Whether you’re in marketing, accounting, or supply chain management, you and your colleagues are likely discussing how and when to use AI in your company’s workflow. 

But there’s not as much discussion of how AI will change our workplaces and our place at work. 

This year’s Terry College of Business Alumni Network Conference tackled that conversation as part of a daylong leadership retreat held at Chick-fil-A’s Support Center and corporate headquarters in south Atlanta. 

“We’re living in a time of disruption, but we are also living in a time of opportunity — if we ask the right questions,” said Holly Ward, executive coach with Shore Coaching and featured speaker at this year’s conference. 

More than 100 men and women came together to learn about how to lead through change, the theory of servant leadership and the discipline of being joyful. 

Ward, who was joined by her colleagues Denise Musselwhite and Karen Smith, reminded participants that human agency and discernment are most important during times of change. 

Conference-goers also heard from the Terry College Management Information Systems department head Jerry Kane, who is a leader in change management and technology adoption. 

He challenged them to take a leadership role in helping their organizations develop guidelines and best practices for AI. 

“We need responsible leaders to be using these tools and thinking through these issues,” Kane said. “I think we are in a remarkable moment where we have an inordinate amount of control and say in what the world is going to look like with AI. We can set what is acceptable, what is responsible, what is ethical.” 

In addition to Kane and the coaches from Shore Coaching, John Mattioli (BBA ’09), Chick-fil-A’s strategic reinvestment, presented his company’s strategy to encourage servant leadership. 

Author and Athens native Katherine Wolf spoke about perseverance and finding joy amid life’s struggles. 

This was the inaugural year for the Terry Alumni Network, but it follows on years of bedrock laid by the Terry College Professional Women’s Conference. As with that conference, proceeds will benefit the Mary Virginia Terry Student Support Fund. 

To date, more than $80,000 has been awarded to 32 students. Students use these awards to help cover undergraduate and graduate tuition and expenses, study abroad, travel to professional conferences, equipment, and more.