AI, Growth, and Operations Without Losing the Human Touch

In this episode of the Future Proof HR podcast, Jim Kanichariyil sits down with Andrew Kissinger, CFO and people leader at Clark Logic, to talk about how a 50-year-old organization is using AI to support people-centered growth. Andrew shares how Clark Logic has grown from roughly 70 people to about 230, while expanding across warehousing, logistics, real estate, and acquisitions.

The conversation centers on a practical tension many HR and business leaders will recognize: growth creates more people needs, more questions, more documentation, and more operational strain, but adding headcount to every bottleneck is not always realistic. Andrew explains how he thinks about AI through both a finance lens and an HR lens, especially when the goal is to scale without burning out a lean team.

This episode offers a grounded look at what AI adoption can look like outside of major tech hubs. Instead of framing AI as a replacement strategy, Andrew describes it as a way to protect capacity, support growth, and help people do better work as the organization scales.

Topics Discussed:

• Why a CFO with people responsibility sees HR and finance as connected functions

• How Clark Logic grew from roughly 70 employees to about 230 while managing acquisitions

• What breaks when acquisition-driven growth outpaces HR documentation and onboarding systems

• Why manual paperwork, job applications, and HRIS data entry exposed the need for better processes

• How Andrew evaluates burnout, overtime, and turnover risk as part of the AI business case

• What AI adoption looks like in Central Michigan, where local AI talent can be limited

• How executive vision from Jamie Clark helped create momentum for AI adoption

• Why Clark Logic is looking at AI to scale toward a $100 million business without simply doubling support headcount

• How AI cameras could support warehouse inventory tracking and reduce manual cycle counts

• How AI-enabled safety coaching could help one safety director support a growing driver population

• Why vendor conversations should start with existing tools before buying new AI software

• How leaders can bring employees into the AI conversation so they do not view it only as job replacement

If you are an HR, People Ops, finance, or operations leader trying to scale a lean team without burning people out, this episode offers a practical example of how to evaluate AI through people, cost, capacity, and growth at the same time.

Additional Resources:

• Cleary's AI-powered HR Chatbot

• Future Proof HR Community

• Connect with Andrew Kissinger on LinkedIn