PANEL SESSION

Navigating the AI Adoption Journey: Taking You from Cautious to Confident

Small and mid-sized businesses often feel overwhelmed by the complexity and hype surrounding AI. This panel cuts through the noise to share practical insights, hard-won lessons, and strategic steps from leaders who’ve successfully navigated the AI adoption journey.

MODERATOR

Alex Wood

Alex Wood Presents

Alex Wood is a presenter, journalist and content creator who specialises in facilitating high-level discussion about AI and digital transformation. As a skilled interviewer, Alex is passionate about helping people and companies tell their stories. He has hosted dozens of industry-leading events across Europe and shared a stage with politicians, celebrities and experts in various fields including technology, media and sport. As a journalist, Alex spent many years honing his craft in newspapers, radio and television before transitioning into events in 2022. You can find him on social media, or visit his website, by searching Alex Wood Presents.

PANELLISTS INCLUDE

Ged Leigh

The Marketing Centre

As Regional Director and Fractional CMO, I partner with business leaders and their senior teams to navigate the complexities of marketing strategy and more recently AI adoption, both aimed at driving tangible results. My focus is on connecting businesses with the right expertise and delivering tailored marketing and AI strategies that address their specific challenges. Drawing on over two decades of experience in senior marketing and general management roles, I've consistently delivered measurable outcomes, including significant improvements in top-line profitable growth, market share, and customer retention. At The Marketing Centre, I've consistently helped SME clients achieve an average of 15-25% year-on-year growth through strategic marketing initiatives.

Joyann Boyce

InClued.ai

Joyann Boyce is the Founder and CEO of InClued.ai, a cutting-edge platform that helps teams reduce bias, protect brand reputation, and reach wider audiences. Her mission is to establish inclusive communications as an industry standard by building the "Grammarly of bias detection." A TEDx speaker and award-winning entrepreneur, Joyann brings over seven years of consulting experience working with major brands such as Coca-Cola, Social Point, Adobe, and Nationwide. She has combined her master's degree in Data Science, specialising in bias detection, with her marketing expertise to identify content that can either elevate or damage brand reputation. Joyann is also the host of the "Marketing Made Inclusive" podcast, where she shares her insights on the changes needed in the marketing sector. Her commitment to enhancing the effectiveness of brand communications has earned her international recognition, including a feature on the BBC.

Senior Representative

National Cyber Security Centre

We support the most critical organisations in the UK, the wider public sector, industry, SMEs as well as the general public. When incidents do occur, we provide effective incident response to minimise harm to the UK, help with recovery, and learn lessons for the future.More specifically, the NCSC:- Understands cyber security, and distils this knowledge into practical guidance that we make available to all- Responds to cyber security incidents to reduce the harm they cause to organisations and the wider UK- Uses industry and academic expertise to nurture the UK's cyber security capability- Reduces risks to the UK by securing public and private sector networkshttps://www.ncsc.gov.uk/section/about-ncsc/what-we-do

Sumathi Menon

Mave Social AI

Sumathi Menon is the Founder of Mave Social AI, a consultancy helping individuals and SMEs adopt AI without the overwhelm. With a background in technology and financial services—having held leadership roles at Deutsche Bank and Bear Stearns—she now focuses on making generative AI practical and accessible. Sumathi is the UK Regional Lead for Women Defining AI and a UC Berkeley-certified AI strategist. Her workshops are known for cutting through jargon and helping people move from AI-curious to AI-capable.

Tim Cook

AIConfident

Tim is founder of AIConfident, a social enterprise helping business leaders to responsibly embrace the transformative opportunity presented by AI.Tim brings over a decade of experience in AI, investing over £100m in early stage technologies while running innovation programmes in Government, plus four years setting up the UK Government's Office for Artificial Intelligence as its Deputy Head, where he was responsible for advising Ministers and 10 Downing Street on AI policy and strategy, spanning AI skills, adoption and regulation.At AIConfident, Tim combines this extensive AI background with his leadership coaching, facilitation skills and passion for change, empowering leaders to create the environment for responsible, confident use of AI technologies. Tim has established AIConfident as a social enterprise, that reinvests some profits to support to leaders in schools and in organisations with a social purpose.