Bank of America 2019 Business Leaders Forum:
Innovation as a Mindset
On October 8th, 2019 Colaberry participated in the annual Bank of America Business Leaders Forum. The central theme of this year’s event was the importance of fostering an innovation mindset through organizational culture.
Flywire CEO Mike Massaro delivered the keynote address on his company’s evolution and the lessons learned through times of struggle and rapid growth. He highlighted the interplay between talent and culture as the foundation for his company’s road to success. Last year, Forbes included Flywire on their list of “Next Billion-Dollar Startups.” The keynote was followed by a panel, moderated by Jane Parker of Bank of America. Colaberry CEO and Co-founder Ram Katamaraja, together with Liz Costerisan of Continental Resources, Elena P. LaFrance of Alkermes, and Senofer Mendoza of Mendoza Ventures discussed encountering personal and institutional biases, building strong communities, identifying and eliminating discriminatory hiring practices, addressing toxic work culture head-on, removing roadblocks to innovation, and empowering employees to thrive.
During the panel discussion, Ram underscored certain features that set Colaberry apart from other career transition and boot camp-style training programs. Colaberry students are being trained following evidence-based experiential learning methods in both in-demand tech and human skills. Students use the company’s AI-driven video feedback tool, which was created by in-house teams of data scientists, software engineers, and product designers to help improve communication skills. Colaberry’s work on leveraging the latest technological innovations for social good was recognized in 2018 by the McGovern Foundation with the Artificial Intelligence for Betterment of Humanity Prize.
The future of work in the age of AI inevitably came up during the panel discussion. Ram acknowledged the uncertainties surrounding the workplace of tomorrow but focused on the many new roles and jobs that will be created. Individual and organizational success in this new work landscape will rest on one’s ability to develop the needed skills on demand and at scale.
The event concluded with closing remarks by Stephanie Wolf, Managing Director and Regional Treasury Executive at Bank of America. She summed up the forum’s key takeaways for driving an innovation mindset: developing and nurturing employees, actively shaping organizational culture, and embracing risk-taking and experimentation across teams.
Colaberry extends special thanks to our partners and event organizers at Bank of America: Payal Loungani, Christiana Leva, Andrew Arsenian, and Claire Carr. The Colaberry team was represented by John McBride, Kristina Alessi, Kevin Guisarde, and Sathwik Mohan.
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