Talent Development Leader Lunch and Learn at ATD26

From AI Adoption to AI Advantage: Building the Foundation for Talent Development That Thrives on Ambiguity, Scale, and Speed

The future of work isn’t waiting. Is your talent infrastructure ready?

Every L&D function is adopting AI tools. But adoption isn’t an advantage. The organizations pulling ahead aren’t the ones with the most AI—they’re the ones building the intelligence foundation that makes the benefits of AI actually compound.

Here’s the gap: Your business is moving faster, your workforce is distributed across roles that didn’t exist three years ago, and leadership expects you to predict capability gaps before they hurt performance. Meanwhile, your systems are fragmented, your AI tools treat everyone the same, and nothing gets smarter over time.

The future demands talent operations that scale without breaking, adapt without rebuilding, and deliver insight without lag.

This session shows you how to build that foundation—not through yet another SAAS tool, but through the data that you already own that makes every tool work harder.

What you’ll leave with:

• A framework for building talent infrastructure that compounds—not just operates
• Hands-on experience designing the intelligence layer your AI stack is missing
• Real proof points from organizations that broke the linear cost curve and built strategic moats
• Connections with senior L&D peers building for the same future

Panelists

Nolan Hout – SVP of Growth at Infopro Learning Inc | AI-Strategist | L&D Speaker and Podcast Host | Forbes Council Member

As Senior Vice President of Growth and AI Strategist at Infopro Learning, Nolan Hout has more than a decade of experience in the L&D industry, helping global organizations unlock the potential of their workforce. Nolan specializes in identifying practical applications of AI for learning and development, working with enterprise teams to move AI from pilot to real impact. He is results-driven, investing most of his time in identifying and improving the performance of learning programs through the lens of return on investment. Nolan is passionate about networking with people in the learning and training community and grows this network through a popular podcast called The Talent Equation Podcast, where he interviews executives on topics related to talent development, AI, and the future of work. On a personal note, Nolan is an avid outdoorsman and fly fisherman, spending most of his free time on rivers across the Pacific Northwest.

Blaine McLaren – Enterprise Learning Transformation Leader | Managed Learning Services | Workforce Strategy | Advisor to CLOs on Enterprise Capability Transformation

Blaine McLaren is an enterprise learning transformation leader who partners with CLOs and senior business leaders to modernize how large organizations build workforce capability at scale. His work sits at the intersection of workforce strategy, learning operating model design, and managed learning services, helping complex global organizations align learning investment directly with business outcomes.

Blaine has led enterprise transformation initiatives for organizations navigating growth, digital change, and evolving workforce demands. He designs scalable learning ecosystems that combine digital, instructor-led, and experiential modalities, and collaborates across learning, HR, and business leadership teams to build capability development strategies that drive measurable performance and long-term organizational impact.

This Lunch & Learn will take place in Room 511BC of the Los Angeles Convention Center.

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Host or Publisher The Association for Talent Development