How to Bring AI into the Business Without Losing the Brand
Featuring Danielle Schmelkin, Chief Information Officer, J.Crew Group and Libby Wadle, CEO, J.Crew Group
AI adoption isn’t just a technology challenge—it’s a culture challenge. For creative, customer-focused companies, the question isn’t simply where AI can make the business faster or more efficient, but how to put it to work without flattening the judgment, taste, and human connection that make a brand matter. J.Crew Group CEO Libby Wadle and chief information officer Danielle Schmelkin are tackling that question from both sides of the C-suite, building AI fluency across the organization while helping teams identify practical, secure, and scalable ways to use the technology. In this conversation, they’ll share what it takes to move AI from scattered experimentation to meaningful adoption, how CEOs and CIOs can work together to drive change, and why the companies that get AI right may be the ones that use it to amplify—not automate away—their most human advantages.