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Todd Thomas

Founder and CEO of Woodchuck.ai, a climate-tech startup using AI to transform construction wood waste into renewable energy. 4x bestselling author and TV host.

Jul 17, 2026

43:31
Can, are there any examples of jobs that you see, if you can tell a college, uh, a colle- a kid heading to college right now, "Here, here's a field you ought to get into because, uh, AI's gonna blow this up"?
43:46
AI's gonna be in every industry.
43:48
Uh, you know, decades ago when I came out of college, the, the big thing, everybody had to be good at spreadsheets, right? You need to be able to create a spreadsheet and, and plug in formulas and, and, and analyze things, right? Today, I think those table stakes are AI, and I would say specifically agentic AI.
44:04
Every kid coming out, whatever industry they're going into, doesn't matter, learn agentic AI, make it part of your tool set, and it will help you in whatever field you wanna go into.
44:15
Um, so I was talking yesterday with a guy named Austin Park.
44:18
He's a very admittedly blue collar guy.
44:21
His business is installing signage, uh, and signage on buildings, uh, wraps on cars.
46:34
They aren't getting their arms around AI.
5:56
if.
5:57
And I really love that approach, and I think every community should take that on.
6:01
Our knee-jerk reaction shouldn't be no, because a data center done well should bring net benefit to your community.
6:08
But communities are right.
6:09
If they aren't done well, there can be negative impacts.
6:12
And there's a couple of important topics, important questions that communities should ask.
6:17
So communities should go to the developer of the data center, and they should have an open, transparent discussion.

9 MINS LATER

15:32
My question is like, what role has the storytelling helped you in creating awareness or attracting partners, building your business? How does that, how does that help your overall
10:18
So how did you find yourself in a position where you saw Woodchuck as a viable company?
10:27
So y-you're right.
10:28
I've worked in a number of different industries, including construction, but also manufacturing, automotive, sustainability.
10:35
But again, the, the common thread was always emerging technologies, and the last several companies have been AI platforms.
10:42
And so the, the origin of Woodchuck really comes back to NorthStar Clean Energy.
10:47
So NorthStar Clean Energy is the renewable energy side of the public utility for the state of Michigan.
10:54
So a lot of people in Michigan buy their power from Consumers Energy.

11 MINS LATER

22:12
Is there other areas that architects can be adding greater value? G- we don't usually get this deep outside of maybe what our specifications can say on waste diversion when it comes to our buildings.

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