Leader Generation

The marketing landscape is changing faster than ever—and the marketers who treat their work like product and embrace AI will win.  
This week, Leader Generation host Tessa Burg talks with Alan Kipust, Mod Op’s Executive in Residence and a leader in product management, to discuss how AI is fundamentally reshaping what marketing teams can accomplish and how they should think about their work. 
You’ll learn which AI applications actually move the needle, the power of a good hackathon and the skills every marketer needs to master. Wherever you are in your career, this episode will change how you approach your work tomorrow. 
Leader Generation is hosted by Tessa Burg and brought to you by Mod Op.
About Alan Kipust:
Alan Kipust is a senior product management executive with a distinguished track record building and scaling digital, logistics, and customer-centric businesses for some of the world’s most recognizable brands. Over a fifteen-year career at Amazon, Uber, Chewy and Ford Motor Company, he has led transformative initiatives across e-commerce, mobility, customer operations, and subscription ecosystems. Most recently, as Senior Director of Product Management for Ford’s Digital Experience organization, Kipust oversaw the company’s subscription commerce and advanced Ford’s global data privacy and commitments. Prior to Ford, he served as Senior Director of Customer Experience at Chewy, driving enterprise-wide customer experience strategy, deploying proprietary CRM systems, and helping maintain the brand’s industry-leading satisfaction rating.
With deep expertise in scaled operations, platform design, and technology-driven transformation, Kipust has shaped the digital and operational backbone behind major global businesses. At Uber, he served as Global Head of Vehicle Product Management, directing the product and fleet strategy for a 60,000-vehicle program that supplied a significant share of global driver availability. Earlier in his career, he spent seven years at Amazon, where he launched Amazon Flex and built Amazon Logistics’ first integrated customer-and-driver support operation. A holder of multiple U.S. patents and an advisor to several high-growth companies, Kipust is known for his product vision, operational rigor, and ability to build high-performing teams in complex, rapidly evolving environments. He can be reached on LinkedIn or at [email protected].
About Tessa Burg:
Tessa is the Chief Technology Officer at Mod Op and Host of the Leader Generation podcast. She has led both technology and marketing teams for 15+ years. Tessa initiated and now leads Mod Op's AI/ML Pilot Team, AI Council and Innovation Pipeline. She started her career in IT and development before following her love for data and strategy into digital marketing. Tessa has held roles on both the consulting and client sides of the business for domestic and international brands, including American Greetings, Amazon, Nestlé, Anlene, Moen and many more. Tessa can be reached on LinkedIn or at [email protected].

Five years ago, we started Leader Generation with a simple premise: clients learning from clients. This year proved why that matters.
In 2025, CEOs and their leadership teams stopped debating whether to adopt AI and began wrestling with harder questions: How do we bring our people along? How do we measure what matters instead of what's easy to measure? How do we maintain the relationships that built our business while transforming how we operate?
Excerpts from these ten conversations capture what worked. Not theory—actual results from CDOs, COOs, and VPs leading change at companies like Southern Glazer's Wine & Spirits, DoubleVerify, and Digital Remedy. The full episodes are linked in this post.
Stuart Goldstein explains why technology is the easy part, and people are where transformations actually stall. Alan Wizemann describes how his team measures success by the time freed up for employees to do valuable work, not headcount reduction. Anna Jankowska walks through preparing teams for scenarios they don't expect, because that's where you see who's ready to lead.
These aren't polished case studies. They're candid conversations about the messy reality of leading change when your board wants results, your team is exhausted, and the playbook keeps changing.
If you're heading into 2026 with aggressive goals and limited patience for more consultants telling you what you already know, these episodes cut through the noise. They're built for leaders who need to make decisions Monday morning, not attend another conference about the future of work.
Links to the full episodes from this top 10 list:
#10: https://tenloradio.com/e/ep129-building-your-army-of-ai-agents-what-marketers-need-to-know/ - Fabio Fiss, Aaron Grando, and Javier Lopez
#9: https://tenloradio.com/e/ep109-ai-data-marketing-how-to-manage-risks/ - Kevin Purvis
#8: https://tenloradio.com/e/ep116-future-of-performance-marketing-data-ai-personalization/ - Jeremy Haft
#7: https://tenloradio.com/e/ep126-how-scibids-ai-is-redefining-media-buying-at-doubleverify/  - Wadrille Leroy
#6: https://tenloradio.com/e/ep112-leading-through-change-the-human-side-of-marketing-leadership/  - Anna Jankowska
#5: https://tenloradio.com/e/ep108-ai-playground-microsoft-copilot-google-notebooklm/ - Alyssa Curci and Jonathan Murray
#4: https://tenloradio.com/e/ep140-leading-change-that-sticks-people-processes-platforms-with-stuart-goldstein/ - Stuart Goldstein
#3: https://tenloradio.com/e/ep143-time-to-value-innovation-that-puts-customers-first-with-alan-wizemann/ * Alan Wizemann
#2: https://tenloradio.com/e/ep119-leading-change-transforming-companies-with-alan-wizemann/ - Alan Wizemann
#1: https://tenloradio.com/e/ep121-say-hello-to-brand-agent-ai-that-speaks-your-brand-s-language/ - Aaron Grando
 
