Who Do We Hire Now?

with Chris Daden & Ian Hughson & Becky Bucich & Jennifer Serrato & Kate Smeaton

Friday 25 September 4:10 PM – 4:40 PM Tech Leaders Stage

About This Session

AI now does much of the work junior hires used to learn on, and hiring plans are changing fast: fewer entry-level roles, new skill profiles, and job descriptions rewritten mid-search. The old pipeline - hire juniors, grow seniors - is breaking, and nobody has agreed on what replaces it. How companies are rethinking who they hire, what they train, and where the next generation of senior engineers comes from.

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Speakers

Chris Daden

CTO & Head of AI · Criteria

CTO & Head of AI at Criteria

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Chris Daden is the Chief Technology Officer at Criteria, a global Talent Success platform operating at the center of the Future of Work. Criteria helps organizations measure real talent signals through more than 80 million assessments delivered worldwide in over 25 languages, enabling fairer, more predictive hiring and development decisions. Backed by over $65 million in private growth equity investment, Criteria works with 4,000+ leading global organizations to move beyond static credentials toward dynamic, skills-based insights that reflect true capability and potential. Chris is a multi-time founder and technology executive with deep expertise in artificial intelligence, including applied AI systems, model fine-tuning, and frontier model development. His work focuses on how AI is reshaping work, education, and human capital strategy at scale. He regularly advises leaders on the intersection of technology, workforce transformation, and organizational design, and frequently speaks globally as a keynote presenter, podcast guest, and industry contributor. He is a contributor to the Forbes Technology Council and Forbes Young Executives Council, and serves as the founding technology advisor for The Hungry Lab, a global initiative working alongside the United Nations to advise and support startups worldwide. Chris also leads SoCal Tech Forum, one of Southern California’s largest technology non-profits, dedicated to educating companies and communities on emerging and disruptive technologies. Chris brings a data-driven perspective on Work 4.0, the future of education, and how organizations can design talent systems that prioritize adaptability, equity, and long-term human potential in an AI-driven world.
Ian Hughson

Global Managing Partner AI Adoption · TCS

Global Managing Partner AI Adoption at TCS

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Ian is an accomplished and disruptive thought leader with over 30 years of experience leading and driving strategic organizational change and digital transformation within complex and dynamic global organizations, with a more recent focus specifically on AI adoption at scale. He is a skilled storyteller and change agent having successfully guided and reinvented organizations through challenging change and growth initiatives, including business process optimization, cultural transformations, and large-scale systems implementations. Ian is a passionate rugby fanatic, and active coach and referee for this wonderful sport.
Becky Bucich

Chief People Officer · Waymo

Chief People Officer at Waymo

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Becky Bucich is the Chief People Officer at Waymo, an autonomous driving technology company with a mission to be the world’s most trusted driver. As CPO, Becky is responsible for leading our people efforts as we continue to grow our team, designing and enriching our employee experience for Waymonauts, and ensuring Waymo is a diverse, inspiring, and outstanding place to work. Prior to Waymo, Becky led People Operations for the Google Cloud team through a period of rapid growth. Before that, she led human resources for the entire Google tech portfolio and a variety of other business units and held HR roles at General Electric in their healthcare and commercial finance businesses. Becky has been recognized as a member of the 2020 class of Women of Influence by Silicon Valley Business Journal and featured in publications, like Forbes, for her philosophy on how people and culture drive our businesses forward. She studied Spanish and geography at the University of California, Berkeley, and received an MBA in International Business from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey.
Jennifer Serrato

CTO Platform · Workday

CTO Platform of Workday

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Jennifer Serrato joined Workday in 2014 and currently serves as Chief Technology Officer - Platform. She has a proven track record of overseeing large product and engineering teams across various pillars, including leading Workday Extend and Talent Product Engineering. Prior to Workday, she served 13 years as a computer scientist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, supporting cutting-edge science and technology to address significant, global challenges. Jennifer holds a bachelor’s degree with double majors in Management of Information Systems and Accounting from the University of New Mexico as well as an MBA in Technology Management and Strategy from UC Davis.
Kate Smeaton

Program Manager, AI Transformation · LaunchSquad

Program Manager, AI Transformation at LaunchSquad

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Kate Smeaton is Program Manager of AI Transformation at LaunchSquad, where she is helping redefine how public relations works in an increasingly agentic world. For the past five years, she has partnered with leading AI companies to turn the most complex technologies into stories that resonate across industries. Kate’s background helping startups launch out of stealth, building recognition for scaleups, and repositioning public companies for the AI era has sharpened her ability to turn emerging technologies into a real competitive advantage.