From MVP to MVF: Governing AI Agents with Guardrails, Policy-as-Code, and Board Oversight with Aravind Parthasarathy

Innovation occurs across many areas, and compliance professionals need not only to be ready for it but also to embrace it. Join Tom Fox, the Voice of Compliance, as he visits with top innovative minds, thinkers, and creators in the award-winning Innovation in Compliance podcast. In this episode,  host Tom visits with Aravind Parthasarathy, Vice President, Client Partner for Telco & Tech at NewRocket, a ServiceNow implementation company focused on helping large enterprises adopt agentic AI. They discuss the shift from viewing AI as a tool to treating it as an operator with humans as mentors handling exceptions, and what this means for compliance, GRC, and risk management. Aravind contrasts minimum viable product (MVP) with minimum viable function (MVF), emphasizing end-to-end autonomous business functions, probabilistic performance, and continuous learning. They cover governance needs, including guardrails, policy-as-code, auditability of agent decisions, model drift monitoring, and automated “trust but verify.” Aravind provides a telecom outage-troubleshooting example with compliance notification obligations, addresses board-level AI governance using emerging standards like ISO 42001, suggests KPIs (accuracy, autonomy), recalibrates operational metrics, and introduces “context graphs” to capture decision data over time. Key highlights: AI From Tool to Operator Compliance in the MVF Era Trust but Verify at Scale Scaling to Multi-Agent Systems Board Level AI Governance Misconceptions and Practical Next Steps Resources: Aravind Parthasarathy on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aravindsarathy/ New Rocket Website: https://www.newrocket.com/ Innovation in Compliance is a multi-award-winning podcast that was recently ranked Number 4 in Risk Management by 1,000,000 Podcasts: https://www.millionpodcasts.com/Risk-Management-podcasts/

Innovation occurs across many areas, and compliance professionals need not only to be ready for it but also to embrace it. Join Tom Fox, the Voice of Compliance, as he visits with top innovative minds, thinkers, and creators in the award-winning Innovation in Compliance podcast. In this episode, host Tom visits with Nav Thethi, creator of the “Cracking the Digital Maturity Code” series, to discuss leadership gaps in digital transformation, AI, and data governance. Nav describes building a peer-learning platform through his podcast, developing digital maturity benchmarks with organizational scorecards, and co-authoring a book on digital maturity. He outlines an AI readiness gap driven by executive imposter syndrome, FOMO-driven pressure, education and alignment gaps, and lack of roadmap, citing Gartner’s view that 89% of AI initiatives fail for reasons beyond technology, including “pilot purgatory.” Nav’s maturity approach emphasizes measuring the current state across multiple pillars, including technology, data, customer experience, leadership/strategy, and talent/culture; aligning with business outcomes; upskilling; refining; integrating with governance; tracking meaningful KPIs; and scaling responsibly. He stresses C-suite-led governance, leader engagement in change management, and maintaining customer trust through human oversight of AI-generated content. Key highlights: Cracking the Maturity Code Format AI Readiness Gap and FEAR Who Owns AI Governance Start Small and Scale Fast Human AI Collaboration and Trust Key Takeaways for Executives Measure Your Digital Maturity — Stop Guessing. Start Scaling. Take the Digital Maturity Assessment to benchmark your organization, identify blind spots, and connect your digital strategy to real-world outcomes that matter. Assess your Digital Maturity Now: https://go.navthethi.com/digital-maturity-assessment Resources: Nav Thethi on LinkedIn Nav Thethi Website Nav Thethi podcast-The NavThethi Show Cracking the Maturity Code with Nav Thethi on YouTube Innovation in Compliance was recently ranked Number 4 in Risk Management by 1,000,000 Podcasts.

