Scaling AI in a Trillion Dollar O...
Scaling AI in a Trillion Dollar Organization: Interview with Kristin Milchanowski, Chief AI & Quantum Officer, BMO Financial Group
Small Team Big Scale by Ron Schmelzer, Scalebrate
S1 · E49
Sep 10, 2026
43:31
Episode notes

What happens when a small team inside a $1.5 trillion bank has to turn cutting-edge AI and quantum research into governed, production-grade outcomes? Kristin Milchanowski, Chief AI & Quantum Officer and Founding Director of the BMO Institute for Applied AI & Quantum, joins the show to explain how her lean team drives operating leverage at scale... without adding headcount.

Kristin shares how BMO measures every AI initiative against business value before a single dollar is budgeted, why trust inverts with generative AI (your system's best month can become your most dangerous), and how scheduling doubt is now a leadership discipline she's brought to the U.S. Army. From a peer forum of 18 Chief AI Officers to the principle that governance is the steering wheel — not the brake — this episode is a playbook for anyone running a focused te ... 

Keywords
Scalemaxxing
Interview
Scalebrity