With 36 speakers already confirmed and additional announcements still to come, this year’s Service & Warranty Lifecycle Summit is building toward nearly 50 industry leaders.
Each brings firsthand perspectives from real implementations, operational challenges and transformation initiatives underway in their organizations.
The value is in hearing how those decisions are being made, where implementation gets difficult and what colleagues are learning along the way. This week’s CONNECT looks inside several of those conversations, ahead of the October 19–21 Summit at The Westin Southfield Detroit.
Among the leaders joining the discussion:
- Graham Swan | Executive Director Global Warranty | Cummins
- Shane Schmitt | Director Technical Hotline | Ford Motor Company
- Ben Bergman | Director Customer Service | Crown Equipment
- Daryl Kreskowiak | Director NA Warranty Recovery | Stellantis
- Victor Garcia | Deputy GM Warranty Group | Nissan Motor Company
- Miles Thompson | Senior Manager Advanced Diagnostics | Hyundai Motor America
- Steve Olejniczak | Associate Director Warranty | International
- Josh Cohen | Manager Global Warranty Strategy & Operations | General Motors
- Jim Holloway | Former General Manager Purchasing | Toyota Motor NA
- Peter Dentler | Warranty Program Manager Lead | Mack Trucks/Volvo NA
- Tim Turvey | Former Global Vice President Customer Care & Aftersales | General Motors
- James Kiriazes | Director Customer Quality Engineering | Bridgestone Americas
- Marijo Prodanic | Director Warranty Operations & Technical Assistance | Kia America
7 AI Speakers. 5 Conversations Worth Joining
Everyone is talking about AI.
The more important question is what happens after the pilot project, the proof of concept and the vendor demonstration.
Seven speakers bring different perspectives on where AI is creating measurable value, where implementation gets difficult and where human expertise remains essential.
From manual claims to warranty decision intelligence
Lance LaCoe, President & CEO, CARS Protection Plus, joins Ted Danner, Senior Director Warranty & Service Contract AI Solutions, Circuitry.ai, to present a live claims operation case study examining AI inside real-world warranty decision processes.
Their session brings together coverage information, repair histories, claims evidence, decision rules and service contract requirements to explore how claims teams can make faster, more consistent decisions. The discussion focuses on implementation lessons, organizational challenges, return on investment and the realities of moving toward governed automation.
Which warranty decisions are candidates for automation? How is decision quality measured? What happens when evidence is incomplete, and who remains accountable when a recommendation is wrong?
For teams evaluating AI in claims operations, this is an opportunity to examine those questions in an active production environment.
Where should humans stay in the loop?
Wayne Mitchell, Sedgwick, and Craig Stack, Truepic, address a question that runs through many AI initiatives:
What should AI decide, and what should it simply recommend?
Identifying anomalies, prioritizing evidence and flagging inconsistencies can help teams work through information. Determining accountability and interpreting context still require judgment. Their discussion explores where organizations should draw that line.
Does better detection actually reduce cost?
Finding a problem earlier sounds like an advantage, but what has to happen next for it to reduce warranty exposure? Mark Abbott, Pegasystems, takes the discussion upstream with “Orchestrating Warranty Prevention at the Point of Repair,” examining whether real-time AI agents and early risk insight can help prevent warranty events before they become claims.
Beyond the spreadsheet
Warranty and supplier quality teams have more data than ever. What they often lack is actionable insight. Uma Boddapati, Sensata, explores how AI can help identify trends, uncover patterns and support supplier quality management, alongside the areas where engineering expertise and investigation remain irreplaceable.
The question to bring into the room: what decision are you trying to improve, rather than what report are you trying to automate?
Is AI delivering what was promised?
James Kiriazes, Director Customer Quality Engineering at Bridgestone Americas, shares lessons from applying AI across dealer support, customer engagement and service operations. While administrative automation, data organization and customer service triage have offered value, other implementations have struggled to meet expectations.
“We were consistently disappointed that the claims and the reality did not match.”
His advice is specific: “Know if your application is already working somewhere else or if you’d be the first trying to incorporate AI into your existing processes.”
Are you implementing a proven application, or preparing your organization to help prove one?
Continue the discussion across all three days
These conversations extend beyond the main stage.
AI-focused activities run across all three days through the AI-SWLM Think Tank, in collaboration with ServiceNow, Pegasystems, Circuitry.ai and Upstream.
- The VIP dinner brings emerging AI startup concepts and an interactive AI in the Field panel into the discussion.
- A breakfast roundtable offers informal conversations with the four AI-SWLM Think Tank providers.
- Xchange Group workshops include individualized end-to-end process walkthroughs to identify high-impact AI opportunities.
Together, these offer different settings to examine measurable results, implementation challenges, governance and the role of human expertise.
Consult the current agenda and ticket inclusions when planning your team’s participation.
Tech Expo: Solving Problems Or Creating More Systems?
Technology providers continue to launch AI, analytics and workflow solutions.
For teams already working across fragmented operations, the question is whether those tools will resolve a problem or add another layer of complexity.
Sponsors and solution partners will demonstrate approaches to automating claims review, improving supplier recovery, connecting service and warranty data, accelerating root cause identification and creating actionable reporting for leadership teams.
Use those conversations to ask what the technology is delivering and what it would take to make it work in your operation.
Why Bring Your Team?
The value of attending together is the ability to evaluate the same ideas through different lenses.
A warranty leader, service manager, quality professional, customer experience owner and digital transformation lead may hear the same session and take away different implications for the business.
The conversation continues when colleagues compare perspectives, challenge assumptions and identify opportunities together.
Bring You Team: Discounts available for groups of three or more.
Choose the ticket option that fits your team
The 3-day Best Value Bundle includes the October 19 workshop and VIP dinner, the October 20–21 Leadership Summit and roundtables, and a full-year MyWarrantyNetwork Hub & Marketplace membership.
OEM, Tier 1, Aftermarket, Dealer and Insurance: $2,495 per person.
Tech, Advisory and Legal: $2,995 per person.
The separate 2-day group-of-3 offer covers October 20–21:
OEM, Tier 1, Aftermarket, Dealer and Insurance teams: $4,495 for three.
Tech, Advisory and Legal teams: $4,995 for three.
Group tickets include MyWarrantyNetwork access through December 31, 2026. October 19 workshops and dinner are purchased separately with the 2-day group option.
Review the current ticket terms before booking.
Practical Ideas To Take Back To Leadership
Jossey Marie Bertollini, Product Engineering Manager at Magna Seating Systems, participated as a speaker at last year’s Summit.
Her reflection captures the connection between the discussions in the room and the work that follows:
“…walked away with practical AI ideas I already shared with leadership.”
Stay Connected With CONNECT 29
Useful peer relationships continue after an event. Through MyWarrantyNetwork, leaders can return to colleagues who understand their responsibilities, compare approaches and ask how a proposed change has worked elsewhere.
CONNECT brings those opportunities to readers through practitioner interviews, Xchange Group insights, benchmarking and research, and updates on the people and sessions shaping the Summit. Follow the work, contribute your experience and find the conversations most relevant to your next decision.
