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Cloud Currents

Cloud Currents

Hosted by Merchants Media

TechnologyBusinessNewsInterviews guests
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Episodes

54

Latest episode

Jul 2026

Language

EN

About the show

Welcome to the Cloud Currents podcast. This is where the future of cloud technology comes alive. Every episode is a deep dive into the heart of cloud innovation. Join us for insightful interviews and conversations with experts who shape the cloud industry. We break down the latest trends, tools, and strategies that are revolutionizing how businesses thrive in the cloud. Cloud Currents is more than just a podcast; it's your frontline resource for all things cloud. Stay ahead of the curve with us, at the Cloud Currents podcast. The Cloud Currents podcast is brought to you by TierPoint

Listen to episodes

54 recent
July 31, 202640 min

54 - How Dropbox Measures Real AI Impact with Ali Dasdan

In this episode, Matt sits down with Ali Dasdan, Chief Technology Officer at Dropbox, to trace his winding path from early neural network research to leading engineering at one of the world's largest storage and collaboration platforms. Ali shares how Dropbox is embedding AI into nearly every part of the business, from an internal tool that helped one engineer complete 900 migrations in two weeks to Dash AI, a system built to surface work context across scattered data sources. The conversation digs into how Dropbox evaluates new AI tools, measures engineering impact through frameworks like DX Core metrics, and balances speed with security and customer trust. Ali closes with candid predictions on where AI is headed next and a simple piece of leadership advice: stop overthinking and just start.

July 10, 202655 min

53 - Mental Resiliency and Burnout in Cybersecurity with Rick Mischka

In this episode, Matt sits down with Rick Mischka, Senior Director of Education and Enablement at Avant Communications and a recently minted PhD in cyberpsychology, to unpack the human side of cybersecurity. They dig into what's really driving burnout and talent shortages in security teams, why mental resiliency training can extend a professional's career by nearly a decade, and how leaders can spot the early warning signs before it's too late. Rick also shares practical strategies for using AI to ease alert fatigue without losing sight of the human vulnerabilities attackers still exploit. Whether you're building a security team from scratch or trying to keep your current one from burning out, this conversation is packed with hard-won insight from Rick's unusual path through special forces, firefighting, coaching, and cyber.

July 8, 202649 min

52 - Financial Clarity in an AI-First World with Kunal Agarwal

In this episode, Matt sits down with Kunal Agarwal, co-founder and CEO of Unravel Data, to unpack the often-overlooked costs lurking beneath the surface of enterprise AI investments. Kunal breaks down why the real story isn't the model costs everyone talks about, but the pipeline inefficiencies, zombie jobs, and idle compute that quietly drain budgets. The conversation digs into the critical difference between cost cutting and cost optimization, and why getting that distinction right is what separates companies that innovate sustainably from those that stall out. Kunal also shares practical advice for leaders on how to build AI-ready teams, govern AI spend responsibly, and frame these investments in a way that earns board confidence.

July 2, 202636 min

51 - Building Smarter Logistics with AI with Gary Dowdy

In this episode, Matt sits down with Gary Dowdy, Chief Technology Officer at Trinity Logistics, one of North America's leading freight brokerage firms. Gary shares his fascinating career journey through warehouse automation, mobile banking, and seven years helping build the JB Hunt 360 digital freight marketplace before landing at Trinity. Together, they explore how Trinity is leveraging cloud infrastructure, agentic AI, and voice automation to transform freight operations — handling over 80,000 minutes of AI carrier conversations in a single month. Gary also offers candid insights on governing AI adoption, keeping data ready for what's next, and why strong leadership and human connection remain the most important ingredients in an increasingly automated industry.

