“My organisations were already implementing AI in several areas of the business. However, this programme has really opened my eyes to new dimensions in terms of amplifying and accelerating the promise of AI and its potential benefits.
Sylvia Brasil Coutinho: Banking Leader with a Global Impact
Sylvia Brasil Coutinho has enjoyed a long and distinguished career in banking. Formerly CEO of UBS Brazil and Latin America —one of the world’s foremost multinational investment banks—she has amassed more than 25 years in senior leadership positions across diverse geographical locations with Citibank and HSBC. A seasoned leader and driven by curiosity and a desire to nurture positive impact, Sylvia currently sits on the boards of Edenred, a French CAC 40 company, and Cosan, one of Brazil's largest listed conglomerates and one of the largest producers of biofuels. She also has advisory roles with a slew of non-profits, among them, WRI Brazil, Ayrton Senna Institute and the Brazilian Coalition on Climate, Forest and Agriculture. She is also part of the Young Presidents’ Organisation (YPO). It is the same energy, curiosity and drive for positive impact that brought her to INSEAD in 2024. And specifically, to the INSEAD Artificial Intelligence for Business programme.
Why a Top Banking Executive Turned to AI and Executive Education at INSEAD
Keen to understand how AI is poised to reshape leadership and strategy in an era of unstoppable transformation and innovation, Sylvia wanted a non-technical programme: a learning journey expertly calibrated to “demystifying” the underlying technologies and applications, while equipping leaders with the insights and frameworks to future-proof organisations and brace them to lead in digital world. INSEAD, she says, was a natural choice.
“Even as I started what was a fairly comprehensive search for the kinds of AI courses that I would find interesting and relevant, INSEAD was an immediate thought to be honest. I also have a friend on faculty, who mentioned the Artificial Intelligence for Business programme. Reading about it and digging a little deeper, I realised that it felt like a perfect fit to my needs.”
Going into the learning experience, Sylvia had high expectations. Nonetheless, she was instantly impressed by the calibre of the INSEAD professors; that, and the structure of the programme itself.
“Sincerely, it’s hugely impactful to be in proximity to faculty of this quality who are also just great teachers. And something I particularly enjoyed was the way that the programme was put together, such that each of our three professors were able to guide us through the different and critical aspects and dimensions of AI: its applications for business and the ramifications. We really had the chance to look under the hood and tweak with models.”
Every element of the curriculum was not only “interesting,” she says, but “highly relevant” to her personal needs and the needs of the organisations that she advises. And while the faculty led the learning from the front, the chance to interact with a broad diversity of peers from around the globe also helped bring new concepts and applications to life in ways that were eye-opening.
“It was nothing short of a privilege to spend this immersive week with our fantastic INSEAD professors. The learning was intense: we were together and in it for the duration, with faculty interacting with us all the time—during class time and in our working breaks. The support was continuous. And in class it was great to be able to interact with such a breadth and diversity of interesting professionals from all over the world. The exchanges were full of dynamism.”
How INSEAD Transformed Her Understanding of Artificial Intelligence
The learning and insights that Sylvia gained during the programme have transformed her understanding of AI, she says. While her organisations are by no means strangers to AI technology, the programme has given her access to new ideas around integration: knowledge that she is confident she can bring to bear on organisational performance and future resilience.
“My organisations were already implementing AI in several areas of the business. However, doing this programme has really opened my eyes to new dimensions in terms of amplifying and really accelerating the promise of AI and its potential benefits. Going into the programme, I had a strong sense that AI represents a revolution for business and in all dimensions of life. Coming out of this learning experience, I am now absolutely convinced of its transformational power. The other difference is that now, I have a much broader understanding and sense of where it can go and how far.”
AI technologies have extraordinary potential for the financial industry says Sylvia. They constitute a sea of change in what organisations can do and what they can offer the client bases they serve. This is a sector that is poised to benefit exponentially, from operational to advisory to client interface. AI has the power to generate unprecedented efficiencies, enhance customer experience, create new value and improve risk management. Taking the Artificial Intelligence for Business programme has given real depth to her personal understanding of how these benefits might play out in concrete terms within her own organisations, but that’s not all. The learning experience itself has fuelled her curiosity and ignited a desire to explore and discover more.
The INSEAD Experience: Lifelong Learning and Leadership Development
“If you want to understand the power of AI for your organisation or industry, or even to yourself, the Artificial Intelligence for Business programme is just a great option. But it’s more than that. You also have the opportunity to spend a week in Fontainebleau which is one of the most beautiful and bucolic cities in France, and you get to experience INSEAD and all that it offers. I have been able to see some of the other fascinating and relevant programmes that INSEAD offers—some of which I will be taking a little further down the line!”
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