The Tech Leaders Podcast

Join us this week for The Tech Leaders Podcast, where Gareth sits down with Kate Hayward, UK Managing Director at Xero. Kate talks about how AI can make life easier for small business owners, the new skills the next generation of accountants will need, and how organisations can manage maternity leave for the benefit of everyone. On this episode, Kate and Gareth discuss how gymnastics breeds discipline, why Britons are generally lacking in financial literacy, and the three things Kate looks for when starting a new job. Timestamps: Good Leadership and Early Career (1:45) Xero – The "Gangly Teenager Phase" (9:00) Career or Family, or Both… (13:00) Discipline and Gymnastics (20:30) Financial Literacy and Entrepreneurship (24:20) Xero and AI (31:35) New Skills for Accountants (42:30) Tips to stay Organised, and Advice for 21-year-old Kate (45:45) Hopes and Fears for Future of AI (48:00) https://www.bedigitaluk.com/

Cindy Turner, Chief Product Officer at Worldpay, shares her extensive background in payments with stints at Visa, JP Morgan, and PayPal. She discusses Worldpay's focus on global acceptance and modular optimization in payments. Cindy delves into how stablecoins can streamline international transactions and envisions personal shopping agents becoming mainstream. She highlights the importance of leadership that empowers teams and also reflects on the balance between agility and control in large organizations, especially regarding emerging technologies like AI.

This week on The Tech Leaders Podcast, Gareth sits down with Author, BBC / ITV Presenter, and AI Agony Aunt Lara Lewington. They discuss how AI will revolutionise personalised medicine, its impact on wearable health trackers, and what “Health-span” really means. Join us to hear Lara talk about fist bumping card machines, wireless urine monitoring, and being invited to the Moon by a Japanese billionaire… Timestamps: Intro and Good Leadership (2:26)Breaking into TV – Celebrity interviews and Gadget reviews (5:00)Presenting Click, and being invited to the Moon (10:28)Intro to Health-span: Brian Johnson and 103-year-old Mildred (15:22)AI and Personalised Medicine (21:12)Wearables, Trackables and AI (27:09)The AI Agony Aunt (40:48)Editing “Hacking Humanity” (44:17)Health-span in depth (46:58)Hopes and fears for Gen AI, and advice to 19-year-old Lara (54:58)You can find details of Lara's book here: BOOK | Lara Lewingtonhttps://www.bedigitaluk.com/

Chris Moore, European President at Veeva Systems, shares insights on the seismic shifts in the life sciences industry driven by AI and digital innovation. He discusses how the pandemic accelerated technological advancements in drug development. Chris reflects on the importance of leadership in navigating these changes and stresses the need for effective data security and ethical considerations. He also humorously reminisces about the Y2K bug, highlighting it as a fascinating anti-climax in tech history.

Join us this week for The Tech Leaders Podcast, where Gareth sits down with Stuart Whayman, President of Corporate Markets at Elsevier, a part of RELX Group. They discuss how AI is revolutionising Research and Development, Elsevier-Reed’s shift from hardware to digital, and what the Red Arrows can teach us about leadership. Stuart also talks about how AI can augment rather than replace humans, why an LLM is not a truth model, and delves into some of the fascinating projects for the Elsevier Foundation Challenge – https://elsevierfoundation.org/chemistry-for-climate-action-challenge/. Timestamps: Good Leadership, the Red Arrows, and studying at Oxford (2:12) The Hardware to Digital Shift (10:15) The Evolution of Data (17:10) AI in Research and Development (21:30) Will AI Augment or Replace (32:38) AI Safety and Regulation (36:45) The Future, Advice for 21-year-old Stuart, and the Elsevier Foundation Challenge (40:17) https://www.bedigitaluk.com/

Join us this week for The Tech Leaders Podcast, where Gareth sits down with Renata Vincoletto, CISO at Civica. After facing a deeply shocking setback, Renata chose resilience over resentment. Inspired by her mentor, she pushed forward, rising through the ranks to ultimately lead cybersecurity strategy for Civica, working on high-stakes government and public sector IT programmes. On this episode, Gareth and Renata discuss why good ITAM is crucial for Cybersecurity, the recent breaches at The Co-op and Marks & Spencer’s, and why geeks are more accepted in the UK than in Brazil. Timestamps:Good Leadership, why a Career in IT, and moving from Brazil to the UK (2:02)Lesson learned at Microsoft (7:50)The Marks and Spencer’s and Co-op Cyber Security breaches (12:50)The importance of ITAM to Cyber Security (16:10)Is there a Cyber Security skills shortage? (24:30)Women in Cyber Security (30:24)The AI risks to Cyber Security (41.05)Advice to 21-year-old Renata (51:08)https://www.bedigitaluk.com/

