BAF Broadcasts are live, virtual sessions that bring the community together with leading voices in business and architecture. Designed to be timely, practical, and accessible, these sessions offer real-world insights, emerging ideas, and perspectives from experienced practitioners and industry leaders.
Whether you’re looking to stay current, deepen your expertise, or connect with the broader community, BAF Broadcasts provide a convenient way to learn and engage from wherever you are.
From Architecture to Operations: Building the Digital Twin of the Enterprise – In this session, Gordon Cooper explores how organizations can move beyond static models and integrate architecture with operations to create a dynamic “digital twin” of the enterprise, providing unprecedented transparency into performance, root causes, and what actions leaders should take next.
Gordon Cooper is a recognized thought leader in enterprise architecture as a driver of business transformation. He has helped reposition EA from a cost center to a strategic enabler across global enterprises and high-growth organizations in multiple industries. Having served in senior enterprise architecture leadership roles and now working alongside leading architecture teams worldwide, Gordon brings both practitioner and provider perspectives. He currently serves in a leadership role at Orbus Software, where he continues to shape the evolution of enterprise architecture and the software that actualizes it.
At first glance, aligning business goals with technology execution may seem straightforward — but the reality? Only 20% of initiatives succeed. 🤯 Why? In this Community Forum (before they become BAF Broadcasts) Jim took us beyond the surface, exploring the hidden challenges that cause strategic initiatives to fall short. Through a real-world case study, he uncovered the critical synthesis needed to bridge the gap between vision and execution.
James Wilt
James Wilt is a voraciously curious CTO, Distinguished Chief Architect & Engineering Advocate dedicated to advancing the profession of Architecture. With over 40 years of experience spanning aerospace, operating systems, cloud platforms, and AI across healthcare and financial services, he serves as a board-certified Distinguished Chief Architect at WVE. For three decades, James has shaped the global architecture community through the Microsoft Architecture Advisory Board (MAAB), the Microsoft Certified Architect (MCA) program, as an Open Group Digital Practitioner, and through Iasa’s CITA-P/D and BTABoK. Now active in the Chief Architect Forum (CAF), he focuses on applying bleeding-edge technologies, particularly Generative AI, to accelerate software modernization and digital transformation with disciplined, enterprise-ready execution.
Megan Starkey and Michael Arulfo explored the essential journey of transforming AI initiatives into tangible business outcomes during the TCBAF Community Forum (prior to the BAF Broadcasts).
Designed for business architects, marketing professionals, and AI experts, this presentation unpacked how a structured approach to AI architecture and strategic alignment can unlock unprecedented value in marketing. They began with the AI landscape—its rapid evolution, pervasive influence across sectors, and why 80% of organizations are exploring AI but only 30% are executing effectively. Using real-world examples, including Mike and Megan’s firsthand experience crafting a generative AI strategy during the 2023 GenAI boom, this session set the stage for understanding AI’s potential and pitfalls.
Megan Starkey is a Minneapolis-based AI strategy and capability advisor, and CEO of RBD Co., specializing in driving digital transformation and artificial intelligence adoption for organizations. With expertise spanning business, data, and technology, she has led initiatives resulting in significant documented impact for Fortune 1000 companies.
Michael Arulfo is the Chief Artificial Intelligence Officer (CAIO) and the Field CTO of Cadre. He has over 15+ years experience in architecture leadership roles (Director level), 17+ years experience in Enterprise AI and Digital Modernization, 28+ years of experience in designing and developing Enterprise level technical solutions and Products for artificial intelligence, digital healthcare products, and cloud-native technologies for great healthcare companies like the Mayo Clinic, OptumHealth, Boston Scientific, 3M Medical, CIGNA/ExpressScripts (now EverNorth), and UnitedHealthcare. He has led the Enterprise Architecture design and AI Strategy in the Office of the CIO/CTO for multiple(3X) Fortune 500 companies.
For many of us, the early years in architecture were filled with frameworks, diagrams, and the belief that if we modeled something precisely enough, the world would follow the model. Eventually, reality provides a gentler correction: an architect really has two core jobs: managing complexity before it overwhelms the system, and guiding trade-offs before they become expensive surprises.
This keynote from the 10th Annual TCBAF Summit focuses on the practical lessons that only become obvious in hindsight. How complexity grows quietly unless someone owns it. How trade-offs happen constantly, whether anyone is steering them or not. How the business values clarity and confidence more than theoretical elegance.
Drawing from experience in both architecture and executive leadership, Neal Sample shares what he wishes he’d understood earlier — the things that make architects indispensable partners to the business, keep teams aligned, and help organizations move faster with fewer regrets. It’s a straightforward, candid look at what architects really do and why it matters.
Neal Sample, EVP and Chief Digital and Technology Officer
Neal is responsible for leading Best Buy’s product management, experience design, data, AI, engineering and platform teams. He also oversees Best Buy India in Bangalore. Neal joined Best Buy in 2025, bringing more than three decades of experience in data and technology. He previously served as executive vice president and chief information officer at Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (WBA), where he led all technology strategy and delivery across WBA’s physical and digital properties. His career has been focused on using technology to create transformational change. Prior to WBA, Neal was chief information officer at Northwestern Mutual. He previously held technology and commercial leadership roles at several large organizations, including Express Scripts, American Express, eBay and Yahoo. Neal serves on the board for Wellfield Technologies, Inc., and University of Health Sciences & Pharmacy in St. Louis. He received bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Wyoming and a master’s and Ph.D. from Stanford University.