Meet our distinguished speakers

Adrian Varma

Head of Business Transformation, LNER

An accomplished professional in business strategy, change and business transformation. Naturally curious, excited to understand business challenges to work collaboratively with subject matter experts, to transform the customer and employee experiences across the proposition. Work with the C-suite and leadership team to articulate the +5-year vision and north star for internal teams, creating multi-year programmes that delivery immediate benefits and get teams to their north star(s). Lead teams to use big data to drive a shift from reactive to proactive decision-making, to unlock transformative value. Responsibly for the machine learning team, customer contact and business process improvement ‘automation’ programmes. Led work force modernisation, working across the business on target operating model(s), and the current and future organisational design to ensure they are achieved, and that benefits & productivity is unlocked and realised. Above all, believes in having fun, motivating others, and always enjoying the challenge.

Aneesh Gupta

In 2014, Aneesh Gupta established Centelli to enhance organisational efficiency and productivity. A fervent advocate for solutions that elevate customer and employee experiences, Aneesh boasts two decades of diverse industry experience, spanning pharmaceuticals, the public sector, professional services, financial services, retail, and manufacturing. Aneesh is the driving fore behind Centelli's commitment to delivering promised outcomes.

Brigette McInnis-Day

Chief People Officer, UiPath

As Chief People Officer at UiPath, Brigette McInnis-Day is passionate about fostering a people-first environment that focuses on attracting and developing an exceptional team of innovative thinkers and shaping a culture of customer-centricity to drive business growth and transformation. She is an avid believer in reshaping the future of work through technology and automation as well as the need to redefine the next generation of leadership.
Prior to joining UiPath in 2022, Brigette served as leader of Google Cloud’s human resources function, shaping a culture of customer empathy, empowered leadership, and inclusion. As the Chief Operating Officer of SAP SuccessFactors, she defined and implemented business strategies to achieve sustainable growth and satisfaction among customers undergoing digital transformation of their total workforce experience. In addition to her role as COO, Brigette also led Human Resources for SAP SuccessFactors as EVP for Global Customer Operations, Marketing, M&A and Communications.
Brigette began her career as an Industrial Organizational Psychologist. Her deep knowledge of all elements of the HR profession began when she worked as a Total Rewards consultant with exposure to many different industries. She was drawn to technology for its pace and innovation and joined VeticalNet as leader of HR. From there, she moved to SAP where she and her family had the opportunity to live at their headquarters in Germany, which gave Brigette her true understanding of being a global executive.
Brigette’s passions include leading global teams and building a culture that promotes women and early-stage talent in leadership, diversity and inclusion, pay equality, and digital transformation.

Carrie Parker

Global Head of Continuous Improvement, Freshfields

With a background in business improvement, Carrie oversees continuous improvement initiatives across Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer. Her expertise lies in streamlining processes, enhancing efficiency, and driving positive change within the firm. Carrie’s track record includes successful leadership of global and regional teams, where she elevates capabilities and fosters a positive culture.

Chris Tuite

Director, UK Central Government, Microsoft

Chris is a member of the Public Sector leadership team at Microsoft, where he is responsible for leading the company's partnerships with Central Government Departments across citizen services, operational efficiency, cybersecurity and AI transformation. He has over 20 years of experience working in the technology industry, during which he has led and delivered major change programmes in government and defence, as well as retail, manufacturing, and resource industries across the UK, Europe, Asia, and Australia. Chris has specialised in performance improvement, people leadership, portfolio management and human behaviour change. He has a passion for diversity, inclusion, and equality, and is a member of Microsoft's 'Returnity' working group, which helps managers support mothers returning to work. Additionally, Chris co-chairs Microsoft UK's counter-fraud working group, which brings together global experiences and innovations to support governments in efficiently addressing fraud issues related to areas such as grants, taxation, and benefits. Chris has also held policy implementation and international co-operation roles in Australian government. Chris is known for championing re-use and knowledge sharing to drive efficiency.

