Justin Sanderson

This panel explores the uncomfortable truth: That AI can only be as intelligent as the organization behind it.

Those that succeed are strengthening the data, processes and people that underpin AI, to ensure every insight, recommendation and customer interaction is accurate, compliant and worthy of trust. This will explore how to:

• Create AI-ready data foundations that deliver more accurate insights and greater customer trust.
• Build confidence in every AI decision with transparent models, human oversight and robust validation frameworks.
• Equip your workforce with the skills, governance and accountability needed to turn AI ambition into trusted business outcomes.

Most CX transformation playbooks were written for digital-first companies. They don't translate cleanly to a 125-year-old community bank where the customer relationship still runs through people, not portals. At First United Bank, our purpose – Spend Life Wisely – means we're transforming customer experience without losing what brought customers to a community bank in the first place.

This session is for senior leaders running real transformations inside complex institutions. We'll talk about what works, what fails, and what doesn't make it into the case studies.

What we'll cover:

• The vendor forcing function: when a platform end-of-life or core conversion sets your transformation timeline before you've built executive consensus

• Earning C-suite commitment beyond the slide deck – what it actually takes to keep a CEO and board funding a multi-year program through quarterly proof points

• Standing up a Transformation Management Office that drives outcomes instead of becoming another layer of governance – using hybrid operating models in a regulated environment

• The barrier most leaders avoid naming: peers who quietly disagree with the destination, and how to surface that before it stalls execution

• Knowing when to slow down for alignment or pull rank

You'll leave with a working framework for sequencing CX transformation in regulated, relationship-driven institutions. Not a checklist – a set of decisions you'll have to own.