Garima is a passionate tech leader, with a strong focus on driving clear business outcomes using the power of digitalisation. In the 20 years of her professional journey, she has worked across diverse industries (including retail, automotive, finance and telecommunications), and different geographical locations (including India, US, UK and Sweden), leading enterprise wide digital transformations, AI/automation adoption, infrastructure & legacy modernisation, data management, building foundational platforms and creating digital products which eventually lead to new revenue streams. Her favourite technologies are IoT, AI and data

Garima started her career as software developer, and later took leadership roles in renowned companies such as IKEA, Volvo group, Volvo Cars and Sandvik Group, to shape tech organisations.

Garima is a well-known international tech speaker, co-author of several ISO standards and the recipient of several data, AI and leadership awards in the Nordics.

Todd Soller is the chief supply chain officer at Patagonia. He is responsible for strategy, planning and execution in global supply chain planning, production, logistics & distribution, and repairs, as well as circular commerce (‘Worn Wear’) operations.

Prior to joining Patagonia, Todd was a managing director at Accenture and a partner at Kurt Salmon, helping leading apparel retailers and brands transform their supply chains, in areas ranging from strategy to daily operations.

Todd lives in Ojai, California with his wife, Jennifer and their three children.

Maja Pantić
Chief AI research officer, NatWest Group

Professor Maja Pantić is the inaugural chief AI research officer of Natwest Group. Previously, she was a generative AI senior research director at Meta AI and a research director and co-founder of the Samsung AI Centre at Cambridge. Professor Pantić has co-authored more than 500 papers with more than 58,000 citations and she has an h-index of 109 to date.

Professor Pantić has received various awards for her work on automatic analysis of human behaviour, including the 2020 IAPR Maria Petrou Award and the 2011 British Computer Society Roger Needham Award. In 2025, she was listed as the best female computer scientist in the UK according to Research Gate. She has served as an associate editor in top AI journals, including the International Journal of Computer Vision and IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence. She is a fellow of the UK Royal Academy of Engineering, an IEEE Fellow, and an IAPR fellow.

Hanna Hennig has been chief information officer at Siemens AG since January 2020 and is driving the digitalisation of the international technology company. She is a passionate technologist with more than 30 years of experience in IT. Throughout her career, she has supported and led various companies on their way through business and digital transformation, including Osram, Telefonica O2, E.ON, Robert Bosch and Capgemini. She studied economics and Japanese at the University of Hanover. Additionally, Hanna Hennig is engaged in cleantech and serves as a member of the supervisory board of the Dutch energy company Eneco.

As deputy chairwoman of the CIO Foundation – WHU Hanna Hennig promotes IT talents in business. She is also committed to establishing sustainability standards in IT as a member of the advisory board of the non-profit organisation SustainableIT.org and acts as an advisor for several technology companies and associations such as IDC, AWS, VOICE, and the “Hamburg IT-Strategietage“.

Betsabeh Madani-Hermann is the global head of research at Philips. She is the executive responsible for building, managing and funding the breakthrough and exploratory innovations across all business segments. Initially, she joined Philips as the global head of strategy and business development for Connected Care, managing a €7 billion revenue portfolio.

Betsabeh’s career spans strategy, operations, scientific research in proteomics and biophysics, entrepreneurship, and early-stage investment across healthcare, biotech, and robotics. Before Philips, Betsabeh held roles in robotics, healthcare, and biotech, managing market caps from $5M to $30B. At Cerner, she led corporate strategy for healthcare predictive analytics and managed population health programs. As vice-president of strategy and business development at EquicareHealth, she focused on oncology care.

Betsabeh holds an MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth, a Master’s in Bio-Mechanical Engineering, and graduate research in proteomics from the University of British Columbia. She also has Bachelors in Physics and Biochemistry from the University of Victoria. Additionally, she has been an Adjunct Professor at UBC’s Graduate School of Engineering and is a Brain Trust at XPRIZE

Pierre-Yves is global chief digital officer of Pernod Ricard – the AlcBev leader behind brands like Jameson, Absolut and Chivas – where he leads the group’s digital transformation through large-scale AI-powered solutions. With an engineering background, he began his career at KPMG before holding leadership roles at fashion group Gérard Darel and across Pernod Ricard, including chief information officer and managing director positions in Europe and Latin America.

Beyond Pernod Ricard, Pierre-Yves is a recognized thought leader in technology and business innovation. He regularly contributes to global forums and leading schools like Harvard Business School. He also serves on the board of Jumia and the editorial board of MIT Sloan Management Review, where he helps shape the dialogue on digital and technological disruption.

