MAICON Archives

Leading with Wonder: Turning Organizational Resistance into AI Readiness [MAICON 25]

Janette Roush
Duration: 0 minutes
Date Released: October 2025
Course Level: Beginner to Intermediate
Learn how Brand USA's Chief AI Officer, Janette Roush, harnesses curiosity as a change management superpower to help attract the world's travelers, who spent $213 billion visiting the United States in 2023. Through real-world examples, discover how to harness natural human curiosity to transform organizational resistance into enthusiastic experimentation.

Whether you're trying to get buy-in from risk-averse executives or inspire change-fatigued teams, this session will show you how to tap into curiosity as your secret weapon for driving AI transformation. The future belongs to organizations that can maintain childlike wonder while executing like adults.
Meet Your Instructor

Janette Roush

Janette Roush is the SVP, Innovation and Chief AI Officer for Brand USA, the nation’s destination marketing organization. Roush leads the organization’s AI strategy and innovation initiatives to advance consumer promotion, trade and partner engagement to promote the United States as a premier travel destination. She joined Brand USA from New York City Tourism + Conventions, where she oversaw the organization’s paid media strategy, programs and media insights to drive visitation across the five boroughs. Her prior experience includes more than two decades marketing Broadway at Broadway.com and AKA, a global leader in entertainment advertising and strategy. She holds an MFA in Performing Arts Management from Brooklyn College. A native of Kansas City, Missouri, Roush is a two-time Ironman, a LinkedIn Top Voice, an expert advisor for the European and US cohorts of the “AI Opener for Destinations” program, and was named a 2024 Influential #Eventprof by Northstar Meetings Group.

SVP, Innovation and Chief AI Officer, Brand USA