AI Fluency Over AI Tools: Kristie Grinnell on Transforming TD SYNNEX

Kristie Grinnell (0:00)

Everybody's got access to AI, so how do we really reimagine how we use AI in order to get ourselves differentiated in the marketplace?

Peter High (0:09)

Welcome to Technovation. I'm Peter High, President of Metis Strategy. My guest today is Kristie Grinnell. Kristie is the Executive Vice President and Chief Information Officer of Td Synnex, a leading global distributor and solutions aggregator for the technology ecosystem that earned more than $62 billion in revenue in 2025

She leads the company's strategic initiatives, digital transformation and AI integration. Prior to joining Td Synnex, Kristie served as Chief Information Officer of DxC Technology and as Global Chief Information Officer and Chief Supply Chain Officer of General Dynamics Information Technology.

In this conversation, we'll explore why Kristie believes AI is not simply a technology initiative but an opportunity to operate the entire business differently. We'll also discuss her vision for Intelligent IT, Td Synnex's enterprise-wide AI fluency program, and the rise of citizen-agent builders, among other topics. Kristie, welcome back to Technovation. It's great to speak with you today.

Kristie Grinnell (1:03)

Thank you so much for having me, Peter. It's great to be back.

Peter High (1:06)

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Oh, it's always a pleasure to speak with you. Well, I thought we'd begin with the company that you help lead, Td Synnex, to some certainly known, but to others maybe a little bit esoteric. And I would love to have you fill in the gaps for everyone as to the business that you're in, if you would.

Kristie Grinnell (2:31)

Yeah, absolutely. I'm so glad too, because we're probably one of the biggest companies you've never heard about. So Td Synnex, we are a global technology distributor. And what that means is that we get technology into those who's, into those hands that need it. And we do that around the globe and we work with vendors, specifically OEMs, to get their hardware all the way up the technology stack to software, and make sure that we get that into a reseller who gets it into the customer's hands. So we're a big part of the technology supply chain.

Peter High (3:06)

Excellent. And for a little less than two years now, you have been the Executive Vice President and Chief Information Officer. As note, and you can certainly relate to this, having held the role several times, no two CIO roles are exactly the same. What's within your purview in this context?

Kristie Grinnell (3:19)

Yeah, they're never the same, for sure. And that's largely based on what the company does and how they're structured and what they need from you.

Here at Td Synnex, I am responsible for being the Executive Sponsor of our AI Fluency Strategy. And I'm sure we'll talk quite a bit about that. But also all of our IT operations for our coworkers. How do I make sure that they have the technology in their hands in order to do their jobs every day? And then also from a digital perspective, making sure that we are integrating with our resellers and our vendors in a digital way to make sure that we are bringing the future of distribution to a digital landscape. So, you know, an exciting, wider aperture of what I'm doing here and loving the challenge.

Peter High (4:13)

That's fantastic. I would love to talk to you about the AI Fluency Strategy. Before we do, I know from our past conversations, you've emphasized that AI is not fundamentally a technology initiative. And in fact, in those organizations that believe it's such, actually take some risk in framing it that way. Talk a bit about your own perspective on that and the kind of counterpoint to perhaps some of that inherited wisdom that a lot of people are using.