Michael Schmier
COO & President of Candova
Michael has spent roughly three decades leading operations and product across consumer, enterprise, and education. He helped pioneer the virtual reality market at Samsung, led the content business at BabyCenter, and held leadership roles at startups in data analytics and sports technology. The through-line is execution: taking a strategy and making a whole organization run on it.
He joined Study.com as Chief Product Officer and now serves as President and COO of Candova, where he drives company-wide execution and oversees the AI initiatives. That means he leads AI transformation and organizational change from the front lines, not the whiteboard: deciding what to roll out, sequencing it across teams, and getting people to actually change how they work. He has also served 18 years on the board of GreatSchools.org.
He writes here about the operational side of AI: how adoption actually happens across an organization, what a Head of AI really does, how to run an enterprise rollout that sticks, and why most transformations stall at the desk rather than in the strategy deck.
Latest from Michael
Write your company's AI manifesto (with a template)
An AI manifesto is a short, public statement of how your company will and won't use AI. It sets the principles; your policy operationalizes them. Here's a six-part template.
June 21, 2026 · 6 min read
AI toolsIs AI deep research worth it for your team?
AI deep research can do hours of reading in minutes, or hand you a confident, wrong report. Here's when it's worth the wait and how to verify what it returns.
June 20, 2026 · 5 min read
AI toolsGPT-5 for your team: what's new and how to use it
GPT-5's router, fast and thinking modes, and far longer context changed what your team can do. But the adoption data shows the gap between heavy and average users is skill, not the model.
June 19, 2026 · 5 min read
AI toolsAI agent vs workflow: which one does your task need?
An AI agent decides its own path; a workflow runs fixed steps. Here's when to use each, with a comparison table and one simple rule for picking.
June 18, 2026 · 5 min read
AI transformationWhy your team isn't using AI every day, and how to fix it
Occasional AI use pays back almost nothing. The return is concentrated in habitual users, so the real goal is daily use, reached through real-work wins, not a usage mandate.
June 17, 2026 · 5 min read
AI toolsWhy your AI automation keeps failing, and what makes it stick
Most AI automation stalls between the demo and daily use. The fix is rarely a better model. It's an owner who can scope it, supervise it, and trust it.
June 16, 2026 · 5 min read
Leading AI adoptionHead of AI first 90 days, minus the strategy deck
Newly handed the AI mandate? Skip the strategy deck and the usage dashboard. The first 90 days as Head of AI are for winning decision rights, shipping one real workflow, and leveling up the team.
June 15, 2026 · 6 min read
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