Innovation comes in many areas, and compliance professionals need not only to be ready for it but also to embrace it. Join Tom Fox, the Voice of Compliance, as he visits with top innovative minds, thinkers, and creators in the award-winning Innovation in Compliance podcast. In this episode, host Tom Fox visits with energy journalist/publisher Loren Steffy to discuss whether a Trump administration announcement regarding Venezuela is meaningful for oil markets, concluding that it mainly increases uncertainty and is unlikely to drive major U.S. oil-company investment. They note West Texas shale generally needs about $60 oil to break even, making $50 oil politically and economically problematic. They explain that Venezuela’s heavy crude requires specialized extraction technology and extensive, aging infrastructure upgrades to reach the market, potentially costing billions and taking decades, with some estimates placing Venezuela’s break-even price at $80 or higher. They emphasize governance, corruption, degraded PDVSA human capital, contract enforceability, and unresolved debts (including reported $12B owed to ConocoPhillips) as key barriers, making Venezuela “uninvestible” for most majors and suggesting only high-risk players might consider entry amid unclear U.S. strategy. Key highlights: Venezuela Heavy Crude Basics Infrastructure Rebuild Challenge Human Capital and Governance Old Debts and Legal Risk Government Plan or Subsidies Resources: Loren Steffy on LinkedIn Stoney Creek Publishing  Innovation in Compliance was recently ranked Number 4 in Risk Management by 1,000,000 Podcasts.

Innovation spans many areas, and compliance professionals need not only to be ready for it but also to embrace it. Join Tom Fox, the Voice of Compliance, as he visits with top innovative minds, thinkers, and creators in the award-winning Innovation in Compliance podcast. In this episode,  host Tom visits with Jim Massey about his latest book, Risk in Action: The Leader’s Guide to Act with Clarity. Jim Massey is a distinguished figure in risk management, known for translating complex ideas into practical strategies that empower business leaders. With a wealth of experience from boardrooms to executive sessions, he is a highly sought-after keynote speaker who enlightens audiences on how to navigate risks in high-pressure situations. Through his books, including his prior work, Trust in Action, Jim champions prioritizing and understanding risks, focusing on critical gaps and opportunities rather than attempting to address all risks equally. He is a proponent of using AI to streamline and revolutionize risk assessment processes, advocating a proactive approach in which leaders view risk as a potential driver of innovation and growth rather than merely a hurdle to overcome. Key highlights: Transforming Compliance Professionals into Risk Advisors Adaptive Decision-Making in Uncertain Environments Real-time AI Risk Cards for Executives Embracing Risk as Catalyst for Innovation in Business Embracing Risk as an Innovation Catalyst Resources: Jim Massey on LinkedIn Jim Massey Website Risk in Action: The Leader’s Guide to Act with Clarity Innovation in Compliance was recently honored as the Number 4 podcast in Risk Management by 1,000,000 Podcasts

Innovation occurs across many areas, and compliance professionals need not only to be ready for it but also to embrace it. Join Tom Fox, the Voice of Compliance, as he visits with top innovative minds, thinkers, and creators in the award-winning Innovation in Compliance podcast. In this episode,  host Tom Fox welcomes Evan Sampson, a noted health care compliance attorney. Sampson traces his path from commercial litigation to representing healthcare practices on HIPAA/privacy and reimbursement matters, then moving in-house at a network of plastic surgery centers, where he managed compliance focused on fraud, waste, and abuse, and on evolving out-of-network billing rules leading into the No Surprises Act. Sampson explains how compliance programs can create business value beyond risk mitigation by uncovering inefficiencies and opportunities, such as identifying downcoding in medical billing and using complaint investigations to spot growth areas. He describes how his litigation background helps him anticipate how issues will unfold over time in investigations and litigation, thereby improving his credibility with business leaders. They discuss building a culture of compliance in fast-growing healthcare organizations, tracking regulatory changes across primary and secondary sources, and leveraging AI and data analytics to detect claim outliers and strengthen compliance. Key highlights: Healthcare Compliance Shift Fraud, Waste, and Abuse Compliance Creates Value Building Compliance Culture Tracking Regulatory Changes AI in Compliance Analytics Resources: Evan Sampson on LinkedIn Post & Schell Innovation in Compliance was recently honored as the Number 4 podcast in Risk Management by 1,000,000 Podcasts.

