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HR at the Center of AI Transformation - Live at Transform 2026
About this episode
Transcript
About this episode
In this special live episode of the Future Proof HR podcast, recorded on the floor at Transform 2026 in Las Vegas, Thomas Kunjappu sat down with Jennifer Erfurth, Chief People Officer at OPSWAT, for a fast-moving conversation about what it actually looks like to lead AI adoption across a global, highly technical workforce.
OPSWAT is a $200 million cybersecurity company with 1,200 employees across the globe, protecting critical infrastructure like nuclear plants and water treatment facilities. With over 500 engineers on staff, Jennifer was tapped directly by her CEO to drive the company's AI adoption initiative, starting with the engineering organization.
They got into why AI adoption is fundamentally a change management problem, how Jennifer rallied her globally distributed HR leadership team around a challenge they initially found intimidating, and why the ERP rollout is the right mental model for thinking about AI transformation. Jennifer also made the case that HR is uniquely positioned to lead this work, and shared what it looks like to embed AI into every employee touchpoint, from talent acquisition to org design to performance.
Topics Discussed:
Why AI adoption is a change management effort, not a technical one
How Jennifer brought her global HR leadership team from nervous to bought-in
Comparing AI transformation to an ERP rollout, and why that framing holds up
Measuring adoption beyond lines of code, including acceptance rates and sprint velocity
The emerging model of embedding engineers directly into business functions to build AI-powered tools in-house
Why HR needs to take the seat at the table on AI strategy, not just support it
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About the guest
Jennifer Erfurth
Jennifer Erfurth is the Chief People Officer at OPSWAT. Jennifer brings over 20 years of experience leading high-growth technology companies through transformation, global expansion, and scale. She has built people and operating functions across tech, healthcare, cybersecurity, AI, and SaaS organizations from post-IPO scale to enterprise readiness. Her executive experience includes ZeroAvia, Cradlepoint (Ericsson), Roku, ServiceNow, Align Technology, and Schawk.
Jennifer serves on HR advisory boards for SaaS and AI companies and holds a Master’s in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from the University of Tulsa. Jennifer is a mission-driven, empathetic leader committed to inclusive, scalable organizations.
Jennifer Erfurth is the Chief People Officer at OPSWAT. Jennifer brings over 20 years of experience leading high-growth technology companies through transformation, global expansion, and scale. She has built people and operating functions across tech, healthcare, cybersecurity, AI, and SaaS organizations from post-IPO scale to enterprise readiness. Her executive experience includes ZeroAvia, Cradlepoint (Ericsson), Roku, ServiceNow, Align Technology, and Schawk.
Jennifer serves on HR advisory boards for SaaS and AI companies and holds a Master’s in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from the University of Tulsa. Jennifer is a mission-driven, empathetic leader committed to inclusive, scalable organizations.
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The leading podcast for the future of HR
The leading podcast for the future of HR
The future of HR is being shaped by real operators doing the work.
If you’ve led change, navigated challenges, or learned valuable lessons in people operations, we’d love to hear your perspective.
Apply below to be considered as a guest on the show.
The future of HR is being shaped by real operators doing the work.
If you’ve led change, navigated challenges, or learned valuable lessons in people operations, we’d love to hear your perspective.
Apply below to be considered as a guest on the show.