EP184: AI, Mergers & The People Side Of Change

Leading a team through change takes more than a new strategy or technology. People need to understand where they fit, what’s expected of them and how to move forward when the answers aren’t clear. In this episode of Leader Generation, Tessa Burg talks with Krista Pavlakos, Vice President of Marketing and Communications at Renesas, about lessons from a career shaped by acquisitions and major technology shifts.

Krista shares practical ways to bring teams together, align priorities with business goals and help people build confidence with AI. You’ll hear how her marketing team created informal learning sessions for colleagues with different levels of interest and experience, plus why finding a shared problem to solve can help bridge different company cultures.

The conversation also explores how to give people ownership through clear roles and responsibilities while balancing support with high expectations. Whether you’re navigating a merger, introducing AI or helping your team adapt to a new direction, this episode offers useful ideas for making progress together.

Leader Generation is hosted by Tessa Burg and brought to you by Mod Op.

About Krista Pavlakos:

Krista currently serves as the Vice President of Marketing at Renesas Electronics Corporation, where she is responsible for an organization spanning brand, communications, digital marketing, demand generation, events, e-commerce, sales enablement, and customer engagement. Her work is done at the intersection of innovation, business strategy, customer experience, and organizational transformation to help bring complex technologies to market in ways that are accessible, relevant, and impactful. Krista has more than two decades of Marketing experience and has worked at six of the top semiconductor companies in the industry.  

Prior to joining Renesas, Krista led and built the digital and corporate marketing team at IDT before they were acquired by Renesas. She led a digital marketing team at NXP, led and built a digital marketing team at Fairchild prior to being acquired by ON Semiconductor, established and led the campaign marketing function at Texas Instruments, and led the marketing communications team at National Semiconductor. Working for so many industry-leading semiconductor companies (many through acquisition) helped expose Krista to a wide variety of marketing organizations and cultures upon which she built her direct, data-driven and results-oriented approach to Marketing. 

Additionally, Krista has extensive experience in executive, corporate, and employee communications, and has defined and developed communication strategies for CEOs, C-suite executives, and her own organization.

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].