Open Tech Calendar

Register all your details here for the full day event - www.digitexpo.uk - The panel members and time will be updated ASAP

Expert Panel Discussion on the challenges facing Data-led organisations and Practitioners in an age where ethics and privacy concerns must be balanced against the increasingly sophisticated tools and technologies available for Insight.

Event Chair - Rob Huggins - Director of Academy & Client Services @ MBN Solutions - www.linkedin.com

As Director of Academy & Client Services at MBN Solutions, has worked as Delivery Partner for The Data Lab's MSc. Placement Programme, Rob designed and deployed the highly successful Employability framework that has seen over 200 aspirant Data practitioners placed into Scottish organisations over the last 3 years. Rob was recently recognised by Data IQ as one of their most influential Data and Analytics practitioners in UK organisations.

Panelist 1 - Jedidiah Francis - CEO @Jed.ai Labs - www.linkedin.com

Founder and CEO of Jed.ai (pronounced Jedi), a Startup Studio. Previously founded and led the Machine Learning team at ASOS.com designing and building personalisation products.

He works at the intersection of business strategy, product design, machine learning and AI. 10+ years of experience in research, leading technical teams and building scalable machine learning software.

Panelist 2 - Fergus Kennedy Senior Director, Engineering - UserTesting
www.linkedin.com

Fergus leads Product and Engineering in EMEA for UserTesting, one of Silicon Valley's fastest growing private companies and providers of a market leading Human Insight on-demand SaaS product.

Fergus is responsible for the strategy and delivery of technology to enable the global panel of human testers, and support the growth of data driven product functionality. With over 20 years of experience in the SaaS and Managed Services space, he has experience scaling business across Software Engineering, Data, Quality, Security and Product.

Panelist 3 - Sorcha Lorimer - CEO of Trace®
www.linkedin.com

Sorcha Lorimer is the CEO of Trace®, innovative RegTech software which makes GDPR compliance and data protection bitesized, visual and streamlined. Trace's platform helps organisations model personal data, assess their third party cloud processors, and mitigate privacy and legal risk. A qualified privacy and risk professional, before founding Trace®, Sorcha was Group Head of Digital at Standard Life and has worked in digital and data for well over a decade, including agency and consultancy side.

Panelist 4 - Barry Lane - Head of Product Strategy
Peak - www.linkedin.com

Barry is responsible for shaping the product strategy at Manchester-based Peak, a fast growing company offering a pioneering AI System. He was previously Head of Technical Sales during the on-boarding of several key customers including ASOS and FootAsylum.

Before Peak, Barry spent 14 years at Edinburgh-based energy research firm Wood Mackenzie during a period of incredible growth. Joining as a data analyst and ending up Global Head of Customer Analytics, via several years working in product development.

Panelist 5 - Samantha Rhynas - Head of Data at Effini
www.linkedin.com

Sam is Head of Data at Effini, an Edinburgh based company specialising in working with clients to integrate Data Science & AI into their business process, showing them how it can enable innovation & improvement and helping them see past the jargon and understand the real world benefits & possibilities.

With over 20 years of experience of DevOps, Quality Assurance, Service Design & Delivery and Data Analysis in the context of analytical software, real-time data feeds and high-performance data systems, Sam is passionate about bringing practical, effective data solutions to businesses in a broad range of sectors.