Reinventing Cargill with AI: Inspiration from Nicole Hilgenkamp

In the AI Risk Reward podcast, our host, Alec Crawford (@alec06830), Founder and CEO of Artificial Intelligence Risk, Inc. aicrisk.com interviews guests about balancing the risk and reward of Artificial Intelligence for you, your business, and society as a whole. Podcast production and sound engineering by Troutman Street Audio. You can find them on LinkedIn and at troutmanstreetaudio.com. You can hear the differenceIn this episode of the AI Risk Reward Podcast, Alec Crawford hosts Nicole Hilgenkamp, Senior Director of Procurement and Transportation at Cargill. Nicole shares her journey, including a pivotal summer program at the University of Manchester Business School. They discuss the practical applications of AI, referencing the book "Your AI Roadmap" by Dr. Joan Bajorek. Nicole highlights the importance of technology adoption in corporate America and addresses the issue of bias in AI, particularly concerning women. She also explains how AI provides strategic advantages at Cargill, such as time savings in procurement, while discussing the challenges of data cleanliness and privacy. Summary:Guest Background: Nicole Hilgenkamp is the Senior Director of Procurement and Transportation at Cargill, with a unique experience that includes a summer program at the University of Manchester Business School.Importance of Overseas Experience: Nicole emphasizes the value of studying and traveling abroad, sharing how her overseas experience helped her understand different cultures and step out of her comfort zone.AI and Digital Transformation: Nicole discusses her career focus on AI and digital transformation, highlighting the importance of technology adoption in corporate America and the transformative potential of AI.Bias in AI and Women in Technology: She addresses the issue of bias in AI, particularly regarding women, and stresses the need for retraining large language models to remove historical biases.AI's Strategic Advantage at Cargill: Nicole explains how AI provides strategic advantages at Cargill, such as saving time in procurement processes, while also discussing the challenges related to data cleanliness, process standardization, and privacy concerns.Companies:CargillHewlett PackardClaude AILlamaMicrosoftJP MorganArtificial Intelligence Risk, Inc.Books:Your AI RoadmapCopyright © 2025 by Artificial Intelligence Risk, Inc.