David Barber

Distinguished Scientist, UiPath

David is Director of the University College London AI Centre and Distinguished Scientist at UiPath. He is a pioneer in Probabilistic Reasoning, Generative AI and Deep Learning.

Edward Challis

Head of AI Strategy, UiPath

Head of AI Strategy at UiPath. Ed gained his PhD in ML from UCL. His research has been published in leading AI journals and conferences. A nominee for the UK’s most influential tech leaders in 2023 by Computer Weekly. He co-founded Re:infer, a machine learning and AI company that was acquired by UiPath in 2022.

Fran Thompson

Chief Information Officer, Health Service Executive Ireland

Fran Thompson is Chief Information Officer of the Health Service Executive (HSE). He is responsible for leading the HSE’s Digital Journey across all elements. Leading a strong team of professionals and working with Clinical and Business Colleagues.
The HSE has a vision to be a digital organisation across all the elements of care and the administrative processes.
Fran Thompson has over 30 years health ICT leadership experience and has a comprehensive understanding and practical application of transformation and change management within the health sector. Before his appointment as Chief Information Officer Fran was the Programme Director for the Strategic e-Health Programme. Fran has been involved with all aspects of ICT and has played a leading role in delivering various projects and programmes including Hospital Administration and Hospital Clinical systems, Primary Care messaging solutions and Health Finance solutions.
Fran led the creation and set up of the ICT Project Management Office within the HSE and has responsibility for delivering a number of key strategic e-Health programmes including the electronic health record for the country and the Individual Health Identifier.

Gary Smith

Managing Director - UK, Ireland and Nordics, Europcar

Gary Smith is the Managing Director of Europcar Mobility Group for the UK, Ireland, and Nordics. With a strategic vision and over three decades of industry expertise, he drives innovations in mobility solutions, fostering growth in both revenue and profit whilst enhancing the customer experience.

Graham Sheldon

Chief Product Officer, UiPath

Graham Sheldon is the Chief Product Officer for UiPath. He is passionate about driving the company's vision of accelerating human achievement through AI-powered automation. With over twenty years of experience in product, design, research, and engineering, Graham has a deep understanding of the potential for technology to unlock human creativity and productivity. Prior to joining UiPath, Graham spent two decades at Microsoft, where he drove product and engineering on Bing, Dynamics, Windows, and Office. Most recently he was the CVP of Product for Microsoft Teams, one of the fastest growing business applications with over 270 million users worldwide. At UiPath, he is leading the charge to provide comprehensive automation solutions for end-to-end business processes and is excited to be a part of the team that is driving this ambitious vision forward. In addition to his professional pursuits, Graham is a husband, father of three, instrument-rated pilot, a cappella singer, investor, and marathoner. He and his family reside in Washington, where they enjoy skiing, soccer, and traveling in their free time.

Harrison Jardine

Senior Manager, Protiviti

As the UK lead for Intelligent Automation, Harrison has been focused on driving business value for clients through the end-to-end implementation of various technology change projects including robotic process automation, process & communications mining, artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies to solve business problems and enhance customer & employee experience.

Ionut Sas

SVP Finance, UiPath

Ionut Sas is SVP Finance , and as part of the leadership finance team of UiPath Group responsible for the tax, statutory financial statements, international regulatory compliance and treasury areas.
Teaming with the great teams of UiPath around the world, he is leading:
- the tax planning and compliance of all UiPath Group entities
- the statutory financial statements function of all UiPath Group entities
- the treasury function of all UiPath Group entities

John O’Mullane

Head of Automation COE, AMD (Advanced Micro Devices)

Managing a COE team of five people, John has worked at AMD for the past 26 years. Over the last 12 years, John has focused heavily on automation, with RPA being his main focus for the last six years. Under his leadership, the company has successfully adopted a centrally managed, federated delivery approach to RPA.

Jorge Soares

CEO, ABP Consultancy

Experience focused in applying IT solutions predominantly in large organisations - Banking, Insurance, and Healthcare services – from a strict technical expertise to the overall management of strategic technology as a vehicle for organisational change and transformation.

