“The best routine for you is the one that you actually do“
— James Pashuntinski
When James Pashuntinski first arrived at Humber, Google wasn’t even on his radar.
He describes himself as “a pretty bad high school student,” someone who didn’t have a master plan or a clear career path. He came to Humber interested in business, but without knowing exactly where it would lead.
Looking back today from the non-stop life of New York City, now with a company that helps some of the world’s largest organizations solve complex challenges using artificial intelligence, he describes his journey in one word:
“Unexpected. I think when I started at Humber and at IGNITE, it was with no real clear intention on where I was going to end up,” Pashuntinski says. “And that’s why I would choose that word. I think it’s been an amazing journey full of sort of surprises and fortunately, mostly good ones.”
That willingness to embrace opportunities rather than follow a perfectly mapped-out plan became the defining theme of his career.
Finding purpose beyond the classroom
His decision to join IGNITE was driven by the desire for a second chance. After feeling like he had missed opportunities to get involved during high school, he wanted his post-secondary journey to be different. Coming to Humber with a slight interest in business, Jams used it as a way to meet more driven people on campus.
“I think that’s something that I sort of like regretted when I first came from high school and not getting more involved in,” he says.
Driven by the motivation to learn discipline and have something outside of classwork to really focus on, it didn’t take long before James found himself running for the Board of Directors election.
He first volunteered through election canvassing in his first year before eventually becoming Chair of the Board of Directors.
What started as extracurricular involvement quickly became one of the most influential experiences of his student life.
Campaigning one conversation at a time
Long before AI, consulting and Google Cloud, he was walking the halls of Humber trying to convince students to vote.
Instead of relying on traditional campaign posters alone, he used his strengths and leaned into a personal passion: photography.
He designed campaign cards featuring photographs he had taken around campus, built his own website, and spent his days handing out cards between classes while talking with students face-to-face. He even built a budget and carried out his very own giveaways to stand out from the others running for the election.
“I pretty much went through like the different buildings on campus and handed those out during the day at lunch, kind of just, like, annoyed as many people as I could. And kind of left them around [campus].”
More importantly, he learned confidence.
“It was fun. It was, I don’t know, in some ways, like a little bit cringy looking back on it. You learn a lot, and you gain some confidence,” he laughed.
Working with hundreds of students every day taught him how to communicate with strangers, explain ideas clearly and become comfortable being uncomfortable, skills he says still matter in consulting today.
Solving problems that impact many students
During his time as Chair, the Board discussed issues that still continue to shape student life years later.
Housing affordability, financial support and student advocacy dominated many conversations.
One proposal even explored whether the student union should invest in advocating for the student housing crisis. A conversation that was ambitious for its time is now the focus of the upcoming academic year with IGNITE as a key advocacy priority.
Although at the time the idea never moved forward, he remembers it as one of the first moments he realized student leaders could think beyond day-to-day operations and tackle long-term institutional challenges.
Another milestone was helping lead the organization’s transformation from Humber Students’ Federation to IGNITE. Working with marketing consultants, navigating the brand identity and narrowing down the potential new name, James was able to learn all about the rebranding exercise, which prepared him to understand various operations— something that many do not get access to until much later in their careers.
At the time, the rebrand wasn’t universally popular. In fact, it attracted detractors unhappy with the rebranding.
“We definitely had some supporters, but probably more detractors,” he recalls. “People were so used to Humber Students’ Federation branding and logo and didn’t really get it.”
Looking back now, he believes the decision positioned the organization for long-term success.
“I’m sure to you, and like other students, now it feels like ancient history…” he says. “… But I think, in hindsight, Ercole and the team, knew what they were doing.”
Lessons you can’t learn in class
While most students spend their post-secondary journey working on assignments, he found himself helping to oversee an organization’s budget. That responsibility forced him to think differently.
Handling a large budget while also managing the ups and downs, working with senior stakeholders and providing the right recommendations—these experiences became the foundation of skills he would later rely on as a consultant.
“I think that [rebranding] experience helped accelerate all those things that otherwise I probably would have only started doing when I graduated,” Pashutinski explained.
He learned how to balance competing priorities, navigate difficult conversations and represent people whose needs didn’t always align. Today, those same skills help him advise Fortune 500 companies navigating large-scale AI transformation.
From consulting to Google
After completing his studies, he joined Accenture, where he spent four years working with Canada’s largest banks, insurers and telecommunications companies.
Over time, his projects shifted toward cloud technology. That transition introduced him to Google Cloud.
A former colleague encouraged him to apply.
“He sort of encouraged me to apply to Google and join the team, which I did at Toronto for the first 18 months,” he said. “As the team’s demands sort of grew, it just made more sense for me to kind of move closer to the customers and things. So I’m still not far, but I moved to New York almost three years ago now. So yeah, it’s been kind of a wild ride, I suppose.”
After joining Google, he relocated from Toronto to New York to work more closely with clients. Today, he serves as an Agentic Transformation Lead on Delta, Google’s innovation and transformation consulting team.
Rather than simply implementing technology, his team helps organizations answer one fundamental question: what matters?
Building AI that matters
Among the projects he’s most proud of is his work with the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO). Cancer specialists rely on hundreds of pages of treatment guidelines when making clinical decisions. Finding the right information quickly can be difficult during a busy day of seeing patients, especially with hundreds of pages’ worth of PDFs.
“They can be PDFs that are like hundreds of pages long, and if you’re seeing patients in the clinic all day long, that can be just a lot of time they’re spending doing that versus spending with patients,” Pashutinkski explained.
Working alongside Google’s engineers, Pashutinski’s team spent 18 months building an application that allows oncologists to search those guidelines naturally while ensuring every response remains grounded in approved medical documentation. And unlike public AI tools, the system was carefully engineered to prevent hallucinations—an essential requirement in healthcare.
“Most of the engineering behind this was really to ensure that everything that it was saying was true and that it was grounded in those documents that AsO sort of approved. And we launched that to their members,” he said. “They loved it so much they came back to do more work with us,” he continued.
Knowing the technology could help doctors spend less time searching documents and more time with patients makes the work especially meaningful and all the more motivating to continue working towards impact that matters.
” It feels very impactful, and because that’s been my focus, it very much motivates me to come in every day.”
Advice for students
If he could give today’s students one piece of advice, it would be to stay curious and build routines that actually work for you.
Networking, joining organizations, attending events, working on your craft, and continuously learning outside the classroom are often what create opportunities later.
“The best routine for you is the one that you actually do. And, like, I would so much rather pick something that, you know, maybe wasn’t the most prestigious- however you define that- but that I actually enjoy and that I will spend time learning about it and honing my craft and getting really good at that, which will like open doors for me,” he explained.
He also encourages students not to feel pressured into having every detail of their future planned.
“The best path is usually the one you actually enjoy.“
His own journey proves exactly that.
A student who once wasn’t sure where he belonged eventually found himself helping to shape the future of artificial intelligence, all because he stayed open to opportunities, kept learning, and never stopped saying yes.
And sometimes, the most meaningful careers are the ones you never expected.
Feature image courtesy of James Pashutinski
New hobby? Check out everyone crocheting, baking, or running. What happened?
