HR at the Center of AI Transformation - Live at Transform 2026

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 oneHow Jennifer brought her global HR leadership team from nervous to bought-inComparing AI transformation to an ERP rollout, and why that framing holds upMeasuring adoption beyond lines of code, including acceptance rates and sprint velocityThe emerging model of embedding engineers directly into business functions to build AI-powered tools in-houseWhy HR needs to take a seat at the table on AI strategy, not just support itAdditional Resources:Cleary's AI-powered HR ChatbotFuture Proof HR CommunityConnect with Jennifer Erfurth on LinkedIn