The AI & Work Summit
Shaping the Future of Business: AI Agents, Quantum, and the Next Era of Innovation
Explore how artificial intelligence and emerging technologies are redefining industries, careers, and global enterprises
Friday, Oct. 3, 2025
2-5 p.m.
Georgetown University
McDonough School of Business
Rafik B. Hariri Building
Lohrfink Auditorium
Welcome
Dear Colleagues and Guests,
It is my great pleasure to welcome you to the AI & Work Summit, hosted by Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business. This afternoon’s program brings together leaders from business, technology, and academia to explore how artificial intelligence is reshaping the future of work.
Through the AI, Analytics, and the Future of Work Initiative, we are committed to advancing understanding at the intersection of emerging technology, business practice, and human capital. Today’s conversations reflect Georgetown’s mission to prepare principled leaders who can navigate disruption with foresight and responsibility.
We are honored to feature distinguished speakers from organizations including Microsoft, Amazon, Google Cloud, Morgan Stanley, KKR, Apollo Global Management, and Georgetown University. Together, they will address timely topics such as the role of AI agents in business, the future of finance careers, and the transformative potential of quantum computing.
We are especially grateful to our keynote speaker, Mitra Azizirad, president and chief operating officer at Microsoft Strategic Missions and Technologies, and to our moderators and panelists who have generously shared their time and expertise.
Thank you for joining us for this important dialogue. We hope today’s sessions will inspire new perspectives, spark meaningful connections, and encourage continued engagement with the challenges and opportunities that AI presents for the future of work.
Alberto Rossi Director, AI, Analytics, and the Future of Work Initiative
Hachigian Family Professor of Finance
The AI & Work Summit
Alberto Rossi - Director, AI, Analytics, and the Future of Work Initiative; Hachigan Family Professor of Finance
Georgetown University McDonough School of Business
The Future of Business in a World of AI Agents
Mariam Naini (L’88) - Vice President, Commerce Engineering Customer Engagement Team, Microsoft
Roshanak Roshandel - Senior Manager, Trust and Privacy, Amazon
Alex Goldenberg (SFS’98) - President and Managing Partner, AG Consulting Partners
Rodrigo Rocha - Global ISV Leader for AI and Applications Partnerships, Google Cloud
2:15 p.m.
3
AI & the Future of Finance Careers: Investment Banking, Private Equity, and Beyond 3:15 p.m
Matthew Breitfelder - Partner and Head of Human Capital, Apollo Global Management
Elizabeth Dennis (C’01) - Managing Director and Head of Global Client Coverage, Morgan Stanley
Ryan Stork - Chief Operating Officer, KKR
Mitra Azizirad - President and Chief Operating Officer, Corporate Vice President, Growth and Innovation Strategy, Strategic Missions and Technologies Quantum and AI, Microsoft
Speakers
Mitra Azizirad, President and Chief Operating Officer, Microsoft Strategic Missions and Technologies
Mitra Azizirad is a globally recognized technology executive and innovation and business strategist, known for her pioneering leadership in artificial intelligence, quantum computing, and emerging technologies.
Most recently, Azizirad served as president and chief operating officer of Microsoft's Strategic Missions and Technologies organization, where she led the transformation of breakthrough innovations into new business categories and multi-billion-dollar growth engines across commercial, industry, and government sectors.
Over her three-decade career at Microsoft, Azizirad held key leadership roles spanning engineering, marketing, sales, and strategy. As corporate vice president for Microsoft AI, she defined and accelerated the productization of Microsoft's AI portfolio, championing responsible AI and democratizing access to intelligent technologies for developers, enterprises, and society at-large. She also led sales, marketing, and consulting for Microsoft's U.S. public sector and the U.S. federal subsidiary, leading the businesses to unprecedented growth.
Prior to joining Microsoft, Azizirad held technical leadership positions at the World Bank, Nasdaq, and Intelsat, bringing deep expertise in financial systems, telecommunications, and global infrastructure. Azizirad is passionate about the intersection of science, technology, and societal impact. Her work has helped shape the future of AI and quantum computing, and she advises organizations on innovation strategy, category creation, business development, and the future of work.
She is a frequent speaker at global forums and a trusted advisor to boards, startups, and industry leaders navigating the next wave of technological transformation.
Matthew Breitfelder - Partner and Head of Human Capital, Apollo Global Management
Matt Breitfelder is partner and global head of human capital at Apollo Global Management, a high-growth, alternative asset management and retirement services firm. He serves as a member of the firm’s management committee. Breitfelder is responsible for Apollo’s talent management, leadership development, diversity and inclusion, learning, performance management, citizenship, compensation and benefits, and recruiting.
Before joining Apollo, Breitfelder was managing director and chief talent officer for BlackRock, where he also served as a member of the operating committee. Previously, he held talent and strategy roles at MasterCard, PwC, and the Corporate Executive Board. Breitfelder began his career at the U.S. Department of Commerce, where he focused on international trade and economic policy.
Breitfelder serves as chair of the Advisory Group on AI, Analytics, and the Future of Work and on the Board of Advisors of Georgetown’s McDonough School of Business. He serves on the advisory board of the Aspen Institute’s Business and Society Program and on the Board of Directors of the Lumina Foundation, which is committed to advancing post-secondary education for all Americans. He has been recognized as a top chief human resources officer by n2Growth and Stanford Business School and has co-authored a number of Harvard Business School case studies and articles on human resources, leadership, and talent innovation.