About Tessa Burg:
Tessa is the Chief Technology Officer at Mod Op and Host of the Leader Generation podcast. She has led both technology and marketing teams for 15+ years. Tessa initiated and now leads Mod Op's AI/ML Pilot Team, AI Council and Innovation Pipeline. She started her career in IT and development before following her love for data and strategy into digital marketing. Tessa has held roles on both the consulting and client sides of the business for domestic and international brands, including American Greetings, Amazon, Nestlé, Anlene, Moen and many more. Tessa can be reached on LinkedIn or at [email protected].

The search landscape has fundamentally shifted. 60% of Google searches now result in zero clicks. People are getting answers from AI without ever visiting websites.
If you've noticed declining organic traffic or wondered why your content isn't getting clicks despite good rankings, this episode reveals what's happening and what to do about it.
This compilation brings together five search and PR experts on how AI is changing buyer behavior and what actually works now. Jon Gillham from Originality.ai explains why citations, statistics, and quotes are essential for LLM visibility. Patty Parobek reframes the conversation with a surprising stat: Google grew by four ChatGPTs in 2024. Maurice White details the technical foundation that makes GEO work, while Chris Harihar explains why PR is now both top and bottom of the funnel. Gareth Cunningham ties it together with the reality that GEO only works when solid SEO fundamentals are in place.
The shift isn't about producing more content. It's about strategic placement, quality sourcing, and building topical authority that AI engines trust. From structured data to brand mentions, from Google Business profiles to cited content, this episode provides a roadmap for 2026 and beyond.
Featured Experts:
Jon Gillham - Founder of Originality.ai shares proven strategies for LLM visibility and avoiding AI content detection. Listen to the full episode
Patty Parobek - VP of AI and ML at Mod Op Transformation Breaks down the zero-click phenomenon and what it means for traffic strategies. Listen to the full episode
Maurice White, Senior SEO Strategist at Mod Op, details the technical foundation required before GEO optimization works. Listen to the full episode
Chris Harihar - EVP of PR at Mod Op explores how PR and SEO converge in the AI search era. Listen to the full episode
Gareth Cunningham - Director of Search Experience at Mod Op explains why GEO only works on top of solid SEO fundamentals. Listen to the full episode
This isn't about abandoning SEO. It's about evolving your strategy for how people actually research and buy today.