Pravina Ladva started her career at Abbey National/Santander, gaining experience in the financial technology sector, with responsibility for various areas from strategy to delivery and financial results. She joined Barclaycard in 2008, where she held various roles including chief operations officer digital marketplace and chief information officer Barclaycard Business Solutions. During this time, she led B2B and B2B2C technology and change teams, as well as the build and launch of a digital marketplace platform in the UK.

Pravina Ladva joined Swiss Re in 2017 as chief technology and operations officer for iptiQ, and in July 2020 assumed the role of Swiss Re group digital transformation officer. Pravina Ladva was appointed group chief digital & technology officer and member of the Group Executive Committee as of January 2022.

Pravina has a bachelor’s degree in History, from Saint David’s University College in Wales.

Arul Daniel serves as the chief information officer at Twitch in San Francisco, California. He spearheads strategic transformation and innovation initiatives in enterprise applications, data, artificial intelligence, and infrastructure services.

With over 20 years of leadership experience, Arul has been at the forefront of various technological waves, including large-scale enterprise software deployments, cloud migration, high-velocity data systems, and most recently over the last 8 years in diverse AI-related innovative efforts.

Arul’s extensive career spans multiple industries, including media and entertainment, biotech, semiconductors, and consumer sectors, where he has led global organisations. An engineer at heart with an outcomes-driven mindset, Arul complements his technical expertise with an MBA from UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business.

Beyond his professional life, Arul is an avid outdoor enthusiast, enjoying hiking, biking, and golf. He is also actively involved in seed investing and dedicates time to volunteering and contributing to causes in his local community.

Rickard Damm is an internationally recognised digital product leader and senior vice-president consumer AI at Deutsche Telekom, bringing over two decades of executive experience shaping the future of technology across Europe. Renowned for creating and delivering innovative digital products and for leading large-scale teams to success, Rickard’s expertise spans digital consumer experiences—especially in AI, streaming media, and payments.

With a robust academic foundation, Rickard holds an MBA from the Stockholm School of Economics and has completed studies in public relations and entrepreneurship at the University of Virginia Darden School of Business.

Rickard is the author of AI Unplugged: A Straightforward Guide for Executives, a book acclaimed for demystifying artificial intelligence for business leaders and boardrooms. He is also the co-author of impactful research on global outsourcing and innovation.

A prolific innovator, Rickard is the holder of many patents worldwide, including leading-edge work in edge cloud devices and advanced communication systems. His work has received numerous accolades, including being named one of Sweden’s “101 Top Supertalents” by Veckans Affärer.

As an Eisenhower Fellow, startup mentor, and board member at leading institutions, Rickard connects visionary thinking with practical business results. He frequently speaks on topics such as AI-powered transformation, product development, and next-generation consumer technology.

Fluent in English, Swedish and proficient in German, Rickard combines operational leadership with a strategic global perspective, making him an influential keynote speaker and thought leader in the world of tech innovations.

Ed Hornby is a senior digital product and transformation leader with over 15 years’ experience shaping large-scale data, technology, and customer-experience programmes across global brands. He currently leads the Premier League’s multi-channel, AI-powered fan engagement ecosystem, uniting content, streaming, and personalisation to reach millions of supporters worldwide. Previously managing director at Brave Bison Commerce and VCCP Digital, Ed has scaled product organisations, integrated acquisitions, and delivered sustained revenue and EBITDA growth. Ed has delivered award-winning digital products and platforms for brands including O2, EasyJet, Kia, and Barclays. His work focuses on creating the foundational technical, cultural, and organisational systems that enable long-term digital growth and responsible, human-centred innovation.

Jessica Lachs is the chief analytics officer at DoorDash and sits on the company’s global management team. As the head of DoorDash’s global analytics and data science functions, Jessica helps the DoorDash, Deliveroo, and Wolt teams make better decisions, faster. Prior to this role, she served as DoorDash’s first general manager, leading the launch of new markets. Previously, Jessica founded GiftSimple, a social gifting startup, where she served as chief executive. Before her entrepreneurial endeavors, she began her career in investment banking at Lehman Brothers in New York City. Jessica holds a BS from Cornell University and an MBA from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

George Mudie serves as chief technology officer and chief information security officer for H&M Group, where he oversees the global technology agenda and cyber security strategy for one of the world’s largest fashion and design retailers. With more than three decades of experience spanning intelligence, telecommunications, media, and retail, he has led complex, enterprise-wide transformations and scaled technology functions in dynamic, fast-moving industries.

