Johnna Powell

Winning the 𝗤𝟮 𝗚𝘂𝗮𝗿𝗱𝗶𝗮𝗻𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗜𝗻𝗱𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘆 𝗔𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱 in the “𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗣𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗿” category at The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) came with a very special opportunity — a one-on-one conversation with Johnna Powell. I had that conversation today, and what was scheduled for an hour turned into one of the most engaging, thought-provoking, and genuinely enjoyable discussions I’ve had in recent times. Nearly 90% of our conversation revolved around 𝗔𝗜. We spoke about how quickly AI is evolving, our perspectives on where it is heading, governance and responsible adoption, the future of work and jobs, and the challenges involved in bringing new technologies into a large organization. What I appreciated most was Johnna’s openness and curiosity — her willingness to listen to different perspectives, challenge ideas, share her own experiences, and offer thoughtful career advice along the way. At one point, while discussing how we should prepare ourselves for the changes AI may bring, she asked about my own approach. My answer was simple: “𝗙𝗮𝗰𝗲 𝗶𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗘𝗺𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗰𝗲 𝗶𝘁.” That brought a good laugh — and Johnna jokingly suggested that perhaps it should become a tagline. 😊 Our conversation also moved into how AI can help us build applications, write code, and rethink engineering workflows. That gave me an opportunity to share some of the work we have been doing around test automation, AI-assisted engineering, regression optimization, and a metric tool I recently built for our teams. I was genuinely grateful for Johnna’s encouraging feedback on the tool. What made the moment even more meaningful was that she immediately connected me with the AI Café team and opened an opportunity for me to demonstrate it to a broader audience. That gesture meant a lot. Moments like this remind me that recognition is valuable, but what can come from that recognition — a conversation, a new perspective, encouragement, or an opportunity to share an idea — can be even more meaningful. I’m grateful for the Q2 Guardians of the Industry – Proactive Pioneer recognition that created this opportunity, and especially thankful to Bhushan Kulkarni, CFA and Muralidhar Chandrasekar for the nomination, their continued support, and the encouragement they have consistently given me. And a very special thank you to Johnna for her time, openness, encouragement, and willingness to have such a candid, thoughtful, and enjoyable conversation. I walked into the meeting excited to talk about AI. I walked out with new perspectives, new questions, an unexpected opportunity — and even more motivation to keep learning, experimenting, and building. And as AI continues to reshape the world around us…𝗙𝗮𝗰𝗲 𝗜𝘁, 𝗘𝗺𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗰𝗲 𝗶𝘁, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗾𝘂𝗲𝗿 𝗶𝘁. 😊 #AI #Innovation #Automation #Engineering #FutureOfWork #DTCC

🚀💡 DTCC at MIT: Connecting with the Next Generation of Innovators It’s been an exciting few weeks for The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) at Massachusetts Institute of Technology ! We kicked things off hosting “Boba with DTCC” where students stopped by to connect with our team, learn more about DTCC, and explore the opportunities available across our organization. 🎓🧋 Experiences like these are about more than campus visibility. They help us build meaningful connections with the next generation of talent and give students a window into the important work happening at the heart of the global financial markets. A huge thank you to Priscilla Capistrano for the ongoing partnership, and to Matthew Kluska and Ashlee Tan for being outstanding DTCC ambassadors! 👏🏾 We continued the momentum with a Fireside Chat featuring DTCC leaders across Innovation, Model Risk, Data, and Cybersecurity. 🔥💬 Students had the opportunity to hear directly from our leaders about how DTCC sits at the center of the financial market infrastructure, the role emerging technology is playing in its evolution, and what makes a career at DTCC so unique. Thank you to our incredible panelists, Johnna Powell Boris Deychman Tim Lind Laura Deaner, for sharing your experiences, perspectives, and inspiring takeaways with the students. 🌟 Proud to see us continuing to show up, build connections, and inspire future innovators. 🚀 #DTCC #MIT #Innovation #FutureTalent #EmergingTechnology #FinancialServices #ResearchPartnerships

Last Thursday I had the pleasure of being on a panel with Johnna Powell Tim Lind and Boris Deychman at Massachusetts Institute of Technology to talk about The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), the broader financial markets and of course AI and Cyber. Mia Gougisha did us justice with her insightful questions and moderation of such important topics. Thank you students for the thoughtful questions and conversations.

Innovation is rarely about the tool. It starts with people who see a better way of doing something and have the curiosity and persistence to turn that idea into reality. That’s what made this year’s The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) Innovation Showcase particularly meaningful to me. Internal Audit was represented across every location where our team operates, including Jersey City, Tampa, Dallas, Manila and Hyderabad, sharing ideas spanning analytics, automation, knowledge graphs, regulatory data extraction and other technology enabled approaches. The colleagues representing Internal Audit across these locations are tagged in the photos. Internal Audit can be a fantastic incubator for ideas. We sit close to processes, risks, controls and data, and when we create space for our people to experiment, powerful ideas can emerge. It was also great to see our CEO Frank La Salla and CIO Lynn Bishop spending time with teams at the showcases, including visiting our Internal Audit team demonstrating an innovative knowledge graph use case they had built. That visible engagement matters. It sends a powerful tone from the top that curiosity, experimentation and innovation are encouraged. Proud of our people and even more excited about the ideas still to come. #Innovation #InternalAudit #FutureOfAudit #DigitalTransformation #DTCC