Speakers

Pete Petrocelli is Vice President & Head of Technology & AI at Ashley Northeast. He leads a Technology & AI Center of Excellence that spans five core pillars: IT infrastructure & operations; data engineering & cloud architecture; machine learning & data science; business intelligence & analytics and full-stack development of AI-integrated enterprise applications. Under his leadership, Ashley Northeast has executed an end-to-end modernization of platforms and ways of working—stood up a modern data infrastructure, re-platformed customer care, deployed a multitude of generative AI tools under security-first governance.  These technology solutions have been integrated into daily workflows across sales, human capital, finance, supply chain, store operations, guest experience and all other departments within the organization.
Pete’s remit is intentionally enterprise-wide: centralizing SaaS and third-party tooling under unified governance; raising the security bar across identity, data, and endpoint; and coaching product, data, and engineering squads to deliver measurable P&L outcomes. He is known for turning AI from pilots into production—insisting on clean, flexible data; simple, secure architectures; and adoption playbooks that frontline teams can actually use. Results include faster decision cycles, higher service levels, and lower cost-to-serve—while protecting the brand through disciplined AI risk management.

Before Ashley Northeast, Pete spent two decades in the T-Mobile ecosystem, culminating in an EVP role overseeing all non-sales functions. At Arch Telecom, one of T-Mobile’s largest partners, he held a Vice President post—responsible for all systems, technology & analytics—giving him an uncommon 360° view of the intersection between digital, store support, and field execution. That multi-domain background shows up in his current work: he is as comfortable being the architect for technology solutions throughout the enterprise.
A practitioner and operator first, Pete speaks and writes about scaling AI responsibly in complex enterprises—how to align AI roadmaps to business strategy; what “good” looks like in modern data platforms; how to harden LLM-enabled workflows; and how to drive change with line-of-business leaders. His leadership philosophy is purpose-led and people-first, grounded in principles often summarized as Extreme Ownership—clarify the mission, keep plans simple, prioritize and execute, and empower decentralized teams—paired with a relentless focus on guest experience and operational excellence.

Pete champions inclusive innovation and ethical AI, aligning technology choices to organizational mission, values, and community impact. At Ashley Northeast—known for its “Humble, Radical, Relentless, Passionate” culture—he partners closely with executives and departmental leaders to ensure that technology multiplies business performance and human potential.
Earlier in his career, Pete built and led high-performing engineering, data, and operations teams across retail and telecom, with a reputation for being a collaborative leader, mentor, and strategic partner. Whether implementing generative AI tools, voice AI for IT support, standing up an enterprise data platform, or planning scalable national multi-market technology organizations, he brings clarity, energy, and purpose to every engagement.

Focus areas: Retail technology modernization, enterprise AI adoption, modern data platform strategy, GenAI safety, AI-enhanced CX, store sales & operations digitization, and security-by-design governance.