Alumni Spotlight: Robert Anghel

Robert Anghel is Senior Director of Field Services at LG Electronics where he oversees a nationwide service operation with multiple strategic partnerships, focusing primarily on technician performance. Having spent over 18 years in customer service and operations leadership roles, he has extensive experience with driving efficiencies, improving customer satisfaction, and building models that scale.

How has your learning been applicable in your current role?

The program enabled me to gain the perspective I needed to articulate strategic elements and the direction for where we want to go, especially when it comes to understanding data capabilities, whether this data is in its purest form or cleaned up. Data lives in a lot of places at my company, and I think AI is really going to be important for the future by taking information from various sources and making it a single truth that's easy to access. We're only scratching the surface, but I do feel a bit more dangerous now in my ideas of what I'd like to see transform as our company continues to become more comfortable with AI.

What motivated you to pursue this program?

My biggest motivator was making sure I wouldn’t become obsolete and fall behind. I wanted to remain market competitive and attractive to my industry peers, especially since AI has now become part of everyday conversation. To me, it has become the defining disruptor for my generation. The traditional sense of how we once completed our work is going to undergo a rapid change, and I do believe in the sentiment that AI is not there to replace you, but to make you more productive. To that effect, however, if you don't have a good sense of how to apply AI, you're not going to see that increase in productivity, and you might find yourself doing things the old-fashioned, manual way without realizing there’s a much faster option.

What was your biggest personal or professional gain from taking this program?

One of my biggest gains was that the course gave me a strategic lens into AI discussions. This opened more doors for me and allowed me to cross-collaborate between different departments in places where I might not have had anything to offer. I’m able to share some of what I’ve learned from the program with others, focusing on how AI can be implemented into our space without being perceived as our replacement, but rather as a way to make our time more impactful. I see AI as more of a tool for productivity, not a threat. On a day-to-day basis, I constantly try to think of other opportunities to apply this technology, and the improvement in productivity continues to be one of the greatest ROIs of this AI journey.

What does the term “reinvent” mean to you?

I see reinvention as not waiting for disruption, but rather creating it on your own terms. For me, this program shifted my thinking from being purely operational to aiming to become more of a change agent, bridging traditional service leadership with next-generation technologies. I can’t predict what’s ahead, but I know there is still a lot more to learn. However, at the leadership level, I'm very happy trying to influence strategy and support those smarter than me as they help drive meaningful change. I also see a lot of opportunity for reinvention as I continue down this path, finding new talent still early in their careers and seeing how their knowledge can help strengthen our company.

What does the term “lifelong learning” mean to you?

Lifelong learning comes down to never assuming that you're done. You should want to stay relevant, humble, and hungry to improve. This is especially true when it comes to AI and the rate at which it’s evolving; staying curious is the only way to keep pace. Continued learning and reinvention are not just derived from traditional education, you also need to look within your network and what other on-the-job trainings you can facilitate for yourself. “Be the squeaky wheel” is a mantra that has helped me advance my career over the years. Don’t be complacent - take the reins in your own hands and look for opportunities. You have to be the champion of your own journey in life.

In looking back on your program experiences, what stands out to you?

What I found to be a very intriguing aspect of the program was the fact that the course material was taught by various industry experts with vast differences in their backgrounds, thought processes, and how they approached their lives and careers. This really resonated with me because there’s an extra element you get out of people who have real-world industry experience. Stories stick, but lessons can fade. The storytelling abilities the instructors had due to their lived experiences made me remember the material; purely academic lessons can be harder to retain. One thing that surprised me was my ability to retain more information than I thought. For example, although I’m not an expert on data lakes and warehouses, when I attended a conference soon after the program, I was able to understand the context of what a very smart person was speaking about on stage. I guarantee you if not for completing this course, I would have had no idea why she was talking about swimming in a lake full of data.

What advice would you give to fellow professionals or colleagues that might not have considered this type of program?

This program will give you some of the tools, the language, and the confidence you need in an age where AI is becoming more relevant - don't wait until your industry is forced to change, jump on the train now. I think this course could be very beneficial for someone responsible for strategy or business development who works around data or in an environment with a lot of information. It gives you the perspective to understand where to find opportunities you may not have previously considered. That benefits everyone, regardless of your background. Additionally, for people still very uncomfortable with AI, this course goes into topics such as marketing, sales, supply chain, and customer service, so you don’t have to be a data scientist to become part of whatever this future is.