From Retirement To AI Leadership: Nancy Avila’s Unexpected Journey
When Nancy Avila stepped away from her role at McKesson in early 2024, she anticipated a quieter professional life focused on board responsibilities and her new South Carolina home. However, the relentless acceleration of artificial intelligence development proved irresistible. “The excitement across every company I spoke with, whether for board positions or private equity, was palpable,” Avila recalled. “This opportunity at Analog Devices represented a chance to work at the very core of what enables and drives AI forward.”
That attraction led her to join the $9.5 billion global semiconductor leader as Chief Information Officer in August 2024. Analog Devices operates at the critical junction where physical and digital worlds converge, powering innovations across industrial automation, automotive systems, communications infrastructure, and consumer electronics. “I was genuinely surprised by our extensive reach across so many industries,” Avila noted. “We’re not just another chip company—we provide genuine differentiation to countless customers in every device.”
A Strategic Framework For Balancing Stability And Innovation
During her inaugural year at ADI, Avila implemented a carefully constructed three-pillar strategy designed to maintain operational excellence while aggressively pursuing innovation. The first pillar focuses on foundational business operations and security, ensuring the company’s core systems remain robust and protected. The second concentrates on process optimization through standardized platforms and practices that streamline workflows and boost productivity. The third pillar drives innovation, leveraging emerging technologies to fundamentally reimagine how ADI operates and serves its markets.
“What makes our current approach particularly compelling is how we’re solving problems with the understanding that AI changes everything,” Avila emphasized. “Our methodology across these pillars has evolved significantly from traditional approaches.” She applies this strategic framework across three critical dimensions: transforming customer experience, strengthening manufacturing resiliency, and improving productivity throughout general and administrative functions.
Agentic AI: The Next Frontier In Enterprise Intelligence
Avila oversees both enterprise data strategy and AI implementation, viewing them as intrinsically connected domains. While ADI has utilized machine learning for years, her current focus centers on agentic AI—systems capable of autonomous reasoning, action, and learning. “These advanced AI solutions fundamentally reorchestrate how we approach work,” she explained. “They drive productivity gains without constant human intervention, creating new operational efficiencies.”
The practical applications are already delivering tangible benefits. ADI’s engineering teams employ AI agents to accelerate design processes that previously consumed significant time. “With thousands of engineers who previously spent hours searching for information, they can now instantly query design specifications or component parameters,” Avila described. In manufacturing environments, conversational AI tools enable process engineers to detect and analyze anomalies in real-time, eliminating hours of manual investigation. These related innovations in industrial computing are creating new possibilities across manufacturing sectors.
Data Readiness: The Foundation For AI Acceleration
Avila stresses that AI effectiveness is directly proportional to data preparedness. “AI initiatives cannot succeed without proper data foundations,” she stated unequivocally. “Organizations that have systematically organized and made their data accessible will accelerate rapidly.” ADI’s ability to integrate and cleanse data directly influences the velocity of AI development throughout the enterprise.
“In domains where our data is ready, we can move with remarkable speed,” Avila observed. “Where data quality or integrity requires attention, we prioritize those foundational elements before proceeding.” This disciplined approach ensures that AI implementations deliver reliable, actionable insights rather than amplifying existing data inconsistencies. The importance of data integrity is becoming increasingly apparent as companies navigate market trends in semiconductor and AI technologies.
Transparent Decision-Making In Complex Technology Environments
A cornerstone of Avila’s leadership philosophy is transparent decision-making, which she believes builds essential trust within complex organizations. “Understanding where financial resources are allocated isn’t always straightforward,” she acknowledged. “When you layer IT complexities on top, there are significant responsibilities that business leaders don’t encounter daily.”
At ADI, she has implemented visualization tools that provide business leaders with clear insight into how their decisions impact IT expenditures, particularly regarding cloud computing—one of the company’s most substantial cost centers. “We monitor these relationships meticulously,” Avila noted. “We’ve developed tools that help engineers understand the cost implications of their design choices in real-time. Discovering a month later that a model training exercise cost $100,000 is precisely what we aim to prevent.”
This transparency extends to outcome measurement as well. “We must continuously evaluate whether we’re deriving appropriate value from our investments,” she emphasized. “The focus extends beyond technology implementation to ensuring the business return justifies the expenditure.” This comprehensive approach to technology investment reflects broader industry developments in financial transparency and accountability.
Leading Technology In An Engineering-Centric Culture
Unlike her previous roles at McKesson and Johnson Controls, Avila now operates in an environment where technical expertise permeates the organization. “At ADI, our product is technology itself,” she observed. “When nearly everyone in the company possesses engineering expertise, IT’s role evolves toward governance and orchestration rather than direct implementation.”
Her leadership approach emphasizes enablement over control. “Our philosophy centers on empowering people,” Avila explained. “When teams approach us with tools or solutions they want to explore, we create safe environments for innovation. Once they’ve validated their approaches and are ready to scale, IT ensures the solutions are sustainable and deliver enterprise-wide value.”
This collaborative mindset extends to her partnerships with business and engineering leaders throughout ADI. “When you develop deep business understanding combined with genuine curiosity, you naturally contribute to solving their most pressing challenges,” she noted. “It’s about comprehending their objectives and working as a unified team toward shared outcomes.” This integrated approach is particularly valuable given the recent technology infrastructure projects requiring cross-functional coordination.
Boardroom Experience Informing Executive Leadership
Avila’s perspective is further enriched by her board experience, including her current position at global healthcare company Haleon and previous service with Comerica Bank. Her board journey began when a former CEO recommended nonprofit board service to broaden her leadership capabilities, which subsequently led to corporate board opportunities.
“The rewarding aspect of board work is that while you’re initially recruited for specific expertise like cybersecurity or IT, the role quickly becomes collaborative,” Avila reflected. “You gain exposure to diverse industries and can import those insights back to your primary leadership responsibilities.”
For aspiring CIOs interested in board positions, her guidance is straightforward: secure executive support, begin with nonprofit boards, and develop intentional networking strategies. “With those foundations established, it becomes a matter of demonstrating your experience and value proposition effectively,” she advised.
The Future: Quantum Computing And Practical Robotics
With her background in mathematics and statistics, Avila finds the AI revolution particularly resonant. “AI concepts have existed for decades, but the current transformation is occurring at an unprecedented pace,” she observed. She identifies quantum computing as the next significant frontier, noting that what seemed distant seven years ago now represents tangible reality.
She’s equally intrigued by emerging applications in humanoid robotics, viewing them not as science fiction but as practical tools for enhancing human capabilities. “Consider robots that assist individuals using wheelchairs or walkers,” she suggested. “That future isn’t decades away—perhaps not even two years—and it’s approaching more rapidly than many anticipate.” These advancements represent just part of the broader transformation that agentic AI is enabling across industrial and consumer applications.
Reflecting On A Year Of Momentum
As Avila completes her first year at Analog Devices, she expresses genuine enthusiasm for the company’s trajectory. “Analog has extraordinary developments ahead,” she affirmed. “We’re playing a crucial role in mobilizing AI from edge devices to core infrastructure. Being part of this evolution is genuinely exciting.” Under her technology leadership, ADI appears positioned to not only participate in but actively shape the emerging landscape of agentic AI and its practical applications across global industries.
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