I have spent 25 years in data and AI working as a CDO in the private and public sector, building and scaling startups and hyperscalers, as a management consultant and an advisory board member.
I fell in love with technology at university while studying computer science, having previously been a graphic designer. When I learned to code, it became a new way for me to be creative. In the roles I have held, I am happiest when I have a high degree of variety in the problems I must solve, strong ownership in the businesses I build, enough runway to innovate, and plenty of smart and passionate people to get into the trenches with.
Through my career, I have seen a progression of three macro trends. The shift of data from a back office cost centre to data now being one of the most highly valued corporate and national assets; the graduation of AI from research labs into commercial applications that are fundamentally transforming businesses and society; and the ongoing trajectory of decentralisation, breaking up monolithic data organisations into modular teams and monolithic technology into highly distributed cloud services.