Join us this week for The Tech Leaders Podcast, where Gareth sits down with Dr. Nicola Hodson, Chair at IBM UK and Ireland. Dr. Hodson talks about how to manage transformations in complex organisations, how UK Enterprises are adopting AI, and why Quantum computing might be coming sooner than you think. On this episode, Gareth and Dr. Hodson discuss why authenticity is underrated, the evolution of AI regulations, the importance of Polymaths, and how Concorde and a copy of the Encyclopaedia Brittanica inspired her to begin the journey which would lead to IBM. Timestamps: Good leadership, Concorde and the Encyclopaedia Brittanica (2:40) How to drive change in large organisations (9:36) Polymaths (13:50) IBM and Quantum computing (20:00) ITAM Evolution and Hybrid Cloud Management (26:50) Enterprise adoption of Agentic AI (31:10) AI and Graduate jobs (36:40) AI Regulation (41:08) Advice for young IT professionals, and 21-year-old Nicola (43:30) https://www.bedigitaluk.com/

"You can't have good Cyber Security without Economic Security.'' Join us this week on The Tech Leaders Podcast, where Gareth Davies sits down with The Rt Hon Stephen McPartland, former MP and author of the McPartland Review into Cyber Security. Stephen talks about his time in Parliament, the impact of AI on Cyber Security, and why the UK is both uniquely well prepared and uniquely vulnerable. On this episode, Stephen and Gareth discuss what it’s like to work with Prime Ministers, how to prevent the widespread adoption of AI leading to “digital exclusion”, why we need to automate processes rather than jobs, and how a Scouser became Tory MP for Stevenage…Timestamps: Intro and good leadership (1:33) Proudest achievements and lessons learned in Politics (7:54) Ministerial role, and working with Prime Ministers (10:09) Cyber Security and the Digital Economy (17:50) AI, Government and Cyber Security (23:23) Fostering a Cyber workforce (29:35) LLMs and Agentic AI (33:14) Cryptocurrencies and Post-Quantum Cryptography (38:28) AI concerns – Digital exclusion and Rules of Engagement (46:25) Stephen’s advice to his younger self (49:00) https://www.bedigitaluk.com/

Join us this week on The Tech Leaders Podcast, where Gareth Davies sits down with Matt Armstrong-Barnes, Group AI Practice Director at Servita, and former AI CTO at Hewlett-Packard Enterprises. Matt talks about his new role at Servita, the lessons he learned at HPE, and how effective AI Asset Management can help you keep control of your data. On this episode, Matt and Gareth discuss effective AI implementation and adoption, the existing AI skills gap, and the new roles and careers that will emerge, and what we don’t understand about how AI works. Timestamps: Joining Servita (2:00) AI Implementation and Adoption (5:40) What “Data is the new Oil” actually means (12:00) What we don’t understand about how AI works (18:33) Lessons learned at HP (22:13) Sports and AI (25:28) AI Safety and even Blackmail? (28:19) Trust and transparency in practice (35:40) The AI skills gap and emerging careers (39:30) AI Summit highlights (48:32) Brought to you by bedigitalhttps://www.bedigitaluk.com/

Join us this week on The Tech Leaders Podcast, as Gareth sits down with Joseph Connor, Chairman of Agentic AI specialist, CarefulAI and Professor at UCL and formerly Director of AI innovation at NHS England. Joseph talks about his allegiance to the NHS, his love of Stoicism, and his experiences building AI agents for businesses. On this episode Joseph and Gareth discuss why innovation is difficult in the public sector, how AI can help with effective ITAM and compliance, and how to make sure everyone benefits from Agentic AI.Time Stamps: Good leadership and Joseph’s early days (2:30) Lessons learned and musings on Stoicism (7:19) Allegiance to the NHS (11:10) Careful AI (15:20) What is Agentic AI? (23:48) Maintaining control of AI Agents (30:44) Always read the terms and conditions (35:55) Concerns around the next five years of AI (40:10) AI in education (49:10) Conclusions (53:48) Access CriticalAIonAI podcast mentioned in the show here - https://www.carefulai.com/accelerating-safe-ai-providers.htmlhttps://www.bedigitaluk.com/