How A Small Team Scales AI in a Trillion Dollar Org: Kristin Milchanowski, BMO Financial Group

What happens when a small team inside a $1.5 trillion bank has to turn cutting-edge AI and quantum research into governed, production-grade outcomes? Kristin Milchanowski, Chief AI & Quantum Officer and Founding Director of the BMO Institute for Applied AI & Quantum, joins Ron Schmelzer on the Small Team Big Scale Podcast to share how her lean team drives operating leverage at scale — without adding headcount. In this episode, Kristin reveals why BMO measures every AI initiative against business value before a single dollar is budgeted, why trust inverts with generative AI (your system's best month can become your most dangerous), and how scheduling doubt is now a leadership discipline she's brought to the U.S. Army. From a peer forum of 18 Chief AI Officers to the principle that governance is the steering wheel — not the brake — this conversation is a playbook for anyone running a focused team inside a massive org. KEY TAKEAWAYS: • How BMO converts AI research into trusted business value with a small team inside a $1.5T organization • Why trust inverts with generative AI — and why your system's best month can become your most dangerous • The principle that governance is the steering wheel, not the brake — and how embedded governance accelerates adoption • Why Kristin schedules doubt as a discipline, and how challenging agreement is now a leadership essential • How BMO's peer forum of 18 Chief AI Officers is creating shared responsible AI principles across banking • The "Return on Intelligence" metric: measuring intelligence per agent and human, not just agents per human • How personalization, augmentation, and automation form BMO's three-pillar AI strategy TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 - Opening and Introduction 1:27 - Kristin's Background and the Chief AI & Quantum Role 4:58 - Measuring AI Against Business Value 7:43 - From Efficiency to Operating Leverage 10:36 - Personalization, Augmentation, and Automation Strategy 18:17 - Return on Intelligence and Changing Operating Leverage 21:39 - The BMO Institute for Applied AI & Quantum 27:18 - Governance as the Steering Wheel, Not the Brake 28:00 - Scheduling Doubt: The Counterintuitive Lesson 31:01 - Rapid Fire: Tools, Processes, and Advice 31:26 - Can't-Live-Without Tool: Enterprise Copilot & Perplexity 33:16 - Lean Team Process: Embedding Intelligence Into Infrastructure 36:04 - One Piece of Advice: Start With Business Value, Not Technology GUEST: Kristin Milchanowski is the Chief AI & Quantum Officer and Founding Director of the BMO Institute for Applied AI & Quantum at BMO Financial Group. She holds a PhD in decision sciences and a postdoc from Oxford in AI, previously served as Chief Data Scientist at Morgan Stanley, Head of Financial Crimes Compliance Technology at JPMorgan, and Global Innovation Partner at EY. She sits on the board of Automobile Lamborghini and Children's National Hospital. She is the author of "Return on Intelligence." 🔗 Kristin Milchanowski on LinkedIn:   / kristinmilchanowski   🔗 BMO Financial Group: https://bmo.com 🔗 Small Team Big Scale Podcast: https://smallteambigscale.com/podcast