Introducing the Fast Company Pacesetters

Fast Company and Tata Consultancy Services launched the inaugural Pacesetters program, recognizing 40 executives who use AI to transform customer experiences. Honorees include AWS's Ruba Borno, who added agents to AWS Marketplace for navigating 30,000 software solutions; Yum Brands' Cameron Davies, who built Byte by Yum for KFC and Pizza Hut operations; and Virgin Atlantic's Neil Letchford, who deployed a multi-agent concierge for travel bookings. Amit Bajaj, president of TCS North America, said the honorees exemplify leading with purpose and building for what comes next.

Not long ago, using AI https://www.fastcompany.com/section/artificial-intelligence to optimize customer experience meant a chatbot, often a frustratingly limited one. Now, just a couple years later, it means a steady and constantly evolving conversation between companies and the humans they serve—one where AI agents anticipate needs, fix problems, and make decisions at blazing speed. If you have customers, this shift is affecting you. Enter Fast Company’s Pacesetters program, a new recognition program presented by Tata Consultancy Services. The Pacesetters program aims to track and celebrate a rich new vein of innovation in the AI age: the intersection of technology and the customer journey. Here’s how we selected the winners https://www.fastcompany.com/91598294/methodology-pacesetters-2026 . “Progress happens when vision is matched with execution, and the executives honored this year exemplify what it means to lead with purpose and build for what comes next,” says Amit Bajaj, president of TCS North America. At AWS, for example, Ruba Borno helped reinvent the AWS Marketplace with agents that help cloud customers choose from the 30,000 software solutions on offer. At Yum Brands, Cameron Davies’s team built a tool called Byte by Yum to support KFCs and Pizza Huts with mobile app ordering, delivery optimization, menu management, and more. And at Virgin Atlantic, Neil Letchford’s team deployed a multi-agent conversational “concierge” to sand the edges off the stress of complex travel bookings. These are just a handful of the honorees who make up this inaugural class of 40 Pacesetters. Together, they show the meaningful, measurable impact of AI in the everyday moments when customers decide whether a company is truly working for them.