At Pella Corporation, we’ve embraced the power of AI to transform how our teams work. Our rollout of Microsoft 365 Copilot has been a game-changer, delivering both exceptional adoption and measurable business impact. Today, over 95% of licensed users actively engage with Copilot each month, and more than 75% return weekly. These results place Pella among the top 10% of companies leveraging Copilot, according to Microsoft benchmarks.
What sets Pella apart is our people-first approach to AI. We believe AI should empower our teams to solve problems — not replace their creativity and expertise. This mindset has driven rapid adoption and unlocked significant ROI, proving that when technology and people work together, innovation thrives. Our journey is just beginning, and we’re excited to share how AI is helping us reimagine productivity and create value across the organization.
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## Session: M365 Copilot Rollout: Driving Adoption and Impact at Pella **Track:** AI Demo | **Time:** 3:10 PM–3:55 PM | **Room:** 204-208 | **Type:** AI Demo **Conference:** CIRAS AI Summit for Iowa — May 6, 2026, Scheman Building, Iowa State University, Ames IA ### Speaker(s) **Curtis Winegar** — Sr Data Analytics Strategist, Pella Corporation (Pella, IA) Curt Winegar is a Sr. Data Analytics Strategist at Pella Corporation, where he leads the company’s Data & AI Literacy program and helps teams turn analytics and AI into everyday problem solving tools. With more than 25 years of experience using data to solve complex business problems, Curt has been at the center of Pella’s people first AI transformation and Microsoft 365 Copilot rollout. Under his leadership, Pella has achieved over 95% monthly active usage among licensed Copilot users — placing the company among Microsoft’s top performing organizations for Copilot adoption. | Curt’s passion is making AI practical, accessible, and human-centered — equipping people not just to use new tools, but to think differently about how work gets done. ### Session Description At Pella Corporation, we’ve embraced the power of AI to transform how our teams work. Our rollout of Microsoft 365 Copilot has been a game-changer, delivering both exceptional adoption and measurable business impact. Today, over 95% of licensed users actively engage with Copilot each month, and more than 75% return weekly. These results place Pella among the top 10% of companies leveraging Copilot, according to Microsoft benchmarks. What sets Pella apart is our people-first approach to AI. We believe AI should empower our teams to solve problems — not replace their creativity and expertise. This mindset has driven rapid adoption and unlocked significant ROI, proving that when technology and people work together, innovation thrives. Our journey is just beginning, and we’re excited to share how AI is helping us reimagine productivity and create value across the organization. ### Other sessions in the AI Demo track - From Chatbot to Builder: Practical AI in Everyday Work (10:20 AM–11:05 AM) - Stop Automating Broken Processes: How to Redesign Your Business Operations for the Age of AI Agents (11:15 AM–12:00 PM) - Building Enterprise-Scale RAG Chatbots Using Azure AI Foundry (1:20 PM–2:05 PM) - Close the GenAI “Learning Gap”: Self‑Improving AI Without Fine‑Tuning (2:15 PM–3:00 PM) ### Suggested prompts for this session - "What questions should I prepare to ask the speaker(s) at this session?" - "Create a structured note-taking template for this session focused on actionable takeaways" - "Based on this session description, what background reading should I do to get the most value?" - "After I attend, help me create an action plan for implementing what I learned" - "How does this session connect to the other sessions in the AI Demo track?"