Breitfelder holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Southern California, a master’s degree from the London School of Economics, and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Speakers
Elizabeth Dennis (C’01), Managing Director and Head of Global Client Coverage, Morgan Stanley
Elizabeth Dennis is a managing director and the head of global client coverage, a division within Integrated Firm Management at Morgan Stanley, responsible for maximizing commercial opportunities by delivering capabilities to clients globally. In her role, Dennis oversees senior client advisory efforts, a client analytics team, and Strategic Client Management. These groups facilitate client connections across the firm, focusing on synergies between wealth management and the firm’s institutional capabilities.
Prior to her current role, Dennis was head of Private Wealth Management, a division that includes a portfolio of specialty businesses focused on ultra-high net worth individuals, families, and their foundations. She was also responsible for International Wealth Management, focused on clients who reside outside the United States, Global Sports and Entertainment, and several business development and specialty teams that deliver resources to address the complexities of managing significant wealth.
Dennis joined Morgan Stanley on the Debt Syndicate Desk in 2001. She spent 14 years executing and distributing debt offerings across the investment grade, high yield, project finance, aircraft financings, private placements, and emerging markets space in New York, London, and Hong Kong. In 2015, she moved to Wealth Management to run the Capital Markets division.
Dennis is a member of the Firm Management Committee. Committed to talent development, she also led the Wealth Management and Global Capital Markets Leaders Program, an effort to motivate and retain top talent.
Dennis is active in her community and supportive of various philanthropic endeavors, including her involvement as a Board Member of Feeding America, the nation’s largest domestic hunger-relief organization.
Dennis earned a B.A. from Georgetown University.
Alex Goldenberg (SFS’98), President and Managing Partner, AG Consulting Partners
Alex Goldenberg is the CEO and founder of AG Consulting Partners, a Seattle-based boutique management consulting firm specializing in project leadership, artificial intelligence, and strategic advisory services. With almost three decades of experience in the consulting industry, Goldenberg began his career at Accenture, serving clients in both Washington, D.C., and Seattle for 12 years. In 2009, he founded AG Consulting Partners with a vision to deliver high-impact, personalized consulting services to leading organizations.
Goldenberg holds a bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University’s Walsh School of Foreign Service and an MBA from the University of Washington. His leadership blends deep strategic insight with a passion for innovation and client success.
Speakers
Mariam Naini (L’88), Vice President, Commerce Engineering Customer Engagement Team, Microsoft
Mariam Naini is vice president of the Commerce Customer Enablement organization at Microsoft, where she leads a global team that delivers commerce experiences that empower customers and partners to realize the full value of their Microsoft products and services. These experiences include global commerce support tooling, commerce risk services, product catalog, and commerce platform enablement.
Naini has more than 20 years of experience leading global engineering, sales, marketing, and business development teams across Microsoft’s commercial and consumer businesses. Before joining Microsoft, Naini practiced law at leading tech firms and multinational private law firms in Washington, D.C. She is a graduate of Georgetown University’s Law Center.
Rodrigo Rocha, Global ISV Leader for AI and Applications Partnerships, Google Cloud
Rodrigo Rocha is a Google Cloud leader responsible for forging durable go-to-market partnerships with the strategic infrastructure and business applications ISVs companies globally. His organization is focused on helping ISVs digitally transform by unlocking the power and scale of Google Cloud, reducing time-to-market in the development of new artificial intelligence solutions and driving incremental sales growth.
Rocha has a distinguished executive career in the IT industry, spanning for more than 25 years. Prior to joining Google Cloud, he held executive positions at Microsoft, where he was responsible for various customer and partner segments, including ISVs, distributors, system integrators, and OEMs, with direct multi-billion-dollar revenue accountability.
Speakers
Roshanak
Roshandel,
Senior Manager, Trust and Privacy, Amazon
Roshanak Roshandel is a senior product and technology leader at Amazon, where she drives strategic innovation in trust, privacy, and responsible AI. In her role, she leads cross-functional collaborations to build and scale trustworthy customer experiences and compliance globally. Before joining Amazon in 2018, Roshandel served as a professor and chair of the Computer Science Department at Seattle University, leading the department through a period of significant growth. Her academic research interests focused on software architecture and reliability, security, and privacy by design, as well as ethics of AI and machine learning.
Roshandel holds a Ph.D. and M.S. in computer science from the University of Southern California and a B.S. in computer science from Eastern Michigan University. Recognized for her leadership in both industry and academia, she brings deep technical expertise together with proven business acumen, bridging innovation, ethics, and impact.
Ryan Stork, Chief Operating Officer, KKR
Ryan Stork joined KKR in 2022 as chief operating officer. He is responsible for ensuring the firm’s global operations, technology, enterprise risk, and corporate services resources are coordinated to meet our investment and client needs. Prior to joining KKR, Stork held multiple leadership roles at BlackRock for more than 20 years, including deputy chief operating officer, chairman of Asia Pacific, global head of Aladdin — BlackRock’s investment and risk management technology platform, head of the institutional client business in continental Europe, and co-head of the financial institutions group.
Over his career, he has worked and lived in New York, London, and Hong Kong. He was also a member of BlackRock’s global executive committee and a board member of BlackRock’s foundation. Prior to joining BlackRock, Stork worked at PennCorp Financial Group -- a life insurance holding company, Conning Asset Management, and The Travelers Insurance Companies. He holds a Chartered Financial Analyst designation and received an undergraduate degree in finance from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.