Is it possible to build community within AI? Can we challenge search engines to put humanity and the truth at the forefront of their outputs? According to Troy Snyder, astrology student turned entrepreneur, the answer is ... maybe.
In this episode, Tessa Burg and Troy examine the balance between technology and humanity. They discuss the challenges of having AI determine what is “true,” how brands can stay authentic and build trust in an increasingly automated world, and even how to view AI through an astrology lens. 
Leader Generation is hosted by Tessa Burg and brought to you by Mod Op. 
About Troy Snyder:
For more than three decades, Troy has operated at the frontier of digital innovation—helping to guide the evolution of streaming from early SD pipelines to HD, 4K, the first waves of VR, and early AI efforts—while studying the timeless frameworks that have shaped human understanding for thousands of years. Troy has led the creation of authentication systems, video CMS architectures, large-scale distribution networks and multiband rural wireless. He has also contributed to emerging AI-driven digital identity tools with Mebot.ai where “Human AI” and how we create true lifelike representations of self in the AI age is explored.
Beyond his work in digital innovation, Troy is committed to long-term social impact. He serves as founder and chairman for Wonderful Foundations, a charity that owns and supports 27 schools serving more than 15,000 kids. This effort reflects Troy’s belief that technology and infrastructure should exist in service of human potential. In addition to being a technologist, Troy is also a practicing Vedic astrologer whose work spans invention, executive leadership, creative production, fundraising and systems engineering, always with an eye toward the deeper patterns that connect technology, people and purpose.
About Tessa Burg:
Tessa is the Chief Technology Officer at Mod Op and Host of the Leader Generation podcast. She has led both technology and marketing teams for 15+ years. Tessa initiated and now leads Mod Op's AI/ML Pilot Team, AI Council and Innovation Pipeline. She started her career in IT and development before following her love for data and strategy into digital marketing. Tessa has held roles on both the consulting and client sides of the business for domestic and international brands, including American Greetings, Amazon, Nestlé, Anlene, Moen and many more. Tessa can be reached on LinkedIn or at [email protected].

When an advertising behemoth announces major restructuring plans and impending layoffs, you tend to sit up and listen. 
In our latest episode of Lead(er) Generation, Host Tessa Burg talks with Patty Parobek, Mod Op’s Senior Vice President of AI Transformation, to discuss the latest Omnicom news and what this means for marketers and marketing technologists.
No strangers to change, Tessa and Patty discuss the truths we must all face during difficult times, the opportunities that any change can bring and the skills that will win out in the end.  
Leader Generation is hosted by Tessa Burg and brought to you by Mod Op. 
About Patty Parobek:
As Senior Vice President of AI Transformation, Patty leads Mod Op’s AI practice group, spearheading initiatives to maximize the value and scalability of AI-enabled solutions. Patty collaborates with the executive team to revolutionize creative, advertising and marketing projects for clients, while ensuring responsible AI practices. She also oversees AI training programs, identifies high-value AI use cases and measures implementation impact, providing essential feedback to Mod Op’s AI Council for continuous improvement. Patty can be reached on LinkedIn or at [email protected].
About Tessa Burg:
Tessa is the Chief Technology Officer at Mod Op and Host of the Leader Generation podcast. She has led both technology and marketing teams for 15+ years. Tessa initiated and now leads Mod Op's AI/ML Pilot Team, AI Council and Innovation Pipeline. She started her career in IT and development before following her love for data and strategy into digital marketing. Tessa has held roles on both the consulting and client sides of the business for domestic and international brands, including American Greetings, Amazon, Nestlé, Anlene, Moen and many more. Tessa can be reached on LinkedIn or at [email protected].

Every marketer has asked themselves the same question: Is AI coming for my job? 
In this episode of Leader Generation, Host Tessa Burg and David Berkowitz, Founder of High Caliber AI and the AI Marketers Guild, explore how marketers can start viewing AI as a collaborative tool instead of a threat to their careers.  
David talks about his latest work, The Non-Obvious Guide to Using AI for Marketing, and some of the unconventional ways companies are using AI to their advantage. He and Tessa delve into how AI can unlock opportunities that are unique to a company and brand, the role of AI results in reputation management and the value of experiential knowledge. 
Leader Generation is hosted by Tessa Burg and brought to you by Mod Op. 
About David Berkowitz:
David Berkowitz is the Founder of High Caliber AI and AI Marketers Guild, and the author of The Non-Obvious Guide to Using AI for Marketing (Ideapress, 2025). A longtime marketing strategist, David has led marketing and innovation for companies including Mediaocean, Storyhunter, Sysomos, MRY (Publicis), and 360i (Dentsu). He has contributed 600+ columns to outlets like Advertising Age, MediaPost, and VentureBeat, and spoken at 400+ events worldwide. He helps marketers harness AI to work smarter, stay creative, and strengthen customer connections. You can reach him on LinkedIn or at aimarketersguild.com and highcaliberai.com. 
About Tessa Burg:
Tessa is the Chief Technology Officer at Mod Op and Host of the Leader Generation podcast. She has led both technology and marketing teams for 15+ years. Tessa initiated and now leads Mod Op's AI/ML Pilot Team, AI Council and Innovation Pipeline. She started her career in IT and development before following her love for data and strategy into digital marketing. Tessa has held roles on both the consulting and client sides of the business for domestic and international brands, including American Greetings, Amazon, Nestlé, Anlene, Moen and many more. Tessa can be reached on LinkedIn or at [email protected].

