Aon at The Top: Interviewing Executives on their Paths to the C-Suite and Boardroom

About Aon at The Top: Interviewing Executives on their Paths to the C-Suite and Boardroom

Welcome to Aon at The Top, where I have the honor of interviewing some of the most distinguished executives, c-suite and board members about their journeys and paths to success. I’m your host, Nicole Ward, the Senior Vice President of Sales at Aon. In this series, we draw out meaningful insights and candid perspectives on navigating to the top. At Aon we help you make better business decisions by turning risk into resilience. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.

Publisher

Nicole Elizabeth Ward

Category

business · business · business

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

7 Mar 2025

Latest episode

20 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

26 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   20 Oct 2026

   Former MetricStream CEO On Being Underestimated and Using It as an Advantage | Shellye Archambeau

   In this episode of Aon at the Top, I sit down with Shellye Archambeau, one of Silicon Valley's most respected voices on leadership, strategy, and corporate governance. Shellye is the former CEO of MetricStream, where she pulled off what Reid Hoffman called the most incredible Silicon Valley turnaround you never heard of, transforming a company investors had written off into a global market leader. We talk about what it takes to be intentional from day one, why being underestimated is actually an advantage, how business moves at the speed of trust, what separates high-performing boards from ones just going through the motions, and why failure is only a failure if you don't move forward. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.

2. 

   1 Oct 2026

   XAPA CEO On Why 80% of AI Transformation Has Nothing to Do With Technology | Christine Heckart

   In this episode of Aon at the Top, I sit down with Christine Heckart, founder and CEO of XAPA, and discuss what it takes to lead through wave after wave of technological disruption. With executive leadership roles at Microsoft, Cisco, Juniper Networks, and Skalar, Christine has spent her career at the intersection of technology and human performance. We talk about why 80% of AI transformation comes down to people not technology, the adaptability paradox that is keeping organizations from changing when they need it most, why answers are now cheap but questions are more valuable than ever, and what boards need to be discussing right now that most of them aren't. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.

3. 

   26 Aug 2026

   Don't Confuse Motion for Progress | Cribl's CLO Matt Kelly On Performance Under Pressure

   In this episode of Aon at the Top, I sit down with Matthew Kelly, Chief Legal Officer at Cribl, the data engine for IT and security trusted by half the Fortune 100. Matthew brings two decades of experience across ServiceNow, where he helped scale the legal function from IPO to $1 billion in annual revenue, ThoughtSpot, and now Cribl, where he leads legal, security, and IT. We talk about what it really takes to thrive in hyper-growth environments, why the legal mindset is actually a first-principles superpower, how the explosion of AI agents is about to create a data problem no one is fully prepared for, and why the best thing a leader can do is get out of the way of great people. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy (https://acast.com/privacy) for more information.

Who has been a guest on Aon at The Top: Interviewing Executives on their Paths to the C-Suite and Boardroom

Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.

• Yasmin Saeed Coffey
• Derrick Alesevich
• Shanti Ariker
• Yvonne Wassenaar
• Helen Riley

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

6 ratings

Spotify

5.0 / 5

2 ratings

Contact Aon at The Top: Interviewing Executives on their Paths to the C-Suite and Boardroom

Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.

Questions about Aon at The Top: Interviewing Executives on their Paths to the C-Suite and Boardroom