Bank of America Triangle Innovation Summit Recap (Part 2/2)
AI enablement, innovation frameworks, and lessons from the Triangle’s top leaders
The Triangle Innovation Summit
Last week, Bank of America’s Triangle Innovation Summit brought together founders, investors, and innovation leaders from across North Carolina for a half-day of insight, connection, and forward-looking discussion.
In Part 1, we covered the event’s opening sessions from the economic outlook and investor perspectives to how AI and capital efficiency are reshaping the startup landscape.
Now, in Part 2, we’re diving into the second half of the Summit, exploring how organizations are embracing AI automation, rethinking innovation strategy, and strengthening the ecosystems that make the Triangle one of the country’s most dynamic innovation regions.
If you haven’t read Part 1 yet, you can check it out here before continuing.
Thanks to our sponsors for sponsoring this post:
Bank of America – BofA’s Transformative Technology Group helps game-changing tech businesses and founders realize their boldest ambitions across a wide range of technology sectors. With hands-on support, world-class resources, and an extensive network – BofA provides the stability and scalability that tech companies need to rapidly grow today and into the future.
Whitley Recruiting Partners - Whitley Recruiting Partners specializes in recruiting top tech talent for growth-stage startups in the Triangle. We target industry-specific, entrepreneurial employees who drive immediate results through a fast, accurate, and scalable recruiting process. Special offer for Tweener Times subscribers: Free survey of available local talent for one of your openings.
Lithios Apps - Lithios Apps is a Triangle-based software design and development studio that builds custom mobile and web applications focused on quality and user experience. We help founders and teams bring products to life that drive growth, engage customers, and stand out in competitive markets. We’ve worked side by side with clients whose products have gone on to earn millions in follow-on funding.
EisnerAmper (formerly HPG) - One of the world’s largest business consulting firms, with a dedicated technology practice offering outsourcing, accounting, tax, and advisory services. Our experienced professionals serve more than 2,000 technology companies, from early-stage startups to public enterprises. Discover how EisnerAmper’s stage-specific solutions and industry expertise can help you achieve your milestones whether startup, international expansion, M&A, or IPO: eisneramper.com/tech.
Robinson Bradshaw - A full-service business law firm with a passion for supporting the Triangle entrepreneurial ecosystem. Learn more about Robinson Bradshaw’s startups and venture capital practice here.
ExtensisHR - As a Professional Employer Organization (PEO), ExtensisHR empowers tech founders and growing businesses to scale smarter. We take HR administration off your plate—managing payroll, recruiting, employee benefits and retirement plans, compliance, risk, and more—so you can focus on innovation. For over 25 years we’ve leveraged a people-first approach, customer-centric mindset, and deep industry expertise to ensure employers have the tools needed to stay competitive in today’s market.
Chief Automation Officer: Hype or Reality?
The second half of the Summit tackled what’s quickly becoming one of the most misunderstood roles in modern business: the Chief Automation Officer (CAO).
Panelists David Boast (Bank of America), Eric Boduch (24 and Up), Avaneesh Marwaha (Litera) and Drew Peters (ServiceTrade) clarified that it’s less about title, more about transformation.
Rather than centralizing innovation, they advocated for distributed AI enablement, embedding “AI champions” across departments, with alignment at the executive level.
Key themes included:
Cross-functional ownership: Everyone is responsible for AI adoption.
Product management bottlenecks: Engineering is accelerating, but PM ratios must evolve (1:1 PMs to engineers).
Autonomous wins: From customer service deflection to sales call analysis, early adopters are seeing 10× productivity gains.
ROI discipline: 95% of enterprises miss AI ROI because they skip clear problem definition and baseline metrics.
One standout insight: successful teams start small, measure everything, and scale only what works.
Organizational Culture & Change
Beyond tools and metrics, speakers emphasized culture as the make-or-break factor in AI transformation.
Experimentation policies: Some companies now mandate daily AI usage.
Human connection as differentiator: As AI handles routine tasks, face-to-face collaboration becomes more valuable than ever.
Workforce shift: Roles are evolving from “doers” to “observers and optimizers.”
“Keeping Your Innovation Edge”: Lessons from the Triangle
The final session, featuring Scot Wingo (Tweener Fund, ReFiBuy), Mitch Heath (Teamworks), Monica Livingston (Red Hat, Intel), and Dave King, LabCorp, brought the day full circle with a conversation on sustaining innovation amid AI disruption.
Two elements stood out:
Operational rhythm: structured cadences for meetings, strategy, and feedback.
Cultural values: psychological safety and permission to experiment.
Both must scale together as companies grow
If one gets ahead of the other, innovation breaks down
Need to rebuild each component at different company stages
These forces balance differently as you scale:
Small companies (Teamworks ~500 people)
Maintain disciplined focus within clear mission boundaries
Separate operational meetings from strategic/creative sessions
Friday strategy sessions vs Monday operational reviews
Large companies (Red Hat, LabCorp)
Innovation must be protected at executive level
Can’t rely on operating units alone (gets crushed by daily operations)
Need incubation before scaling to full business size
Build vs. Buy and the “Egg McMuffin” Story
When to build, when to buy? The consensus: speed and focus matter more than pride.
Red Hat: Acquires for speed and specialized expertise.
Teamworks: Starts with customer needs, builds only when market gaps persist.
LabCorp: Let field teams drive innovation, leading to their “Egg McMuffin” success, a pictorial blood draw system developed by the field team, not corporate IT, that cut error rates by 97% in the first month.
Innovation Tactics to Try
Several speakers shared exercises they use to reveal blind spots:
“What if budget doubled?” - reveals vision and priorities
“What if budget cut in half?” - forces true prioritization
“What if customers said you’re irreplaceable?” - identifies core value
These constraint-based prompts help companies discover both their vision and non-negotiables.
Partnership and Ecosystem Strategy
The final takeaway was one that deeply resonates with the Tweener community: no one can do everything in AI. Partnerships are the only scalable path forward.
Whether it’s open-source ecosystems, university collaborations, or local founder networks, the future of innovation in the Triangle will hinge on shared purpose and cross-company collaboration.
Closing Reflections
From automation frameworks to cultural blueprints, the Bank of America Triangle Innovation Summit highlighted what makes this region special: a willingness to adapt, collaborate, and experiment together.
As one panelist put it, “The Triangle’s advantage isn’t just talent or capital. It’s the connective tissue between them.”