Bank of America – Croixstone

Building an AI Foundation for Growth

“Artificial intelligence and generative AI may be the most important technology of any lifetime.”
– Marc Benioff (Chair, CEO and Co-Founder – Salesforce)

Taking AI to the Next Level: Like many other organizations, Croixstone has launched a journey to harness the full potential of AI and to drive its value creation. Last week, three of our leaders (Ed Ritter, Brandon Morgan, and Mark Weber) participated in the second of a three-part AI educational series hosted by the Charlotte Chapter of the Private Directors Association (Croixstone serves as a sponsor along with Gold Sponsor Charlotte Business Journal and fellow Bronze sponsors GreerWalker and Essex Richards).

AI Speakers: Last week’s AI educational session featured a diverse panel of speakers including Jeremiah Grant (President, Chief Information Security Officer – EverOak Solutions), Lisa Weil (Board Advisor – Quinnipiac University School of Nursing and former Senior Managing Director, Head of Experience Product Management – TIAA), David Phillips (Founder – Faster Glass) and moderator Carolina Ko (Senior Vice President and Senior Relationship Manager – Bank of America).

AI Key Messages: We appreciated and strongly aligned with the following key messages delivered by the panelists regarding the AI journey:

There is a call to action for EVERY organization when it comes to AI.
Focus first on your employees and their concerns and potential resistance to AI.
Allow for experiential learning to drive AI training.
Organizations must have solid foundations rooted in clean data strategies, great controls environments, and solid governance to support their AI journeys.
Organizations should “right-size” their governance of AI.
Board members need not be AI techies, but rather they should be asking foundational and strategic questions related to AI.

Wondering about how to best launch your organization’s AI journey? Reach out to Mark Weber, Croixstone’s Managing Partner and Co-Founder here.

Learn more about the Private Directors Association. Founded in 2014, the Private Directors Association is dedicated to improving private companies’ growth and sustainability through governance that adds value. Learn more here.

Croixstone’s Lisa Cahill to Participate in ENCOUNTER Charlotte

One of Croixstone’s favorite hometown nonprofits is Leadership Charlotte. This great organization has a mission to develop and enhance volunteer community leadership by providing a diverse group of emerging and existing leaders with the opportunity to increase their community knowledge, civic network, and service to the community.

Leadership Charlotte offers two programs to fulfill its mission. The organization’s core program is “Leadership Charlotte”, a 10-month program where an average of 50 participants explore current issues with a variety of community leaders. Additionally, the organization offers a scaled-down version of its core program called “ENCOUNTER Charlotte.” This program serves as an orientation to Charlotte and to community leadership over a two-day period each spring and fall.

Croixstone’s very own Lisa Cahill (Senior Talent Leader) is participating in ENCOUNTER Charlotte’s spring 2023 program. She joins participants from a diverse portfolio of organizations across the Charlotte region including: Charlotte Regional Business Alliance, Novant Health, Truist Financial, Microsoft, Grant Thornton, Bank of America, Second Harvest Food Bank, Dowd YMCA, and more.

Croixstone’s CEO, Patti Weber, and Managing Partner, Mark Weber, are past participants of ENCOUNTER Charlotte. Learn more about the organization here.

Fortune’s 6th Annual “Change the World” List

On September 21, 2020, Fortune Magazine revealed its sixth annual “Change the World” list, which showcases over 50 companies that have made an important social or environmental impact through their profit-making strategy and operations this year.

Three companies from the Southeast USA made the list:

#15 Charlotte-based Bank of America

#49 Atlanta-based UPS

#51 Miami-based ChenMed

Explore the full list here.

Sustainability in Business

On September 7th, the results of the annual 2017 Dow Jones Sustainability Index for North America were announced, and both Duke Energy Corp. and Bank of America Corp. made the list for their focus on environmental, social and governance issues. Like Duke Energy and Bank of America, companies continue to change their business models as a result of sustainability opportunities.

Sustainability is all about meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability to meet the needs of future generations. Instead of today’s linear ‘take, make, depose’ economic model, companies like Hewlett-Packard, who recently unveiled the world’s first printer with closed-loop recycled plastic, and Procter & Gamble, with its ongoing focus on creating a new method to recycle plastic for reuse, are helping to drive the circular economy concept of ‘return and renew’ as part of their approach to sustainability in business.

Is it time to tie executive compensation to sustainability? Learn more here.

Learn more sustainability in today’s business world here.

Read about the circular economy concept here.

Earn a Backstage Pass to the QC via Leadership Charlotte’s ENCOUNTER Program

This week our Chief Experience Officer, Patti Weber, enjoyed a fantastic “backstage pass” to the city of Charlotte by participating in Leadership Charlotte’s “ENCOUNTER Charlotte” program. This great program is a slimmed down version of the organization’s flagship 10-month program and is designed as a high-level introduction to the city of Charlotte for newcomers or residents who want to get involved.

“I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to meet and learn from a cross-section of leaders from Charlotte’s education, government, arts + council, environment, human services, public safety and volunteerism communities” said Patti. “I encourage others to participate in this amazing program and get connected to Charlotte in a deeper way”.

Patti participated in the day and a half program along with 43 other participants from a cross-section of Charlotte region corporations and nonprofits including: A Child’s Place, ai Design Group, Addison Whitney, Alexander Children’s Foundation, Arts & Science Council, Bank of America, Cardinal Innovations Healthcare, Carolinas College of Health Sciences, Carolinas Healthcare System, The Catalyst Agency, Charlotte Chamber of Commerce, Charlotte Country Day School, Charter Communications, Clariant Corporation, Converse College, EY, Grant Thornton, Harvey B. Gantt Center, Huron Studer Group, Integrated Leadership Systems, KPMG, Kelly Voelker & Associates, Maid in Heaven, Merrill Lynch, Moore & Van Allen, Pat’s Place Child Advisory Center, Robinson, Bradshaw & Hinson, PA, Signs ID, TCG Events, TIAA, Turnaround Advisors, and WFAE 90.7 FM.

Learn more about Leadership Charlotte here.

Read Charlotte Agenda’s article about ENCOUNTER Charlotte here.

Croixstone Consulting is Official Supporter of International Fraud Awareness Week

Did you know that the typical organization loses 5% of its annual revenues to fraud?

Croixstone Consulting has joined leading companies (including Accenture, Bank of America, Barclays Bank, Deloitte, EY, General Mills, Grant Thornton, IBM, Oracle, PricewaterhouseCoopers, TD and TIAA) in a global effort to minimize the impact of fraud by promoting anti-fraud awareness and education during International Fraud Awareness Week (November 13-19, 2016).

Sponsored annually by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE), International Fraud Awareness Week addresses the staggering cost of fraud. According to the ACFE:

The organization analyzed 2,410 occupational fraud cases that caused a total loss of more than $6.3 billion
The median loss from a single case of occupational fraud was $150,000
More than 23% of occupational fraud cases resulted in a loss of at least $1 million
Median losses varied by region (USA = $120,000)
Of the three major categories of occupational fraud, financial statement fraud caused by far the greatest media loss per scheme
When owners or executives committed fraud, the median damage was more than 10X worse than when employees were the perpetrators
The more people conspiring in an occupational fraud, the higher the losses tend to be

Learn more about the ACFE and International Fraud Awareness Week here.