If you’ve been watching AI tools race into marketing and tech, but aren’t sure what’s hype and what’s actually useful, this episode is for you. 
Mod Op’s Head of Technology in Calgary, Derek McBurney, unpacks how generative AI, code assistants and “vibe coding” are really changing the way digital experiences get built. He explains in plain language what AI code assistants actually do, when they genuinely speed teams up and when they quietly introduce bugs, tech debt or just plain slop.
You’ll hear concrete examples of using AI to handle tedious work—like transforming messy spreadsheets—so developers can spend more time on the creative, pixel-perfect experiences that matter most to customers. Derek also digs into how no-code and vibe-code tools are empowering marketers, designers and non-dev teammates to prototype real concepts quickly, without replacing the need for strong engineering fundamentals.
Throughout the conversation, Derek keeps coming back to two big themes: ambition and responsibility. He shares practical guidance for CMOs and marketing leaders on setting guardrails, protecting proprietary code, avoiding skill erosion and deciding when to build vs buy in an AI-driven world. Leader Generation is hosted by Tessa Burg and brought to you by Mod Op. 
About Derek McBurney:
Derek is the Head of Technology at Evans Hunt, focusing on delivering meaningful digital experiences and sharing his knowledge about building the web for humans. He’s been building websites ever since he first got online. At the age of 12, it was a fan site for the game Quake, with nothing more than a text editor to create some HTML. Now? Clients like Travel Alberta, Calgary Stampede, and Brookfield Residential, which compose builds using best-in-class technologies for performance, accessibility, and intuitive authoring to power beautiful and rich experiences. 
About Tessa Burg:
Tessa is the Chief Technology Officer at Mod Op and Host of the Leader Generation podcast. She has led both technology and marketing teams for 15+ years. Tessa initiated and now leads Mod Op's AI/ML Pilot Team, AI Council and Innovation Pipeline. She started her career in IT and development before following her love for data and strategy into digital marketing. Tessa has held roles on both the consulting and client sides of the business for domestic and international brands, including American Greetings, Amazon, Nestlé, Anlene, Moen and many more. Tessa can be reached on LinkedIn or at [email protected].

Mid-market leaders are facing a once-in-a-generation opportunity with AI, and this episode shows how to capitalize on it. 
John Powers, former CIO and Chief Transformation Officer at Deloitte and now Executive in Residence at Mod Op, shares practical ways to turn AI, data strategy and governance into real competitive advantage. He explains why smaller, more nimble companies can finally “punch above their weight,” how to spot the fastest wins and where custom, company-specific AI beats off-the-shelf tools.
You’ll hear how John partnered with Mod Op to stand up data leadership, why engineering the way you communicate makes AI dramatically more effective and how to rethink work so teams spend less time on administrative tasks and more time on growth. 
If you’re done “checking the AI box” and ready to drive measurable outcomes, this conversation gives you a clear path forward. Leader Generation is hosted by Tessa Burg and brought to you by Mod Op. 
About John Powers:
John is an accomplished senior advisor with decades of success driving transformation for global multi-nationals, now bringing that experience and expertise to Mod Op Strategic Consulting clients. As Deloitte’s Global Chief Transformation and Chief Information Officer he led enterprise-wide IT cloud migrations, modernized cybersecurity governance and implemented zero-trust principles to bolster resilience, while reducing cost, and improving service delivery. His experience in strategy, digital transformation, inorganic growth and organizational effectiveness is now dedicated to leveraging AI and Big Data to drive growth and profitability. John can be reached on LinkedIn or at [email protected]. 
About Tessa Burg:
Tessa is the Chief Technology Officer at Mod Op and Host of the Leader Generation podcast. She has led both technology and marketing teams for 15+ years. Tessa initiated and now leads Mod Op's AI/ML Pilot Team, AI Council and Innovation Pipeline. She started her career in IT and development before following her love for data and strategy into digital marketing. Tessa has held roles on both the consulting and client sides of the business for domestic and international brands, including American Greetings, Amazon, Nestlé, Anlene, Moen and many more. Tessa can be reached on LinkedIn or at [email protected].