Innovation comes in many areas, and compliance professionals need not only to be ready for it but also to embrace it. Join Tom Fox, the Voice of Compliance, as he visits with top innovative minds, thinkers, and creators in the award-winning Innovation in Compliance podcast. In this episode, host Tom Fox welcomes Tim Khamzin, Founder & CEO of Vivox AI, to discuss building explainable, trusted AI agents for financial crime compliance teams. Tim describes his background in banking operations automation, including large-scale digital transformation and the development of compliance products, and explains how large language models since 2023–2024 enable the automation of unstructured compliance work without extensive model training. He outlines key challenges in AML/KYC operations—15% of bank headcount tied to compliance, heavy manual repetitive investigations across multiple systems, and cultural resistance to adopting technology. Tim emphasizes “explainability” through consistent, repeatable investigations with audit logs and screenshots that mirror human workflows, and “trust” through transparency, compliant vendor choices, and clear communication of limitations. Tim introduces Vivox compliance analyst, “Rachel,” a platform of collaborating agents that supports onboarding, customer due diligence, and false-positive reduction, improved via structured human feedback (thumbs up/down) to learn firm-specific standards. He explains how Vivox stays aligned with evolving regulations by engaging with bodies such as the UK FCA and tracking frameworks such as the EU AI Act and Singapore guidance, with a focus on auditability and explainability. Tim predicts most compliance work will shift to AI agents, with humans handling complex cases and a new role of “compliance engineer” emerging to configure and evaluate agents, alongside industry consolidation and operating-system-style vendor platforms. Key highlights: From Banking Automation to Founding Vivox AI: The Opportunity in LLMs What’s Broken Today: Manual Investigations, Backlogs, and Culture Gaps Explainable + Trusted AI: Audit Trails, Screenshots, and Transparency Regulators’ Top AI Concerns: Black Box, Bias, and 99% Accuracy Inside ‘Rachel’: The AI Compliance Analyst & Human-in-the-Loop Feedback The Future: Compliance Engineers, Agent “Operating Systems,” and Consolidation Resources: Tim Khamzin on LinkedIn Vivox AI Innovation in Compliance was recently honored as the Number 4 podcast in Risk Management by 1,000,000 Podcasts.

Innovation spans many areas, and compliance professionals need not only to be ready for it but also to embrace it. Join Tom Fox, the Voice of Compliance, as he visits with top innovative minds, thinkers, and creators in the award-winning Innovation in Compliance podcast. In this episode,  host Tom Fox interviews Matt Kunkel, CEO and Co-Founder at LogicGate, about the company’s governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) platform and current market trends. Matt recounts his path into regulatory risk and compliance work that led to founding LogicGate and launching its Risk Cloud platform in 2015. A major focus is AI governance. Tom and Matt explore how and why senior management is asking compliance teams to provide governance frameworks despite the absence of a single standard (e.g., NIST/ISO/SOC). Matt explains organizations need scalable processes to triage and route large volumes of AI usage requests, apply guardrails based on data sensitivity and criticality, and avoid becoming a bottleneck to innovation. He emphasizes training and culture to address employee misuse, highlighting risks of exposing proprietary data and the need to define what information is acceptable to input into AI models. The discussion turns to LogicGate’s culture and how it has been sustained during rapid, organic growth (no acquisitions). Matt outlines LogicGate’s six values: Be as One, Embrace Your Curiosity, Empower Customers, Raise the Bar, Own It, and Do the Right Thing. For evaluating AI and modernizing compliance programs, he frames value in three outcomes: making money, reducing costs, or reducing risk, and describes LogicGate’s value realization framework that translates efficiency and ROI into business terms. He also describes Risk Cloud as an orchestration layer for compliance programs and anticipates more “intentional AI” and selective use of agentic capabilities rather than fully autonomous end-to-end program execution. Key highlights: From Consulting to GRC: Coding, Madoff Investigation, and Founding LogicGate Why AI Is Supercharging the “G” in GRC LogicGate’s Culture Playbook: Values That Scale with Hypergrowth How to Evaluate AI Tools in Compliance: Proving Value, ROI, and “Intentional AI” Cybersecurity in 2026: AI-Powered Social Engineering, Deepfakes, and Risk Mapping What’s Next for GRC by 2030: Agents, Responsible AI, and Tech as the Glue Resources: Matt Kunkel on LinkedIn LogicGate Innovation in Compliance was recently ranked Number 4 in Risk Management by 1,000,000 Podcasts.

