Episode Details

Shannon Hobbs, Chief People Officer at BNY, joined us to unpack how the bank is scaling its early-career pipeline, flattening org design, and running a culture-first transformation.

We discussed BNY’s in-house AI hub “Eliza” (99% employee certification, 15k+ agents, 100 digital employees), plus practical advice for CHROs on building AI capability safely and at scale.

---- 

How BNY is betting big on early talent (PDF): https://modernpeopleleader.kit.com/episode267

Sponsor Links:

🔗 Talk to the team at Ethena.

🔗 Learn more about TopicFlow.

MPL Links:

🔗 Buy your ticket for MPL Live Austin.

🔗 Go sign up for MPL Build.

---- 

(07:31) Shannon’s career journey to CPO (Citigroup/Smith Barney → Morgan Stanley → JPMorgan → American Century → GEICO → BNY)

(10:36) Advice to aspiring CPOs: say yes to high-need roles; build varied skill sets

(12:59) BNY in 30 seconds: “the bank of banks,” custody/clearing and client solutions

(13:40) Why early careers matter now; meeting talent where they are(16:03) Scaling analysts: 500 → 1,000 → 2,000; investing despite headcount scrutiny

(19:12) Timeline & structure: cohorts, rotations, upcoming “franchise” track

(20:50) Manager enablement: teaching leaders how to leverage new-gen skills

(22:43) The manager role today and why flatter orgs help(25:03) What “flat” looks like: cross-functional pods, closer to clients, more accountability

(27:57) Finding hidden gems: visibility, time back via automation, rewarding talent work

(29:49) Transformation umbrella: why this is bigger than a reorg

(30:27) Platform operating model: phased rollout, end-to-end commitment

(32:26) Culture → clients: language, pillars, progress toward full adoption

(33:15) Robin Vince’s culture-first, level-agnostic leadership style

(34:27) Turning to AI: framing AI as an enabler, not the destination

(35:53) Eliza, BNY’s AI hub: built in-house for safety, control, and scale

(36:49) Onboarding & safety: 99% employee certification before use

(38:45) Hackathons, bootcamps, and recognition to drive real adoption

(40:07) What’s inside Eliza: chat, agent builder, governed access

(40:28) People Team Agent: launch story, 17k unique users in month one

(42:11) Host reaction to adoption stats; why this is notable

(43:33) Bottom-up tactics: sandboxing, storytelling, shared language

(44:12) Legal as early adopter; multi-touch education to reduce fear

(45:56) From “Excel fluency” to “AI fluency” as the new baseline

(46:48) Who builds agents? Personal vs. production; step-by-step path

(47:47) Idea intake → AI hub prioritization → production digital employees

(48:16) Host reflection: rethinking careers in financial services

(49:50) Final big question: how to build an AI hub in HR

(50:42) Shannon’s playbook: train, equip, dialog, and tie to culture & work redesign

---- 

📬 Subscribe to our weekly newsletter to get episode recaps

💡 Follow The Modern People Leader on LinkedIn

😊 Follow Daniel Huerta on LinkedIn

😊 Follow Stephen Huerta on LinkedIn

---- 

Past guests on MPL include Brené Brown, Annie Dean (VP of Team Anywhere, Atlassian), Josh Bersin, Katie B