At H&M Group, George is responsible for advancing the company’s technology architecture, accelerating digital & AI innovation, and ensuring resilient, world-class capabilities across all brands and markets. His work centres on enabling long-term value creation through architecture, data, platforms, and automation, while safeguarding the trust of customers and partners.

An inventor with multiple patents, George is also an active contributor to the UK National Crime Agency’s Strategic Cyber Industry Group (SCIG), supporting public–private collaboration on national security and emerging cyber threats.

Jade Nester is director, Safety, Privacy and Security Public Policy, Europe at TikTok. She leads a team of European public policy subject matter experts. She has nearly 20 years of experience working on Internet public policy. Before joining TikTok, Jade worked as director, consumer policy, at the GSMA, a trade association representing mobile network operators worldwide. Before GSMA, she advised clients on compliance with privacy and data protection laws and regulations at Promontory Financial Group, an IBM company.

Between 2006 and 2014, Jade held a number of roles within the U.S. government, including senior advisor for internet policy at the Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA), and director, internet public policy at the State Department. She worked on international internet public policy issues, including privacy and cross-border data flows.

Eddie Milev is a senior analyst at Economist Impact, focusing on technology and geopolitics. His work examines how advances in artificial intelligence are reshaping economies, societies and businesses, and how international politics influence global investment and supply chains. He holds degrees from the London School of Economics (LSE) and University College London (UCL).

John leads the research on New Globalisation at Economist Impact. In this role, he spearheads and develops comprehensive studies on trade, geopolitics, technology, finance, and economics. As the global economy is being transformed by the unprecedented convergence of shifting geopolitics, climate change, and an AI-driven industrial revolution, John’s research provides clients with crucial insights to navigate these structural shifts. His work is instrumental in guiding conversations towards global progress and helping clients adapt to an evolving economic landscape.

A frequent public speaker, his delivery style helps to provide context to many global issues in an insightful and accessible way, supported by his 15 years in policy and economic analysis. 

At The EIU, he was director of Country Analysis and Global Forecasting, responsible for guiding the economic and geopolitical analysis of the global economy. John holds a Master’s degree in International Economics from Sussex University, where he specialised in macroeconomics and trade, and an Honours degree in Psychology from the Australian National University.

Jonathan Birdwell is global head of Economist Impact’s Policy & Insights team. Prior to joining The Economist Group, Jonathan was deputy director at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue and head of programme at the London-based think tank Demos. With over thirteen years experience working in international think tanks, Jonathan has worked with and advised governments, international organisations and businesses on a wide range of topics.

Dexter Thillien is lead technology and telecoms analyst at the EIU. He has been an analyst since 2008 and joined the EIU in September 2021. Mr Thillien’s areas of expertise include regulation, the intersection between technology and industries as well as between technology and geopolitics, and the strategy of big tech companies. He was recently the lead writer for reports on 5G and cyber-security. Mr Thillien has presented at several telecoms-specific trade conferences, including events organised by the European Commission, and has produced webinars for a wide range of clients.

Vaibhav Sahgal is principal and editorial strategy lead on Economist Impact’s policy and insights practice. He is a quantitative economist by training and has led various consulting engagements across technology, critical infrastructure and finance. His areas of focus include: scenario-based estimation of the economic impact of emerging technologies, evaluation of the business case for investing in ethical AI, assessment of the role and contribution of global innovation networks, development of technology and infrastructure-focused benchmarking tools such as the Safe Cities Index and the Global Infrascope for public-private partnerships in infrastructure, analysis of infrastructure financing costs/ volume and estimation of project construction costs across countries, sustainable financing trend analysis, and the development of a variety of macroeconomic, demographic and consumer outlook studies.
Prior to joining The Economist Group, Vaibhav gained experience in the fields of asset management (sales and trading), corporate and investment banking, and trade and economic competitiveness, working at HSBC, Rothschild (Global Financial Advisory), and the World Bank Group (IBRD), respectively.

James is the chief data officer at The Crown Estate and has over 25 years of experience in leading data and analytics teams across various sectors including media, telecommunications, utilities, retail, financial services, and aerospace. James has a proven track record in delivering real business value through data strategy and transformation.

At The Crown Estate, James is responsible for developing and delivering the company’s data vision, strategy, and transformation roadmaps. Working closely with the business and digital teams to build a strong data culture, enhance data literacy, and apply strong data governance, while driving better-informed business decision-making through analytics and data science.

James has also been recognized in the DataIQ Top 100 ten times and is a Fellow, advocate and advisory committee member of the IDM, WiD and Gartner CDO Community. He is a mentor, awards judge, and a regular speaker at industry events.