Events
Nashville Business Journal's 2026 Fastest-Growing Companies Awards
Omni Nashville Hotel, 50 Rep. John Lewis Way S, Nashville, TN 37203
Aug 25, 2026
Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce Annual Celebration 2026
Nissan Stadium, Nashville, TN
Sep 17, 2026
Global Innovation Executive Leadership Series
Atlanta, GA
Sep 28, 2026
HotTopics Studio Nashville
Country Music Hall of Fame, Nashville, TN
Oct 26, 2026
The 28th Business Transformation World Summit | 2027
Hilton Orlando Lake Buena Vista
Jan 25, 2027
Leaders In AI Summit Nashville 2026
Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center
Aug 18, 2026
Converge26
San Jose McEnery Convention Center, 150 West San Carlos Street San Jose, CA 95113
Aug 4-6, 2026
Publications
Hype Without a Problem: The Solow Paradox Is Back, and This Time It's Wearing an AI Badge
LinkedIn
In this article, Sam Ferrise takes aim at "AI for AI's sake," the pattern of enterprises chasing the technology as a status symbol with no real problem behind it. Citing high failure and abandonment rates across enterprise AI projects, he connects the moment to the Solow Paradox and the Productivity J-Curve, where output dips before it climbs because organizations invest in tools without redesigning their processes. He shares a case where his team talked a Fortune 100 manufacturer out of bolting AI onto a broken procurement process, saving them over $300,000 by refusing to build the wrong thing, and makes the case that the real starting question isn't "what model do you want?" but "what problem are we actually solving?"
Self-Driving Supply Chains: Why the Future of Logistics is Actually "Human-Plus"
LinkedIn
In this article, Sam Ferrise argues that the real logistics revolution is in ports, warehouses, and shipping lanes, not driverless cars, and that more autonomy demands more thoughtful human planning, not less. He makes the case that AI without clean, contextual data is just expensive guessing, points to the benchmarks he works to (a 90% data-quality threshold, an exception rate under 10%), and concludes that the supply chain of the future won't be human-free, it will be human-plus.
What Breaks First: How AI Is Exposing Weak Links at Scale
Georgia Technology Summit 2026 (Technology Association of Georgia)
A panel session from the Georgia Technology Summit 2026, where Sam Ferrise joined enterprise leaders from UPS, RaceTrac, and Google Cloud to examine what actually breaks when organizations scale with AI. The discussion digs into how legacy architecture, fragmented data, and rushed decisions surface faster under AI pressure, often in ways customers feel before the metrics show it, and what leaders should fix first versus solve in motion. Moderated by Dr. Beverly Wright of Georgia State University.
When It Comes to Engineering Output, AI Productivity and Velocity Are Not the Same Thing
CIOnews
In this CIOnews feature, Sam Ferrise explains why AI productivity gains often stall at the organizational level, arguing that the real bottleneck has moved from writing code to the systems around it. He makes the case for measuring the time from business intent to working software rather than raw velocity, treating data hygiene as a precondition for scale, and redesigning workflows instead of bolting AI onto broken ones. He also unpacks the economics leaders overlook, from token cost at team scale to why engineers become more valuable, not less, in an AI-driven delivery model.
The Hidden Cost of AI at Scale ft. Carlos Camacho, Google Cloud
Georgia Technology Summit 2026 (Technology Association of Georgia)
Recorded live at the Georgia Technology Summit 2026 in Atlanta, Sam Ferrise sits down with Carlos Camacho, Customer Engineer at Google Cloud, for a practical conversation on what it really costs to run AI at scale, and why most teams ask that question too late. They discuss the shift from AI as concept to daily business reality, when cost needs to enter the room during experimentation, and why disconnected systems and broken workflows, not the technology itself, are the biggest barrier to realizing enterprise AI value.
Why 66% of Companies Are Deploying AI But Only 30% Have a Plan ft. Larry Williams
Georgia Technology Summit 2026 (Technology Association of Georgia)
Recorded live at the Georgia Technology Summit 2026 in Atlanta, Sam Ferrise sits down with Larry Williams, President and CEO of the Technology Association of Georgia, for a conversation on AI adoption, workforce dynamics, and what it takes to build an innovation-driven economy. They dig into the gap between the many companies deploying AI and the few with a real plan for it, what accountability looks like when AI gets something wrong, and where executives and entrepreneurs should be focusing right now.
Technology Executive Arsenal: Must-Have Skills for Leaders
InformationWeek
Sam Ferrise examines how the technology executive role has shifted from static operator to proactive, agile driver of business value, and outlines five skills modern tech leaders need to stay competitive: operational discipline, a culture of innovation, strategic planning, deep technology knowledge, and a focus on resilience and sustainability.
Bio
At the 27th Annual Business Transformation World Summit in Miami, FL — Jan 2026
Sam Ferrise's path into technology started early. At twelve, on an old IBM used for his mother's community college class, he found himself taking her students' tests and quietly outscoring most of them, so much so that she wondered who was doing so well outside of class. That instinct to get his hands on the machine and figure out how it worked never left.
As Chief Technology Officer at Trinetix, Sam now helps enterprises transform their digital core through impact driven product engineering, AI native systems, and human centered experience. He builds AI native, cloud powered systems designed to simplify operations and make business complexity disappear, elevating technology leadership beyond traditional delivery to drive long term enterprise value. Under his direction, Trinetix's global engineering teams have built AI driven knowledge ecosystems that cut information retrieval from hours to seconds, reimagined a waste management provider's service model with ecommerce capabilities that drove a 25% revenue increase, and transformed patient experience for a multibillion dollar renal care organization through a mobile treatment platform.
For over 20 years, Sam has led global teams through the deep end of digital transformation, from cloud native modernization and AI automation to mobile first experiences and real time data platforms. In 2022 he cofounded Emergest, and before that he spent more than a decade at Deloitte leading the Mobile COE, technology delivery for Advisory, and serving on the firm's Technology Practice Board. He is an advocate for intentional innovation, ensuring technology serves as a driver of value rather than novelty for its own sake, a perspective he shares as a contributor to InformationWeek and CIO.com, a speaker at events like the Nashville Innovation Summit, and chair of an executive peer group for Nashville area CIOs and CTOs.
Outside of work, you'll find Sam smoking meat for friends and family, pouring a good bourbon, fishing on the lake in Nashville, or traveling with his wife and kids.