Andrew Geddes

Enterprise AI · Responsibility · Governance

Not everything should be AI.

I help enterprises tell the difference, and govern what they do adopt.

I've spent 23 years in the buyer's chair. I advise like one.

I’m Andrew Geddes. For 23 years I’ve led digital transformation inside large, complex companies: right now I’m running Generative AI across Spin Master globally, and before that I spent nine years owning Modern Workplace and enterprise AI strategy at Maple Leaf Foods.

Most of the industry asks how fast AI can go. I ask a different question: how do we steer it? My work is responsible AI in practice. Governance, trust, and the discipline to say no when AI isn’t the answer.

Read perspectives Professional profile

Take the 2-minute AI readiness assessment

6,500+

trained in Gen AI tools

90%

participation rate

Dozens

of PoCs run

Millions

in projected savings

What I believe

AI is the gas pedal. Governance is the steering wheel.

Not every problem is an AI problem

Knowing the difference is the job. The hype says everything is AI. Experience says most things aren't, and forcing it wastes money and burns trust.

Governance is what makes speed safe

Clear rules, clear boundaries, clear data. Then teams can run without waiting for permission, and leaders can sleep at night.

Trust comes before adoption

People don't use what they don't trust. Trust is built through honesty about what the technology can and can't do, not through launch emails.

Prove it small before you scale it

A working proof of concept beats a hundred slides of promise. Kill bad ideas cheaply, fund good ideas with evidence, and scale only what earned it.

Lead with insight, not agreement

My job as an advisor is to teach you something new about your own business, shape it around what you actually care about, and hold firm when the honest answer isn't the comfortable one. Anyone can tell you what you want to hear.

Decide at the speed of the correction

There is a dotted trail of failures behind me. Success is more common, but the failures did the hardening. What separates them is how the decision gets made. If a change can be undone quickly and corrected when it is wrong, decide with the facts you have and move. If course-correcting takes six months, scrutinize it first and hear every side before you commit. Match the scrutiny to the cost of being wrong.

Most firms treat governance as a workstream. I treat it as the strategy.

What this isn't

  • NOT another AI maturity model.
  • NOT a vendor pitch.
  • NOT adoption theater.

Perspectives

Notes on responsible AI, hype discipline, and what good looks like in practice.

Short pieces, once or twice a week. Written from experience, not from press releases.

October 3, 2026

The discipline of saying no to AI

The most valuable word in AI right now is no. Saying yes to everything is how companies end up with forty pilots, no results, and an organization that quietly concludes AI is hype.

Read the note

September 28, 2026

Adoption is the strategy

Most AI programs don't fail on the technology. They fail on the rollout. Adoption isn't the communications plan at the end; it's the whole game.

Read the note

September 21, 2026

Prove it small before you scale it

Every function has a list of things AI could supposedly do. Most of those lists are fiction until something gets built. Build the proof of concept first and let the result argue for itself.

Read the note

Browse all perspectives

Papers

The thinking behind the work, written down.

Position papers, white papers, and playbooks on AI strategy, governance, and adoption. In draft now, publishing as they are finished.

Framework

Earn the Next Rung

From a governed M365 tenant to standalone custom AI. Each rung earns the next one.

White paper · In draft

Governance is the accelerator

Governance is what lets you say yes faster. Saying no to the wrong use cases is how you scale the right ones.

Playbook · In draft

Adoption-first AI enablement

Train everyone, collect real use cases, prove value with fast PoCs. Adoption is the program.

Read about all seven papers

AI transformation led inside

Spin Master · Maple Leaf Foods · TD Bank

Professional profile

What I do

I’m an enterprise AI transformation executive. AI needs governing, not just adopting. That governing is my work.

Right now I’m the strategic advisor running Generative AI across Spin Master globally: the enterprise Gemini rollout, an adoption-first enablement model, and a rapid proof-of-concept engine that takes in use cases from every function and proves value before anything scales.

Before that I spent nine years at Maple Leaf Foods, where I owned Modern Workplace and enterprise AI strategy end to end. I led the Microsoft Copilot rollout, built the agentic AI program from a proof of concept shipped in days into a scaled pipeline, ran M365 governance and the data estate strategy, and ran the IT data work for a major corporate divestiture. Earlier, at TD Bank, I built the bank’s first employee self-service portal for 85,000 users.

