History Factory’s 2025 Business History Innovation Exchange brought together leading archivists, brand strategists, marketers, and communications professionals for a full day of energizing conversations about the strategic power of heritage in today’s business environment.
This year’s event, held Oct. 7–8 at our Archives & Digitization Lab, focused on the evolving intersection of archives, AI, corporate storytelling, and brand strategy with a clear message: Organizations that invest in their pasts are better positioned to lead in the future.
2025 Business History Innovation Exchange Key Themes and Takeaways
1. AI + Archives: The Next Frontier of Enterprise Intelligence
History Factory’s Senior Director of Archives, Chris Juhasz, began the morning with a powerful look at how artificial intelligence is reshaping the way companies surface and use historical assets. By streamlining content discovery, identifying unseen trends, and more, AI is helping turn static archives into dynamic sources of enterprise intelligence.
Key Insight: Archives can be engines for critical data sourcing to fill substantial gaps in the development and training of AI models—in particular, internal proprietary LLMs.
2. Case Study: Southwest Airlines’ Strategic Archives Transformation
Southwest Airlines’ Senior Manager of Culture & Archive Sam Leyendecker shared how the airline digitized and structured more than 50 years of institutional memory to drive brand marketing, onboarding, and culture building.
Key Insight: Cross-functional collaboration between archives, marketing, and HR is what turns heritage into a strategic asset.
3. Booz Allen Hamilton: Activating Heritage in an Off-Milestone Year
Booz Allen’s Senior Communications & Change Strategist Cheryl Anderson detailed how the company leveraged its legacy to connect a new generation of employees—more than 30% of whom joined in the past five years—with its storied role in technological innovation.
Key Insight: You don’t need a major anniversary to leverage your history. You just need a meaningful message, leadership investment, and a clear audience.
4. IBM on Heritage as Brand Strategy
IBM’s Senior Corporate Archivist Jamie Martin spoke virtually about how archives support long-term brand strategy. The session emphasized how archival content informs campaigns, shapes messaging, and ensures continuity through leadership transitions and changing markets.
5. Bridging the Heritage Gap
Our final session of the Business History Innovation Exchange, which Certus Insights President Andrew Rugg and History Factory Senior Director of Marketing and Communications Adrian Gianforti co-led, explored new data on the disconnect between what companies have in terms of brand heritage and what their audiences experience.
Key Insight: Closing the “heritage gap” requires making heritage accessible, authentic, and emotionally resonant—especially for Gen Z and millennial audiences.
What Participants Said in the Room
While we’re still reviewing feedback, early survey responses indicate that attendees particularly appreciated the event’s practicality, cross-functional focus, and honest conversations about internal buy-in and business value. They cited the roundtable sessions as particularly valuable, especially discussions about:
- Proving ROI and “return on emotion” in heritage activations
- Collaborating across archives and marketing teams
- Getting executive support for long-term investment in archival infrastructure
- Preparing for anniversaries that do more than just look back
Why This Matters Now
In an era when authenticity, cultural continuity, and data-driven storytelling are essential for enterprise success, heritage is emerging as a critical business driver. Whether they are navigating rebrands, M&As, or leadership transitions, or simply want to deepen stakeholder trust, companies are realizing that history is not just what got them here—it is also what can set them apart moving forward. This shift reflects the broader future of archives, where history plays an active role in strategy, culture, and innovation.
For Organizations Looking Ahead
If you’re considering how to build a business case to build or expand your archives, activate your history in preparation for a milestone, or use heritage to reinforce culture or differentiate your brand, the insights from the 2025 Business History Innovation Exchange make one thing clear: Heritage is strategy. And the organizations that embrace it—intelligently, collaboratively and creatively—will lead the way.
Interested in joining the Business History Innovation Exchange community?
Contact us to join the heritage conversation.