What happens when AI and people work side by side instead of in competition? In this episode of Leader Generation, Tessa Burg talks with John Arnold, Head of Strategic CRM Advisory at Creatio. They discuss the company’s new global study on AI agents and no-code platforms, and what it reveals about the future of work.
John shares insights from more than 500 business and technology leaders who are redefining what it means to innovate. You’ll learn why AI is now a boardroom-level priority, how leading organizations are using it to grow—not replace—their teams and how no-code platforms are giving everyone, not just developers, the power to build solutions fast.
Whether you’re a marketer, salesperson or service leader, you’ll come away with a clear picture of how AI and no-code tools can help free up time, unlock creativity, and accelerate transformation without losing the human element. 
Leader Generation is hosted by Tessa Burg and brought to you by Mod Op. 
 
About John Arnold:
John Arnold is the Head of Strategic CRM Advisory at Creatio, a global vendor of an agentic CRM and workflow automation platform with no-code and AI at its core. A recognized expert in CRM strategy and digital transformation, John brings enterprise-level experience helping global organizations turn emerging technology into a driver of measurable business outcomes.
Before joining Creatio, John held principal advisory and analyst roles at Adobe and Forrester, where he worked with executive teams to develop customer-centric technology strategies. At Creatio, he helps organizations shift from feature-led CRM systems to outcome-driven, AI-powered growth platforms that are agile, adaptive, and built around customer experiences.
John is currently leading the development of Creatio’s AI-first CRM maturity models and best practices to guide enterprises in defining, customizing, and scaling their transformation journeys. His mission is to help leaders reimagine agentic CRM and no-code composability as a competitive advantage.
About Tessa Burg:
Tessa is the Chief Technology Officer at Mod Op and Host of the Leader Generation podcast. She has led both technology and marketing teams for 15+ years. Tessa initiated and now leads Mod Op's AI/ML Pilot Team, AI Council and Innovation Pipeline. She started her career in IT and development before following her love for data and strategy into digital marketing. Tessa has held roles on both the consulting and client sides of the business for domestic and international brands, including American Greetings, Amazon, Nestlé, Anlene, Moen and many more. Tessa can be reached on LinkedIn or at [email protected].

Feeling buried under too many marketing tools and platforms? You’re not alone. In this episode of Leader Generation, Tessa Burg talks with John Arnold of Creatio about how AI and no-code technology are cutting through the clutter to help marketers get things done.
John shares what he’s seeing in the real world—from his days at Forrester researching B2B growth strategies to now helping teams at Creatio build custom solutions without waiting on developers. Together, he and Tessa unpack how marketing and IT can finally work in sync, using AI to automate the busywork and free people up for strategy, creativity and innovation.
If you’ve ever wished your tech stack worked for you instead of the other way around, this conversation will change how you think about the future of marketing technology. Leader Generation is hosted by Tessa Burg and brought to you by Mod Op. 
About John Arnold:
John Arnold is the Head of Strategic CRM Advisory at Creatio, a global vendor of an agentic CRM and workflow automation platform with no-code and AI at its core. A recognized expert in CRM strategy and digital transformation, John brings enterprise-level experience helping global organizations turn emerging technology into a driver of measurable business outcomes.
Before joining Creatio, John held principal advisory and analyst roles at Adobe and Forrester, where he worked with executive teams to develop customer-centric technology strategies. At Creatio, he helps organizations shift from feature-led CRM systems to outcome-driven, AI-powered growth platforms that are agile, adaptive, and built around customer experiences.
John is currently leading the development of Creatio’s AI-first CRM maturity models and best practices to guide enterprises in defining, customizing, and scaling their transformation journeys. His mission is to help leaders reimagine agentic CRM and no-code composability as a competitive advantage.
About Tessa Burg:
Tessa is the Chief Technology Officer at Mod Op and Host of the Leader Generation podcast. She has led both technology and marketing teams for 15+ years. Tessa initiated and now leads Mod Op's AI/ML Pilot Team, AI Council and Innovation Pipeline. She started her career in IT and development before following her love for data and strategy into digital marketing. Tessa has held roles on both the consulting and client sides of the business for domestic and international brands, including American Greetings, Amazon, Nestlé, Anlene, Moen and many more. Tessa can be reached on LinkedIn or at [email protected].