The thread through all of it: the technology is never the hard part. Getting a large organization to adopt it, govern it, and get value from it is. That’s the work I do.

Across my career I have trained more than 6,500 people in generative AI tools, and tens of thousands in modern workplace practices.

BasedMinesing, Ontario, Canada. Remote-first.
Current rolePrincipal AI Consultant and Program Manager, Spin Master
FocusEnterprise AI strategy, responsible AI and governance, adoption and change, agentic automation, digital workplace
LeadershipLed teams of 5 directly and 12 cross-functionally

Selected results

500%
average year-over-year ROI on the Power Platform program at Maple Leaf Foods
35
business-critical applications delivered in five months
85,000
users served by the self-service portal built at TD Bank
20%
reduction in service desk call volume from that portal

Experience

Principal AI Consultant and Program Manager, Spin Master

2025 to present

Strategic advisor and functional leader for Generative AI across the global organization. Partner to senior leadership on AI strategy, risk, and value realization.

  • Own the enterprise AI agenda: led the org-wide Google Gemini rollout, covering strategy, risk mitigation, training, adoption, and reporting. Reached 2,000+ employees across nearly 20 countries and all business functions.
  • Built the enterprise AI enablement model: foundational training for everyone, plus discipline-specific tracks for design, manufacturing, marketing, sales, and inventory. 90% participation.
  • Created a use-case intake and rapid proof-of-concept engine with each function, proving business value before scaling. Dozens of PoCs delivered, a dozen advanced to expanded pilot.
  • Flagship example: an enterprise translation agent rolled out org-wide to accelerate time-to-market for images and video with consistent translations, reducing reliance on end-user language skills and third-party services, projected to save millions in third-party costs.
  • Drove AI integration across the full value chain, from early thought to prototype to manufacturing, marketing, sales, and inventory.
  • Established departmental AI playbooks across 8 departments, standardizing tool adoption, security, and process automation.

Modern Workplace Innovation Architect, Maple Leaf Foods

2016 to 2025

Owned company-wide Modern Workplace and Innovation strategy: planning, resourcing, and governance. Managed 5 directly, led 12 cross-functionally.

  • Defined the enterprise AI positioning and led the phased Microsoft Copilot rollout, with automated licensing and personalized training for immediate ROI.
  • Built and scaled the IT-led agent workload pipeline, from Q and A bots to embedded agents running complex workflows end to end, after proving the approach with a proof of concept shipped in days.
  • Architected a ten-step data governance strategy that converted unmanaged data into a secure, AI-ready estate, and instituted the CISA Traffic Light Protocol as the enterprise labeling standard.
  • Led the IT data strategy for a major corporate divestiture: clean, compliant tenant separation with minimal disruption to the business.
  • Led the legacy-to-Teams migration: 20% faster time to information, 60% reduction in time-to-talent.
  • Established the Power Platform as the corporate standard for non-ERP development: 500% average year-over-year ROI, 35 applications delivered in five months.

UX and Self-Service Manager, TD Bank

2012 to 2016

Led a team of 5 owning technology user experience and self-service strategy for more than 85,000 corporate users.

  • Built the first enterprise self-service portal from the ground up: 300 sites, 30,000 assets. Cut service desk call volume 20%, saving millions in annual support costs.
  • Delivered the enterprise break/fix knowledge base, automated admin access portals, real-time outage dashboards, and remote access technologies.
  • Centralized technology change management and adoption strategy across business units.

Earlier career

2000 to 2012

Communication Manager at TD Bank, preceded by roles in digital media, design, and litigation support.

Education and recognition

  • Business Design Thinking & Facilitation, Rotman School of Management
  • Digital Animation, Centennial College
  • Microsoft Technology Adoption Program (TAP) participant, via M365 admin and Teams

Capabilities

  • Enterprise AI strategy
  • Responsible AI and AI governance
  • AI adoption and change management
  • Agentic automation
  • Digital workplace strategy (M365, Copilot, Teams)
  • Data estate governance
  • Executive advisory
  • Organization and team building
  • Corporate transformation and divestiture
  • Value realization and ROI

Contact

Let's talk about what AI could do for your organization.

I advise leadership teams on AI strategy, governance, and adoption. I'm also open to conversations about AI transformation leadership roles.

andrew.george.geddes@gmail.com