As the director of corporate responsibility at autonomous vehicle startup Argo AI LLC, Jen DeBrincat is responsible for overseeing the company’s efforts relating to community engagement, environmental sustainability, philanthropy, volunteerism and workforce development. It’s a post she’s held for the past two months after previously being Argo’s director of finance, and it’s a position she’s been excited to take on. The Strip District-based company is developing a future during which cars drive themselves, opening opportunities for those often left out of mobility endeavors to come along for the ride. For DeBrincat, working with community members to make that possible is just one of the many perks of the job.
Tell me about the first time you were in an autonomous vehicle?
It was June 2018, such a long time ago now. I remember I was sitting in the backseat, and we had two test specialists in the front seat, and I was on the back driver — ha, “driver” side — and the person in the front right seat had a laptop, so I could see what the car was seeing. It saw a lot less than it sees today and predicted a lot less than it predicts today. But I just remember being so in awe of the great job that the test specialists were doing. They are sitting in that car for many, many hours a day, with their hands inches, maybe even centimeters away from the steering wheel, so that if they have to take over, they can take over, but they also let the car do what it’s going to do. That’s part of their job; they’re helping with the testing, [noting] bugs if things go wrong so the engineers can triage it. We’re still in the research and development phase, and I tell them all the time, “You guys must have nerves of steel, how do you do this job?” Recently, I was in Miami and said something to the test specialist, and they said “We trust the car.” They’re in the car day in and day out; they get to see how quickly the technology is evolving and how many new capabilities the vehicle is able to have, and they’ve just built up trust of the vehicle. That’s really cool.
How close is the work you do now to the work you thought you’d be doing when you were 18 years old?
At 18, I probably changed what I thought I was going to be doing every two weeks. I definitely had never even imagined that this could have been a job, but I think at one point I probably wanted to be a professional soccer player, at another point I wanted to be a diplomat, at another point I thought maybe I’d be a lawyer, at one point I wanted to be a Realtor, an archaeologist. I was all over the place with what I wanted to be.
Do you see any elements of those jobs you had aspirations for in the one you do today?
Yeah, I think from soccer it’s more the team. I really enjoy the team environment and working together. And with soccer you have to communicate a lot so that everybody knows who’s responsible for what around the field. A lot of those other roles that I was thinking about have a creative side to them, too, and I think that’s where at Argo, both in the finance job as well as in the corporate responsibility job, we’re building a company. I get to be on the ground floor of what our department is going to do, how do we build in best practices and take learnings of what people who come before me in other companies have done, but maybe [taking] pieces from them to say, well, how can we make it even better.
How does one go about convincing the public that autonomous vehicles are safe?
It’s by action. You need to earn the trust of people. We’re out in the communities listening, learning, teaching and also educating on both ends and trying to understand what are the concerns of the communities, what are the challenges with transportation today in the communities that we want to serve. Some examples of that: We have worked with the League of American Bicyclists; we’ve also had a really insightful and very interesting meeting with the Miami Lighthouse for the Blind to understand how do visually impaired and blind people get around today … how can we make it accessible to all. Another initiative that we’ve done is we’ve started community advisory boards. The more touch points that we have into the community, the more we can learn and the more feedback we can get and the better we are to partner and be able to serve communities.
If you could read any book again for the first time, which book would you read and why?
The book I refer to people constantly is the “Power of One” by Bryce Courtenay. I read it in high school, and the main takeaways that have stuck with me are how impactful one person can be on your life. It doesn’t need to be for a long period of time that you know that person. It could just be in passing, but that person will stick with you, and what is the impact that you want to have? Is it positive or negative?
Which city street do you think has the best restaurants?
Walnut Street in Shadyside. I love Mercurio’s.
What songs do you have on repeat right now?
U2’s “Beautiful Day” just because it wakes me up every morning. “God Bless the U.S.A.” by Lee Greenwood is my summer anthem every summer, I play it on repeat. My husband gets very over it by Labor Day weekend. Other than that, I have a Spotify playlist that [Spotify] created. “Chillin’ on a Dirt Road” is my other go-to.
ABOUT JEN DEBRINCAT
Title: Director of Corporate Responsibility, Argo AI
Age: 35
First job: Snack shack at a country club in the Poconos
Education: B.S., accounting, Fairfield University
Residence: Point Breeze
Family: John Kamorowski, husband; James, son
Hobbies: Running, hiking, family adventures
Causes: Women’s leadership/career development, reuse/sustainability, health and wellness
