Workday Rising: Celebrating the Community

Focusing on inspiration, day three of Workday Rising at San Francisco's Moscone Center celebrated the Workday community and shined a spotlight on several customers.

Key moments from the Community Keynote included a conversation between Workday CEO Carl Eschenbach and Cisco's Fran Katsoudas about building a human-centric future with AI. The keynote also featured Sheri Rhodes, chief customer officer at Workday, and Christina Hall of Instacart, who highlighted a custom app-built on Workday Extend-that streamlined her company's performance review process.

Eschenbach and Executive Chair and Co-founder Aneel Bhusri also honored Jane Moran with the Lifetime Customer Achievement Award. They selected Moran because of her long-standing commitment to the Workday platform across three different companies, using it as a catalyst for continuous innovation and growth.

The celebration continued outside the Moscone Center on Rising Plaza, a transformed area of San Francisco's Howard Street designed to be a central hub of connection for the community. The plaza featured an homage to Jack's Diner, where Workday was founded 20 years ago, and the Illumination Station, which showcased Workday's sustainability initiatives.

Watch the video to learn more. The edited transcript is below:

Amir Khostavan: From the broadcast studio in San Francisco's Moscone Center, it is the Wednesday edition of Workday Rising Daily. Cari, we made it. My name is Amir Khostavan.

Cari Gushiken: And I'm Cari Gushiken. From keynotes to conversations, it's been a full day here at Rising. Here's what we've got for you today. We'll catch you up on all the inspiring customer stories featured in the Community Keynote.

Khostavan: We'll relive a big moment during the Lifetime Achievement Award.

Gushiken: Experience the magic of Rising Plaza.

Khostavan: And discover how Rising is fulfilling its promise of sustainability. If day two of Rising was all about innovation, day three brought inspiration.

Gushiken: Totally. The main stage put our customers and partners in the spotlight and the impact they're making was the perfect way to close out an unforgettable week.

Khostavan: Yeah, the day kicked things off with the Community Keynote packed with powerful conversations. Workday CEO Carl Eschenbach sat down with Fran Katsoudas of Cisco to discuss how to build a human-centered future of work where AI amplifies people. And then we got to see the power of Workday Build in action when Sheri Rhodes, our chief customer officer, spoke with Christina Hall at Instacart about the custom app that they created on Workday Extend.

Sheri Rhodes: You heard our message yesterday, which is AI-powered, human-centric, and forever forward. But how do you think about that in terms of creating processes using Extend, because I know you're, like I mentioned, you're a big Extend customer. How has that shown up?

Christina Hall: Extend has been really great for us when we think about our performance review process overall. Before Extend, when we did calibrations and then made final decisions about people's ratings and promotions, we had this mix of tools. And it was a pretty messy mishmash. We had Lattice, we had Workday, we also had Google Sheets, and we were always toggling between those things to get the information in the right place. And of course, that ends up creating a lot of lag. So a lot of times, there'd be a calibration, and it could be up to five days before the results of that showed up in the documents where we're making final decisions, which isn't a great experience for managers. And of course a lot of extra work for HR. So Extend really provided the customization that allowed us to have a single source of truth for all that.

Rhodes: I love that.

Gushiken: And those stories of scale were really incredible, like hearing from Deloitte and the leaders of the LA '28 Olympic Games about what it takes to prepare for the world's biggest event.

Khostavan: And then we got to celebrate the best of our community with the customer awards and honor Jane Moran with the lifetime customer achievement award. Let's go take a look back at that very special moment.

Aneel Bhusri: As we celebrate our 20th birthday this year, it's a perfect way to kick off one of my favorite moments of Rising, our Workday Lifetime Customer Achievement Award. The award honors individuals who have demonstrated a long-term commitment to innovating with the Workday platform and have played an integral role in driving our entire community forward. This year's winner has been a friend for many years, is a true IT leader and visionary, and was the first woman to top Computer Weekly's ranking of the 100 most influential people in technology.

What truly sets her apart is her commitment to leveraging technology to drive real-world impact. With over 30 years of experience in leading IT transformation, she's been a three-time workday customer in three completely different industries. First as global CIO at Thomson Reuters in 2010, then as global CIO at Unilever in 2014, and now as chief information officer and digital officer at Mass General Brigham. In each instance, she personally led the change to select and implement Workday, not just as a replacement for legacy systems, but as a catalyst for continuous innovation and growth. It gives me great honor to present Jane Moran with this year's Workday Lifetime Achievement Award.

Khostavan: And that spirit of community and celebration, it wasn't just contained to the Keynote Hall, Cari. The experience outside of Moscone on Howard Street that was closed down just for Rising has been a huge part of the magic this year. Cari, we absolutely took it over.

Gushiken: We did, and I love that place. The area was transformed into Rising Plaza, designed to be a central place for connecting communities. That's right. Our Workmates Dana Booth and

Eugene Bordegaray took a tour to show us around.

Dana Booth: Welcome to the heart of Workday Rising. So excited to be back in San Francisco, not just for any year. For our 20th birthday.

Eugene Bordegaray: Totally agree. Just think, 20 years ago, Workday was just an idea. It's wild. Now, check out this community, this plaza. What a place to celebrate.

Booth: We have taken over and transformed Howard Street right where we're standing and turned it into Rizing Plaza. It's a living celebration of two decades of community.

Bordegaray: It's so impressive. It's so exciting. How about we show our viewers what's happening here at Rising this year?

Booth: Yes, let's give them a front row seat. Do wanna come with us? Let's do it. Come on.