Laith Bahoshy

VP of Customer Success and Services, UiPath

Laith Bahoshy is the Vice President of Client Success for EMEA, where he leads a diverse and multi-disciplined team, focused on exceptional customer value, through driving adoption of UiPath's AI-Powered Business Automation Platform. An accomplished tech executive with 15+ years in senior leadership positions spanning software start-up and corporate environments. He holds a bachelor's degree in Electronics and Computer Systems Engineering from Loughborough University and has achieved certificates of excellence from Stanford University School of Business, on their Executive Program in Strategy and Organization, as well as from Cranfield School of Management on their Business and Leadership program.

Luis Huerta

Head of Intelligent Automation, IAG

An automation veteran with extensive experience setting up and leading automation practices for leading service providers in Europe, and leading automation programmes for FTSE 100, IBEX35 and DAX30 firms delivering millions in tangible benefits through automation and AI.

Mark Darbyshire

Ecosystem Strategy, Strategic Partnerships, UiPath

Mark works with SAP and Microsoft and other strategic partners across Europe to bolster our most crucial customer engagements across the region, where many of our partners play integral roles as both collaborators and competitors. Mark spent ten years with SAP and previously was CTO at TIBCO. Mark has a PhD in Physics from the University of Bristol.

Mark Pollock

Explorer, Speaker & Performance Coach, Chartwell Speakers

Unbroken by blindness in 1998, Mark became an adventure athlete competing in ultra-endurance races, including being the first blind person to race to the South Pole.
In 2010, a fall from a second story window left him paralysed. Now he is on a new expedition, this time to cure paralysis in our lifetime.

Myladie Stoumbou

Regional Director, Microsoft

Myladie leads Microsoft Partner Development strategy for ISVs, Digital Natives and Scale Ups across Central & Eastern Europe, Middle East & Africa (CEMA). With over 25 years of experience in the IT industry, Myladie specializes in building and transforming high-performance sales teams, driving digital innovation and disruption, and helping customers to make the most out of the digital transformation opportunity.

Neil Ward-Dutton

VP AI, Automation, Analytics Europe, IDC

Neil leads IDC's research in AI, automation, analytics and data platform technology markets in Europe. After an early career as a software developer and consultant, Neil has worked as a technology industry analyst for the past 28 years, authoring hundreds of reports studying a wide range of enterprise software technology innovations.

Nevash Pillay

VP, Global Telecom and Media Industry, UiPath

Nevash, VP of Global Telecommunication and Media Industry, drives AI and automation solutions for over 250 telecoms globally. With executive leadership roles at Telstra over 18 years, Nevash managed $6.5B annually and transformed the telecoms go-to-market strategies. A passionate advocate for emerging leaders, Indigenous rights, and equity.

Nigel Linnane

SVP Sales, Tquila Automation

Nigel is SVP of Sales at Tquila Automation, a UiPath Platinum Partner and leader in intelligent automation. He drives sales strategy and performance, helping clients automate and optimize business processes using UiPath and cutting-edge technologies. Nigel is passionate about enabling digital transformation and business outcomes through intelligent automation across various industries.

Rosalie Freeman

Snr Director Solution Engineering, UiPath

Rosalie is the Senior Director of Solution Engineering at UiPath brought in to develop and lead a high performing Presales team. With over 20 years of experience across solution development, implementation, process re-engineering and business value realization, Rosalie excels in customers achieving real value from technology. Ultimately, she is passionate about driving customer transformation by understanding technology requirements and translating these into business driven solutions. She consistently has championed a value based end to end methodology and is really excited about the growth and future of Presales at UiPath to support this approach.

Stephen Durnin

Head of Operational Excellence and Automation, Close Brothers

Stephen has been involved in Automation delivery within Financial Services for 7 years - He leads a centre of excellence which specialises in delivering Operational Transformation via Lean, Operational Excellence Frameworks, Intelligent Automation, and Workflow.

Stuart Brown

Director of Enterprise Technology, Sky

Strategic Technology Executive that leads Sky's Automation COE. Spent 25 years working in Telco / Media transformation space.