Leadership Skills Required in the Era of AI

Yale Club of New York City |  May 14, 2026  |  12:00 PM - 2:30 PM EDT

NACD New York invited directors to the program, Leadership Skills Required in the Era of AI, focused squarely on the capabilities boards and executives must develop to lead in a world of accelerating technological change. As AI shifts from isolated pilots to workflow-native and increasingly agentic systems, leadership demands are evolving rapidly—and boards must be prepared.

The session explored the core leadership skills required in the AI era: strategic technology fluency, disciplined ROI evaluation, data-informed decision-making, talent and culture alignment, and the ability to govern systems that operates with growing autonomy. Directors examined how to move beyond oversight of experimentation toward active stewardship of productivity gains, business model innovation, and enterprise-wide transformation.

The discussion addressed how leaders need to ask sharper, forward-looking questions: Were AI investments translating into measurable productivity improvements? Did organizations have the right incentives, data infrastructure, and executive capabilities to scale responsibly? How should boards govern agentic AI systems while preserving accountability and strategic control?

In this environment, AI leadership is not optional—it is a fiduciary imperative. The program equipped directors with the mindset, competencies, and governance approaches required to lead organizations confidently, responsibly, and competitively in the era of AI.

Speakers

Fawad Bajwa

Managing Director, Partner, and Leader of Global AI Practice, Russell Reynolds

Fawad advises boards, CEOs, CHROs, COOs, and technology leaders on strategic leadership and succession decisions. His clients include publicly listed companies, as well as growth companies backed by private equity and venture capital in the lifesciences, financial services, and technology sectors...

Read Full Bio

Zach Schwitzky

Co-Founder and CEO, Limbik

Zach Schwitzky is the co-founder and CEO of Limbik, the leading human-validated synthetic audience platform. Limbik enables the US government, NATO, allied governments, and many of the world's most influential companies to immediately and accurately simulate how information, ideas, and content will resonate with target audiences in more than 60 countries and 25 languages...

Read Full Bio

Julia Valentine

Founder, Star Legend FO and Board Member, Apple Bank

Julia Valentine is a technology expert, entrepreneur and investor with over 25 years of experience at top-tier firms, including JPMorgan, D. E. Shaw and Mousse Partners, a large family office...

Read Full Bio

Moderator

Jason Kulasingam

Managing Director, Duke CE

As a Managing Director in North America, Jason partners with clients to address their strategic business and leadership challenges through the design and delivery of immersive learning experiences. Previously, Jason was Client Director and Project Director at Duke CE...

Read Full Bio