July 2, 202653 min

50 - Building Secure AI with Anthony Baio

In this episode, Matt sits down with Anthony Baio, VP of AI, Machine Learning, and Data Infrastructure at West Hills, whose career path wound through D1 athletics, the Air National Guard, and hands-on hardware hacking before landing at the forefront of enterprise AI. Anthony breaks down the real security risks organizations face when employees use consumer AI tools with corporate data, and shares how techniques like RAG, model armor, and multi-agent architectures are changing how companies build responsibly. The conversation covers everything from AI governance frameworks like ISO 42001 to the emerging trend of multi-LLM ensemble architectures that Anthony believes most companies are sleeping on. Whether you're an IT leader trying to sell cloud-native AI to skeptical executives or an engineer thinking about what comes next, this episode is packed with grounded, practical insight from someone who has built it all from the ground up.

June 12, 202653 min

49 - How AI Can Hand Attackers the Keys to Your Cloud with Cody Pierce & Mark St John

In this episode, we sit down with two cybersecurity veterans from Neon Cyber: Mark St John, who's been in the trenches since the dial-up era, and Cody Pierce, an offensive security specialist who's spent the last decade chasing emerging threats. Together they unpack the most pressing threats hitting cloud environments right now — from AI-powered phishing campaigns so convincing they fool trained security teams, to credential and token-based attacks that bypass encryption entirely by just walking in the front door. Mark and Cody break down why speed is the defining asymmetry in today's threat landscape, how attackers are weaponizing AI to automate exploit development and brand impersonation at scale, and why the shift to SaaS and Microsoft 365 has quietly handed adversaries a new master key to corporate data. They also get practical — sharing frameworks for IT leaders at mid-market and enterprise organizations who are trying to build a security strategy without unlimited resources, starting with the foundational work most teams skip: true visibility into your attack surface.

May 1, 202653 min

48 - CIO's Survival Guide to the Agentic AI Era with Sumit Taneja

Sumit Taneja, SVP and Global Head of AI Consulting at EXL Service, took one of the most unconventional paths to the top of enterprise AI — and he's got the battle scars to prove it. In this episode, Sumit breaks down real agentic AI deployments, why most enterprises are failing at AI readiness, and the hard truth about what it actually takes to get AI working at scale. No hype. No theory. Just 25 years of hard-won experience distilled into one conversation.

April 14, 202655 min

47 - Biometrics, Sabotage & $5 Trillion Infrastructure with Kevin Surace

Kevin Surace — inventor of the world's first virtual assistant and the technology that laid the foundation for Siri — joins Cloud Currents for a wide-ranging conversation on the two forces reshaping enterprise tech: AI and cybersecurity. Kevin exposes why the MFA and authenticator apps most companies rely on are actively being exploited, and why biometric FIDO2 is the only real fix. He also gets candid about why 80% of AI rollouts are failing, what true AI-first culture actually looks like, and why the one-person, fifty-agent startup is coming for every traditional business that isn't paying attention.

March 20, 202648 min

46 - The Private Cloud Playbook with David Morales

David Morales helped build Walmart's private cloud from the ground up—385,000 virtual cores, a custom PaaS layer, and AI-powered store robots before the world knew what to do with them. Now, as SVP of Technology and CIO at Western Governors University, he applies those same principles to keep a 100% digital learning environment running for 193,000 students at 99.7% uptime—while fending off nearly 10,000 cyber attacks per minute. In this episode, David and host Matt Pacheco cover why lift-and-shift migration fails, how to build governance into your architecture instead of bolting it on, and what AI readiness actually requires. His closing framework says it all: listen first, get the fundamentals right, and focus on outcomes—not outputs.

February 26, 202650 min

45 - Governing AI Sprawl Before It Governs You with Yabing Wang

In this episode of Cloud Currents, host Matt Pacheco sits down with Yabing Wang, VP of Security & IT Services and dual CISO/CIO at JustWorks, for one of the most candid conversations yet on what it actually takes to lead security in the age of AI. Yabing opens up about her unlikely path from philosophy major to Netscape engineer to cybersecurity leader — and why that winding road gave her the mental frameworks she relies on today. Then the conversation gets into the real stuff: how AI is reshaping the threat landscape faster than most organizations can respond, why your attack surface grew from 5 integrations to 500 almost overnight, and what "AI tool sprawl" is actually costing your business in risk, money, and operational clarity.

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