Bios, ready to paste
Jon Wolheim designs hybrid human-agent workforces. He calls the job Chief Agent Officer: applying the same organizational design rigor to AI agents that a CHRO applies to people.
He has spent 25 years in executive people leadership, including eight years at Apple and a run leading Amazon's California hiring through the pandemic, at a pace of growth few operators have had to manage. He then built the talent function at SoundHound AI from zero through its NYSE IPO, and spent a year and a half building the people infrastructure inside a Cambridge-based AI unicorn.
In 2019 he asked Jeff Bezos what he would study as a college freshman today. Bezos said machine learning, full stop. Jon went all in.
He is an Entrepreneur in Residence at Boston University and founder of Wolheim Group.
Two small things, if you don't mind
Please run whichever bio fits your field word for word rather than rewriting it, and include a link to jonwolheim.com in the show notes. The reason it matters: half the bios floating around online still have Jon at the company he left in May, so anything pulled from a search is very likely out of date. These are the current ones.
Background
- 25+ years in executive people and organizational leadership
- Partner — Claude Partner Network
- Apple — eight years
- Amazon — led California hiring through the pandemic
- SoundHound AI (NYSE: SOUN) — built the talent function from zero through IPO
- Boston University — Entrepreneur in Residence
- LinkedIn Top Voice — Future of Work, global
- LinkedIn Top Voice — AI & Leadership · 32,000+ followers
- Toastmasters — 2024 California Champion, World Championship of Public Speaking
- MBA — USC Marshall School of Business
- Graduate certificates — Artificial Intelligence (MIT), Business Strategy (Stanford)
What he'll happily talk about
And questions that tend to open him up. Use any, all, or none.
Who manages the agents?
Most companies rolled out agents and skipped the question of who owns them. Jon thinks that job belongs to the people function, and he enjoys being argued with about it.
- You were recently named a global top voice on the future of work. What does most everyone get wrong about it?
- You say the agent workforce belongs to HR, not IT. Plenty of smart people say the opposite. Make your case.
- I'm a CEO with 40 people and no AI strategy. What do I do on Monday?
The experience advantage
Why seasoned operators may be the most underrated asset of the AI era.
- What can a 55-year-old do with AI that a 25-year-old can't?
- You asked Jeff Bezos a question in 2019. What did he say, and what did you do about it?
Culture is the moat
Models get replicated within months. Jon has a specific answer about what can't be.
- You built a people function that was AI-native from day one. What did that actually cost?
- What have you changed your mind about in the last year?
Positions he's glad to defend on air
"The single biggest constraint on AI progress is human. Not compute, not capital."
"The moat is not the model. Models get replicated. The moat is culture."
"The most expensive hire you'll ever make is the one you didn't need to make."
Studio & setup
- Room
- A dedicated, acoustically soundproofed home studio with full professional lighting by NEEWER, and a Secretlab desk and chair setup.
- Camera
- Panasonic Lumix S5IIX with a 50mm Lumix lens, recording at 1080p / 30fps.
- Audio
- Three options depending on what suits you: a Rode NT1 condenser, a tuned Elgato Wave 3, or a lapel mic if Jon needs to move. Tell us your preference and we'll set it up ahead of time.
- Connection
- 2 Gbps fiber, hardwired, on current-generation Apple silicon. Riverside, StreamYard, Zoom, or any live stream you'd like to run.
- Format
- Evie will ask whether you're recording audio only or capturing video as well. Where you have the option, Jon has a strong preference for video and is set up for it.
- In person
- Jon is glad to come to you in Boston, San Francisco, or Los Angeles with reasonable notice.
Photos
Use whichever suits your layout. Click any one to download it at full resolution.
If you'd prefer a zipped bundle of everything, or you need a photographer credit for any of them, just ask Evie and she'll sort it.