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Aimee Cardwell has spent her career inside some of the most regulated industries in the country, from American Express to UnitedHealth Group, and she brings that vantage point to a candid conversation about what it actually takes to compete in the new data economy. She unpacks why treating data as a true asset (not just a byproduct of doing business) is the difference between companies that lead and companies that lag, and she explains the concept of consent events, a practical way for regulated companies to build direct, permissioned relationships with their customers. The conversation also digs into how boards have shifted their thinking on AI over the past year, moving from a posture of pure risk avoidance to one that weighs the existential risk of moving too slowly. Aimee shares real world examples from healthcare, financial services, and her own board experience, along with candid advice for leaders trying to balance compliance with the need to move fast. Takeaways: Treat data as a strategic asset rather than a byproduct of serving customers, especially in industries with fragmented, acquisition heavy data environments Build consent events into your customer relationships so you earn the right to communicate directly, opening the door to new products and offers down the line Recognize that many companies are only using a small percentage of their data because they are unsure how to get proper consent, and that is a solvable problem Understand that different data types (care data versus marketing data, for example) come with different rules, so know what each dataset is actually cleared to be used for Put a prompt redactor in place before scaling AI use so you have auditability and confidence around PHI and PII without shutting down experimentation Recognize that legacy review processes (security, legal, vendor evaluation) were built for a slower era and may need to be redesigned to match the speed AI now demands Reframe the boardroom conversation from "what is the risk of moving fast" to "what is the risk of not moving fast enough" Quote of the Show: “It's a distinction without a difference, really. If you're being really safe and if you're going really slow, then you're losing out because your competitors are going faster." - Aimee Cardwell Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/acardwell/ Website: https://transcend.io/ Ways to Tune In: The New Data Economy Website: https://newdataeconomy.com/ Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2SMgCQX3xDGAt45nVXLbJl  Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-new-data-economy/id6813179089  Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/d5aca841-e469-450d-829f-1b4c8388a764  iHeart Radio: https://iheart.com/podcast/345586235/  YouTube: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLKEpXLeSlqYM&si=7O2mjjP5IWM8D6ib 

Serge Kajirian leads data governance and privacy operations at Universal Music Group, the world's largest music company, where he oversees the most valuable catalog on Earth and the fan relationships tied to hundreds of labels and artists. With more than fifteen years of experience across media and entertainment, including stops at Disney Interactive and Fox Network Group, Serge sits at the exact intersection this show is built around: rights, permissions, fan trust, and AI. In this episode, Serge unpacks how UMG values not just its recordings but the metadata and fandom information collected over decades. He walks through the concept of ring fencing as a governance tool, why trust functions as the true currency behind data sharing, and how AI is forcing the entire music industry to build new semantic layers of understanding. The conversation wraps with a look back at Serge's path through Disney and Fox before landing in music, plus the advice he'd give his younger self.   Takeaways: Treat metadata and fandom information as core business assets, not just a byproduct of streaming, and build governance around them from the start. Use ring fencing as a permissioning mechanism so labels and artists can share data safely without exposing it to competitors. Establish clear ownership before building stewardship models. Know who owns the data, the music rights, and the marketing rights before deciding how to share any of it. Treat trust as the real currency behind data sharing. One broken agreement can cause an entire ecosystem to stop participating. Build documented runbooks so both people and AI systems understand the boundaries and rules of engagement. Recognize AI as a new type of actor inside your data ecosystem, one that requires its own access controls, fact checking, and semantic layers. Give fans and artists real input into how their data and preferences get used instead of assuming default consent. Quote of the Show: “Trust is the currency. The data has value if everyone in our ecosystem trusts it." - Serge Kajirian Links: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/skajirian/ Website: https://www.umusiccareers.com/ Ways to Tune In: The New Data Economy Website: https://newdataeconomy.com/ Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2SMgCQX3xDGAt45nVXLbJl  Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-new-data-economy/id6813179089  Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/d5aca841-e469-450d-829f-1b4c8388a764  iHeart Radio: https://iheart.com/podcast/345586235/  YouTube: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLKEpXLeSlqYM&si=7O2mjjP5IWM8D6ib 

The AI era is rewriting the rules of data, trust, and business growth. That's exactly why we're excited to announce the launch of the New Data Economy podcast!. In every episode, hosts Mike Farrell, Co-Founder and CTO of Transcend, and Kate Parker, President of Transcend, sit down with the operators, innovators, and executives living at the intersection of AI, data, and customer trust.  They’ll dive into conversations with the people who are making real decisions about how to build with AI responsibly, how to earn and keep customer trust, and what it means to compete in an economy where data is the primary resource and permission is the primary constraint. New episodes drop every other Wednesday. Visit newdataeconomy.com and hear from the voices leading the future of data decisions.