Meet the team!

Directors

Tania Duarte

CEO

Marc Goblot

Executive Director

Alexa Segal

Director

Paul Rodriguez

Director

Nicholas Creagh

Director

Joe Massey

Director

Giovanna Jagger

Director

Hannan Ali

Director
Mark Burey

Mark Burey

Director

Dr. Robert Smith

Advisor to the Board

Members

Laurel Boxall

Laurel Boxall

Advisor
Patty O'Callaghan

Patty O'Callaghan

Advisor
Keerti Rajagopalan

Keerti Rajagopalan

Advisor

Marissa Ellis

Strategy and Operations Lead

Kerry Sheehan

AI Communications and Engagement Advisor

Ingrid KariKari

Digital Consultant

Ricardo Coelho

HR and Employment Lead

Patricia Gestoso

Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity Lead

Amy Ertan

Cyber Security Advisor
Dr. Djamila Amimer

Dr. Djamila Amimer

AI Advisor
Man in photo is Spencer Collins

Spencer Collins

Head of Disability Inclusion

Sébastien A. Krier

AI Policy and
Ethics Advisor

Lea Gratch

Creative Advisor

Caroline Williams

Status Quo
Disruption Advisor

Cheryl Low

Digital and Social Media Working Group Member

Hannah Claus

Climate Change, Health & Social Care Working Group

Claudine Tinsman

Policy Advisor
Amina Memon photo

Amina Memon

Advisor
Ana Montague-Nelson

Ana Montague-Nelson

Advisor
Mia Aleksandrova

Mia Aleksandrova

Advisor
Laura Hernandez

Laura Hernandez

Advisor
Layla Li

Layla Li

Advisor
Helena Ward

Helena Ward

Advisor
Alexandra Kuzmina

Alexandra Kuzmina

Advisor
Zac Lovell

Zac Lovell

Advisor
Valena Reich

Valena Reich

Advisor
Rick Payne

Rick Payne

Advisor
Peter Rees

Peter Rees

Advisor

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Rebecca Hull

Trustee

Adeola Gbakinro

Social Media Strategist

Yasmin Jones

Community Ambassador

Xuan Wang

Steering Lead

Ama Wiliams

Steering Lead

Sian Melonie

Marketing Lead

Tania Duarte

CEO

Tania set up We and AI after becoming increasingly concerned at the lack of governance around AI, during her time engaging businesses in the potential of emerging tech at DisruptionHub. 

Prior to this Tania had thirty years experience in business and project management, including 2 successful start-up exits, and advising a wide range of companies across multiple sectors. She has built B2B and B2C brands, market strategies and marketing functions of innovative fast growth companies, and recently devised and launched The Disruption50 Index awards scheme to uncover and celebrate the UK’s most disruptive businesses.

Marc Goblot

Advisor

Marc is an expert on digital experience technology. He is interested in the impact of AI on disability and neurodiversity, online privacy and personalisation.

Marc has 32 years of experience in technology leadership in creative agencies and Accenture, working with global brands, public sector and nonprofit clients.

He is now in independent consulting practice at Xacam using digital for social impact and a social entrepreneur at Ina Ciel, a neurodiversity innovation hub and consultancy.

Alexa Segal

Director

Alexa is a qualified senior solicitor advocate, with over 10 years of corporate litigation investigations experience with UK based law firms, and working internationally.

This includes 6 years at Taylor Wessing LLP and 4 years at Macfarlanes LLP, where she advised on a broad range of matters including complex commercial and financial litigation, corporate and shareholder disputes, regulatory investigations and financial crime (including fraud and bribery). She is currently a senior lawyer at BT plc.

Paul Rodriguez

Director

Paul is our governance, assurance and risk specialist, bringing experience gained delivering full life-cycle programmes and projects for blue-chip clients across a range of industries. He’s currently a senior programme manager at Nest Corporation, a trust-based pension scheme set up by government to support the automatic enrolment policy. He has over 20 years consulting and delivery experience for PwC and IBM, and more recently in-house at Nest.