Innovation occurs across many areas, and compliance professionals need not only to be ready for it but also to embrace it. Join Tom Fox, the Voice of Compliance, as he visits with top innovative minds, thinkers, and creators in the award-winning Innovation in Compliance podcast. In this episode, host Tom Fox welcomes Yakir Golan, CEO & Co-founder at Kovrr, who shares his professional journey from the Israeli intelligence community to his current role at Kovrr. With a rich background in Israel’s intelligence community and significant experience with cybersecurity vendors, Golan champions integrating frameworks with analytics to effectively assess and navigate risks, emphasizing governance as a vital component for sustained innovation. He advocates proactive measures to address AI-enabled insider threats, urging businesses not to wait for perfect regulatory clarity amid the fast-paced evolution of AI technologies. Golan’s holistic approach to compliance transcends mere regulatory adherence, focusing on business-driven proficiency in cybersecurity and AI to meet the dynamic demands of the business landscape. Key highlights: Financial Models for AI Risk Governance Enhancing AI Governance with Adaptive Frameworks Empowering Innovation Through Strategic Governance and Compliance Unified Approach: AI-Cybersecurity in Enterprise Risk Management Resources: Yakir Golan on LinkedIn Kovrr  Innovation in Compliance was recently ranked Number 4 in Risk Management by 1,000,000 Podcasts.

Innovation touches every part of the modern enterprise, and compliance professionals must be prepared not only to respond to change but to lead through it. Join Tom Fox, the Voice of Compliance, as he visits with top innovative minds, thinkers, and creators on the award-winning Innovation in Compliance podcast. In this episode, host Tom Fox welcomes Anik Shah, Global Director of Anti-Bribery and Anti-Corruption Compliance at Sandisk, for an insightful discussion on the pivotal shifts in FCPA enforcement during 2025 and what they signal for 2026. Shah outlines his extensive professional background, including his prior roles at the SEC and DOJ. The conversation explores key developments from 2025, including the Executive Order pausing certain FCPA investigations, the Blanche Memo’s four criteria for opening FCPA cases, and the implications of revisions to the Corporate Enforcement Policy. He also analyzes the Communications Cellular enforcement action to highlight practical compliance lessons, focusing on strengthening AML controls, managing third-party risk, and deploying proactive compliance measures amid renewed anti-corruption scrutiny. The episode concludes with a forward-looking discussion of emerging anti-corruption risks associated with advanced AI technologies, large AI construction projects, and related permitting activities, both in the United States and globally. Shah offers strategic recommendations for compliance professionals seeking to anticipate and manage these evolving risks. Key highlights: • 2025 as a Pivotal Year in FCPA Enforcement • The Blanche Memo and Corporate Enforcement Policy Revisions • Anti-Money Laundering and Third-Party Risk Management • Large AI Construction Projects and Permitting Risks • Global Anti-Corruption Laws and Compliance • Key Takeaways for 2026 Resources: Anik Shah on LinkedIn  Sandisk Innovation in Compliance was recently honored as the Number 4 podcast in Risk Management by 1,000,000 Podcasts.

Innovation occurs across many areas, and compliance professionals need not only to be ready for it but also to embrace it. Join Tom Fox, the Voice of Compliance, as he visits with top innovative minds, thinkers, and creators in the award-winning Innovation in Compliance podcast. In this episode, host Tom Fox welcomes Sheila Anderson, founder of Image Power Play, to discuss the significance of personal branding and its impact on professional success. With over 30 years of experience in corporate branding and image consulting, Sheila shares insights on how visibility and presence can enhance trust and credibility in the business world. The discussion covers why first impressions are essential business assets, the role of visual aesthetics in professional settings, and the strategic benefits of being the CEO of one’s personal brand. Sheila also emphasizes the importance of updating personal photos and continuously evolving one’s brand to ensure it aligns with personal and professional goals. The episode offers practical advice for both men and women in various professional environments, highlighting personal branding as a critical business strategy. Key highlights: The Importance of First Impressions Gender and Professional Presence The Dichotomy of In-Person vs. Online Presence The Impact of Casual Dress in Professional Settings Taking Ownership of Your Personal Brand Measuring Success in Personal Branding Sheila Anderson’s Book: ICU Resources: Sheila Anderson on LinkedIn Image Power Play website I.C.U. – The Comprehensive Guide to Breathing Life Back into Your Personal Brand on amazon.com  Innovation in Compliance was recently ranked 4th among Risk Management podcasts by 1,000,000 Podcasts.