SPEAKER

Derek Thompson

Staff Writer, The Atlantic

 

MODERATOR

Brooke Capps-Yaroni

Director of External Affairs, Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise

With the unexpected becoming a bigger part of the everyday, understanding how to build resilience cannot be more timely or more important. Resilience enables individuals, teams, organizations and institutions to weather various grand challenges such as crises, pandemics, workforce disruptions and economic surprises that arise seemingly without warning. In this presentation, Sutcliffe highlights some fundamentals of resilience and how you can build your own and that of your team and your organization.

 

SPEAKER

Kathleen M. Sutcliffe

Bloomberg Distinguished Professor, Johns Hopkins University, and 2024 Kenan Institute Distinguished Fellow

Join Dean Mary Margaret Frank for a discussion about the challenges inherent in a rapidly changing and increasingly complex world. This executive briefing is part of UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School’s Dean’s Speaker Series and is made possible through the generous support of the Archie K. Davis Endowment.

 

SPEAKERS

Steve Malik

Chairman and Owner, NC Courage

The Honorable Sarah Bloom Raskin

Partner, Kaya Partners; Colin W. Brown Distinguished Professor of the Practice of Law, Duke University; Former Deputy Secretary, US Department of the Treasury

 

MODERATOR

Mary Margaret Frank

Dean, UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School