About the Talk:

Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment, home to the Brooklyn Nets, New York Liberty, and Barclays Center, built its AI Lab around a simple idea: the people closest to the work are often the best positioned to reimagine it with AI.

Join the OpenAI Forum for a conversation with Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment leaders and some of its AI Lab participants about how employees across the organization are turning real business problems into useful AI tools, from ticket marketing copy generators to player milestone trackers and data insight engines. We’ll explore how Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment structured the program, what makes safe experimentation possible, and how early ideas move from prototype to production.

About the Speakers:

David Simbandumwe is Vice President, Artificial Intelligence at Brooklyn Sports and Entertainment, where he leads the enterprise AI program. Before joining Brooklyn Sports and Entertainment, David spent more than a decade driving digital transformation and AI strategy in financial services and insurance. Most recently, he was at Chubb, where he led the development of a generative AI solution focused on transaction automation. Prior to Chubb, David spent nearly six years at MassMutual, a global life insurance and investments company, where he led digital portfolios for MassMutual.com, Strategic Distributions, and Institutional Solutions. He helped found and lead MassMutual's digital research and development rotational program, which gave employees opportunities to work on emerging technology and develop new skills. Earlier in his career, David was a technology manager at Deloitte, advising clients on digital transformation and emerging technology adoption. David holds an MS in Data Science, a BS in Computer Engineering, and a BBA in Finance.

Keia Cole is the Chief Digital Officer at Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment, leading digital, technology, and analytics for the Barclays Center, Brooklyn Nets, New York Liberty, Long Island Nets. Before joining Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment, Keia held a number of roles across technology and customer experience at MassMutual, a global life insurance and investments company. Most notably, Keia was the Head of Digital Experience, leading a team focused on driving MassMutual's digital transformation efforts, including the design and development of modern technology solutions for customers, financial professionals, and employees. With a passion for innovation and developing teams, Keia created MassMutual's digital research and development rotational program, which provided employees with opportunities to work on emerging technology to gain new skills. Keia served as an executive advisor to the Young Professional and African-American Business Resource Groups and a member of the MassMutual Foundation Board of Trustees. Before joining MassMutual, Keia was associate general counsel and later chief of staff to the Deputy Secretary at the U.S. Department of Education. As chief of staff, she was a member of the Senior Executive Service, responsible for providing strategic direction for the Department of Education's financial, technology, human capital, and risk management operations. Keia was also a litigation attorney at the New York law firm of Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, a law clerk to the Honorable Lewis A. Kaplan of the United States District Court in the Southern District of New York, and a financial analyst in Morgan Stanley's Investment Banking Division. Keia is a graduate of Harvard University and earned a JD/MBA from Stanford University.