The Digital Leaders Podcast

Sabby Gill, Executive Vice President and Managing Director United Kingdom & Ireland, Sage

In the second episode of Season Five, we sit down with businessman, angel investor, trustee and digital entrepreneur Professor Adam Beaumont.

Adam discusses his journey from scientist to digital entrepreneur. He talks about his identity as a 'passionate Yorkshireman' and how he has encouraged innovation in the north of the UK; sharing his experience of transforming a derelict Leeds chapel into a state-of-the-art data centre. Adam also chats about his recent project - the Beaumont Awards - designed to provide a platform and encouragement for young talent.

In the first episode of season five of the Digital Leaders podcast, we sit down with Seyi Akiwowo.

Digital Leaders 100 Winner 2019 and Founder of Glitch, Seyi Akiwowo talks about her journey, the importance of equality, the Black Lives Matters movement and the part that lived experience has to play in making change happen.

In episode five, we sit down with Emma McGuigan, Senior Managing Director for Accenture’s global business with Microsoft. 

Based in Seattle, Emma is responsible for Accenture’s combined business with Microsoft, including the industry-leading JV, Avanade, where Emma oversees a strategic alliance of 45,000 Accenture & Avanade employees. 

Emma shares her: fascination from an early age to find out how things work; her desire to tackle society’s inequalities; and the need for digital leaders to embrace their own continual learning, curiosity, and openness to new ideas.

In episode four we sit down with Heather Savoury, Co-Chair of the Global Working Group on Big Data for Official Statistics at the United Nations.

Heather shares her journey: from electrical engineering and research at GE, to building the world’s first hardware-accelerated 3D graphics at 3DLabs, followed by the Treasury and ultimately ONS. She also highlights the importance of repurposing data, explaining how looking at it from new angles can help us to better understand how it can be used.

In episode three of season four, we sit down with Gori Yahaya, Founder, and CEO of UpSkill Digital.

Gori shares his entrepreneurial journey: from working at Google, helping organisations grow and prosper through adopting digital; to setting up his own company, UpSkill Digital, helping charities and organisations make the most of technology. Gori also discusses the importance of upskilling the BAME community, enabling individuals in minority groups to become digital leaders; and more broadly the changes that he believes we will see in education moving forwards.

In the second episode of Season Four, we sit down with Professor Sue Black OBE, an award-winning Computer Scientist and Technology Evangelist.

Sue shares her journey: from setting up the first online network for women in tech; leading the campaign to save Bletchley Park; and TechUP Women the new initiative she is running at Durham University with the Institute of Coding. She also shares her very personal experience of how the power of education and technology transformed her and her family's life.

In the final podcast of season three, we sit down with Caron Alexander, Director of Digital Shared Services at the Department of Finance in Northern Ireland and Digital Leaders Local Champion 2016.

The first girl to take a Computer Science A level in her school, she followed her passion into the public sector rising to Head IT in Government. Now coming to the end of her career, she reflects on leading the Northern Ireland Government’s digital transformation programme, creating an inclusive government approach via nidirect and a new social media led platform called MyNI.

Today’s podcast guest is Mark Owens, Managing Director at Civica Northern Ireland and an active contributor to the Northern Ireland Chamber of Commerce.

Mark was born in Northern Ireland, but only recently returned, giving him a local versus global perspective on the digital journey of Northern Ireland. Listen as he talks about the challenges of recruiting and retaining talent, the importance of fostering a culture of innovation and their new project SensAI; a platform where data can be captured, analysed in the Cloud and displayed in a GDPR-compliant manner to support Smart City, Retail, Commercial and Industrial applications.

On today’s podcast show we sit down with Rachel Neaman, Strategy Director for DigitalAgenda. Rachel is an influential technology leader with a focus on digital transformation, HealthTech and digital inclusion. A Digital Leader for the Department of Health and then CEO for GoONUK, her early interest in languages and communication resulted in a fascination with digital.

Rachel talks about the DigitalAgenda platform that focuses on tech for good and social impact and shares her thoughts on Digital Leadership.

On the final episode of Season 2, we sit down with Alice Webb, Director of BBC North and Children’s and Education to talk leadership, the audience of the future, the role of the BBC in tackling online harm and improving children's safety, hear about the new BBC App “OwnIT” and how to achieve a healthy and happy online life.

On today’s show we sit down with Linda O’Halloran, Head of Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government Digital Collaboration Unit, #SmartLondon Board Member and founder of the NGO Thinking Development.

Listen as Linda shares her interesting journey into the London tech scene: from founding an NGO after Haiti’s 2010 earthquake; to working at MHCLG Digital Collaboration Unit - a programme that disrupts local government and re-energises local digital movements, helping authorities and local services overcome problems via common narratives.

Linda also talks about the importance of collaboration in all its forms, the unintended consequences of emerging tech and the lessons learned on coping in a high pressure digital transformation role.

On today’s podcast episode, we sit down with young entrepreneur Jack Parsons, CEO of Big Youth Group, Young Digital Leader 2017 and 'The most connected young entrepreneur' in Europe 2018.

Listen as Jack explains Big Youth Group’s mission to empower and change the odds for young people by building an ecosystem of opportunities, networks and mentors as well as his latest venture in New Zealand and his Digital Embassy project, a new place for young people to learn the digital skills businesses needs.

Jack also shares in explicit detail the very personal journey that has shaped him including touching on his upbringing and ongoing mental health issues despite his obvious business success. He shares what these experiences have taught him about mental health and the importance of those who support him.

Listen with caution: This episode contains frank discussions about depression, and suicide. If you've been affected by any of the topics in this episode, please talk to someone! There are some amazing resources and lovely people out there ready to help you. Here are some options:

Mind UK: https://www.mind.org.uk
Samaritans: Helpline: 08457 90 90 90 (24 hours a day, seven days a week) https://www.samaritans.org

On this episode of The Digital Leaders podcast, we sit down with Gillian Docherty, CEO at The Data Lab, Digital Leader of the Year 2018 and one of the UK’s Top 10 influential people in Data.

Listen as Gillian shares what led her to a career in data, what Scotland is doing with data at a national level, how she became a leader in the industry and why it is important to democratise data. She explains why tackling unconscious bias in data is a must and why diversity of thought is the key.

On today’s show, we sit down with, Professor Mark Thompson, Strategy Director, Methods, and Professor in Digital Economy at the University of Exeter.

Listen as Mark shares how he got involved with changing the digital landscape in the public sector and governmental space, focusing on the importance of redesigning businesses models, culture and creating a model that delivers value in the age of the internet. He explains how emerging technology is the next big step in transforming public services.

The Digital Leaders podcast is back for its second season. In the first episode of season two, we sit down with Karen Dolva, Co-Founder and CEO of No Isolation, Forbes Top 50 Women in Tech and winner of the EU commission prize for rising innovator.

Listen as Karen shares the series of events that led to her being a leading women in Tech and founder of her business, No Isolation. She talks about: tackling loneliness amongst the most vulnerable groups in society; her AV1 robot that connects sick children back into the classroom; and new ways to help older people fight loneliness. She explains the challenges of being an entrepreneur, her views on leadership and diversity and make sure you listen to the end, when Karen shares the one thing about her you least expected!