Dr. Denis Willett
Senior Research Scholar
North Carolina Institute for Climate Studies
Denis Willett is a full-stack data scientist and engineer specializing in systems design. He is currently a Senior Research Scholar at the North Carolina Institute for Climate Studies in Asheville and Adjunct Faculty in the Department of Applied Ecology at NC State University. He is also co-founder and CTO of SOIL, a biotechnology startup in Asheville leveraging AI for the discovery of new soil organisms. His career spans building AI-native teams and organizations across industry, academia, and the federal government.
A core focus of his work has been technical advocacy within organizations adopting AI and cloud technologies. In working with and advising startups, Fortune 500 companies, government agencies, and universities, he has prioritized architecting change from the C-suite to the technical teams — with efforts focused on education, opportunity, and capacity building. An instrumental part of this includes building and leading diverse teams to implement change at both the strategic and technical level.
Denis completed his PhD in Entomology and Nematology at the University of Florida and his undergraduate and master's work in Earth Systems and the d.school (Hasso Plattner Institute of Design) at Stanford University.
Session from the Speaker
Structuring Change: Digital Transformation for Building AI-Native Teams and Organizations
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM, June 5
Main Stage
Category
Technology
Abstract
AI-native organizations leverage AI as an integrated part of their operations. Organizations that fluently and natively leverage AI are more efficient and effective within and across domains. But becoming AI-native is not simply plugging AI tools into existing organizational structures and workflows. It requires deliberate, structured change: a redesign of the people, processes, and principles that form the foundation of the organization.
Drawing from experience guiding structured transformation across federal government, academia, Fortune 500 companies, and early-stage startups, this keynote explores key lessons and guiding principles for building effective, efficient AI-native organizations.
Along the way, we'll discuss what "AI-native" actually means in practice: how data architecture decisions made years before anyone says the word "AI" determine what's possible later; why the most important transformation isn't technical but cultural — reshaping workflows, incentive structures, and institutional risk tolerance so that AI capabilities compound rather than stall; and how small, resource-constrained teams can build AI-native practices that rival what large enterprises struggle to achieve.
Attendees will leave with tools to assess the current state of their own organizations and a practical framework for structuring their own digital transformation toward becoming AI-native.