Our Workday story has some very humble and very tech startup beginnings. Gene, we are sitting in the diner, our ode to Jack's Diner.

Bordegaray: It's incredible to think 20 years ago, Dave and Aneel were at a booth just like this, sketching out the future of enterprise software on a napkin just like this. Speaking of big symbols, big connections, would you like to head over to the Illumination tour bus and see what that's about?

Booth: Heck yes, that thing is iconic.

Bordegaray: And of course, the bus features our rock stars of business.

Billy Idol: Somebody say Rockstars!

Bordegaray: You just couldn't get enough of it, huh Billy? You bet.

Idol: Get back to it pal, who knew flex credits could be so rock and roll?

Bordegaray: Dana, you're not going to believe who I just saw at the bus. Billy Idol.

Booth: Who did you run into? Billy Idol. I leave you alone for two minutes. Two minutes. And you run into Billy Idol on the bus. That is the magic that you find out here on Rising Plaza.

Bordegaray: Check out the Illumination Station. It's pretty special. This is our giant solar-powered charging station. Yeah. I think that this will charge up to 2,600 watts. It will charge 70 devices at one time.

Booth: Speaking of connection, we are also standing right in front of Google Cloud, our partner. Nothing brings people together more than food.

Bordegaray: Shall we head off to our next stop?

Booth: Let's keep this tour going. There is a lot more to see. This is our keynote overflow viewing area. It's stadium-style seating for thousands.

Bordegaray: Well, Dana, every member of the Workday community is welcome here at the club. Do a little lounging in the Snowflake lounge. You've done an incredible job here. You know how to throw a party.

Booth: Thank you, Gene. This is the ultimate block party.

Bordegaray: Dana! It's true. Connection, celebration, and 20 more years of Workday Rising. Thank you, everyone, for taking this journey with us across the plaza and...

Bordegaray and Booth: Happy 20th Workday!

Khostavan: You know Cari? I love doing this with you. I love doing this broadcast with you.

Gushiken: Yes.

Khostavan: But I have to be honest, that segment just gave me major FOMO. Dana and Gene looked like they had so much fun. I only got to experience it for a tiny bit, but it looked incredible. What a great look at that space. And it really does capture the festival-like atmosphere that Rising has had this entire week.

Gushiken: It does. And what makes it even better is how it reflects our values, especially our commitment to building a more sustainable future.

Khostavan: Exactly, and that's where Illumination Station comes in. A space here at Rising that showcases our sustainability initiatives. Nathan Allen has more.

Nathan Allen: Welcome back to Workday Rising. I'm coming to you live from the Rising Plaza on the iconic Howard Street underneath a roof of solar panels in the Illumination Station. I'm here with Missy Castro, who leads our immersive and sustainability efforts to showcase Workday's deep commitment to sustainability. You know, we're making real changes to shrink our footprint, from the big initiatives to the little details that really add up. Every step we take is about reducing our impact today and building a more sustainable future for tomorrow. Missy, thank you so much for being with us today.

Missy Castro: Thank you, Nathan. I'm happy to be here.

Allen: We've got so many incredible sustainability initiatives happening here at Workday Rising. Can you walk us through these activities and how they tie into our goal of building a greener future.

Castro: Absolutely. I think one big thing that we do is post-show donations. We make a really cognizant effort to either donate things to repurpose or reuse things and just make sure things don't go to landfill. We have over 200 different partners that are here and we have them sign a sustainability pledge. 94% of those partners sign that pledge to ensure that they're making their best impact. We also take all of the fabric that you see around Rising last year, 40,000 square feet. That's a football field. We create products that we sell in the workday stores. So again, just showing our attendees how we repurpose and reuse our things year over year.

Allen: That's incredible. I know a big part of sustainability is getting everyone involved, just like you said, so how are we inviting attendees to take part in these activations and make their own impact while they're here?

Castro: One of the big things that we're doing for digital attendees and in-person attendees is we have Fill It Forward, where every time you refill your water bottle, we scan a QR code and Workday gives a dollar to the California Marine Sanctuary Foundation, which is pretty easy. You stay hydrated and you do that too. We also have sustainability tours. We have give-back programs. And then we really try to look at the fact that sustainability is more about going green. It's about your wellness. It's about accessibility. It's about social impact. So really just making sure that we sustain on the planet as long as we can.

Allen: If you could sum up the spirit of our sustainability efforts at Workday Rising, what would you say?

Castro: You know, our sustainability efforts is really about leading by example and inviting our community to join us. At its core, it's really human. It's about focusing on our people and our planet. And you know, we really just want our attendees to come, learn about our products, focus on their well-being, and know that their presence here is illuminating a brighter future for all.

Allen: That is awesome. Missy, thank you so much for joining us here today. And thank you to everyone for tuning in.

Gushiken: Isn't it great to see that commitment just sort of woven into the fabric of the event? Thank you to Nathan and Missy for that look.

Khostavan: And Cari, unfortunately, that brings us to the end of our live coverage of Workday Rising 2025. It has gone by in a blink of an eye. These three days have gone by so quick. What a week of innovation and community. But listen, just because our broadcast is wrapping up, that does not mean that the fun has to end for you.

Gushiken: That's exactly right. Keep the learning going by diving into the hundreds of sessions available on demand in the Rising digital experience so you can rewatch your favorites or catch up on anything you missed.

Khostavan: And if you've been following us digitally, we hope you'll really consider joining us in person next year at the Venetian in Las Vegas. We've created enough FOMO. It's time for you to join us in person for Workday Rising next year in Vegas.

Gushiken: We can't wait to see you there. Thank you for joining us.

Khostavan: Take care everyone.