Nicholas Creagh

Director

With over a decade of experience in data science and analytics, Nick focuses on using data to transform what an organisation is doing. Which means he understand how companies both succeed and fail to use data well, having made many of the mistakes himself!

When he finished his PhD in mathematics, he thought he put aside the theoretical for the practical, only to find now that what was theoretical then, is at the heart of business now. Having spent most of his career attempting to demystify data for himself, his team and his organisations, he’s keen to communicate both the advantages and disadvantages of AI more widely.

He focuses on building teams that create value, build products and create insights and stories that can truly transform companies and is specifically interested in how companies use data , both badly, and well.

Joe Massey

Director

Joe is a Researcher at Doteveryone, the responsible technology think tank, and is specifically interested in the intersection of technology and society.

With a background in Global Development and Economics, Joe has previously worked to build a peaceful future for Myanmar through the education of its young people.

Giovanna Jagger

Director

A decade of working with businesses to help them achieve a purpose led, efficient and profitable work methodology through designing tailored strategies.

Passionate about Tech Solutions and very invested in startups
CEO of Panoptic Global Solutions, Head of BD and Co Founder of WokenUp, Strategic Advisor to 3 startups at seed stage

Hannan Ali

Director

Hannan is a Grants and Programmes Manager at a place-based grantmaker (Bedfordshire and Luton Community Foundation) working on donor-advised funds, national funding programmes, and an endowed trust. He also runs a micro impact business (Tierra Alta Coffee) promoting direct trade with small Colombian coffee farmers.

Occasionally, Hannan contracts as a Candidate Assessor for an International Citizen Service programme (Restless Development) and is an Associate Governor at his local college (Luton Sixth Form College).

He graduated in 2014 from the University of Greenwich with a 2:1 in BA Business Management; and has since gained 5+ years of experience in administration, community development, and small business management. Hannan has lived in Colombia, China, Kenya, Pakistan, the UK; speaks English, Urdu, Spanish, and is learning Portuguese.

Mark Burey

Mark Burey

Board Member – Non-Executive Director

Mark is a communications specialist, who leads the communications and marketing team at The Alan Turing Institute, the UK’s national institute for data science and artificial intelligence.

Mark is keen that AI innovations engage, support, and empower all parts of society. Mark has over 15 years’ experience in the public and charity sectors, and local government. He has a track record of enhancing the reputations of high-profile organisations and his career has included roles at the BBC, London College of Fashion, UAL, and University of East London.

Mark’s considerable expertise spans strategic communications, PR, crisis management, brand building, digital content, schools and community engagement, and events. He also provides continued support to students via a number of well-established mentoring programmes.

Dr. Robert Smith

Director

Dr Robert Smith is a technologist, complexity scientist, entrepreneur, writer and sought-after public speaker. He is an artificial intelligence (A.I.) expert and has worked with clients, companies and institutions across the private and public sectors. 

Having grown up in Alabama at the height of the Civil Rights movement, he has a deeply informed perspective on bias in algorithmic systems and is dedicated to the pursuit of human-readable and responsible A.I. He is the author of Rage Inside the Machine: The Prejudice of Algorithms and How to Stop The Internet Making Bigots of Us All. He the CTO of Mirza, a company that is developing tech to help close the gender pay gap. 

He is a Senior Fellow of the Computer Science Faculty at University College London where he co-founded the Centre for Decision-Making Uncertainty. He also co-founded and co-created BOXARR Ltd., a company whose technology helps people cope with some of the world’s most complex industrial challenges.

Laurel Boxall

Laurel Boxall

Advisor

Laurel is a postgraduate student at the University of Cambridge, studying for an MPhil in Digital Humanities. Her research focuses on narratives of AI, specifically their frequent overreliance on anthropomorphism and excessive embodiment of artificial figures.

Laurel has been brought onto the project as Communications & Community Executive, and hopes through this role to help We and AI’s growth, including as many voices as possible. Her current projects include the digital zine AI Yesterday, the Sound of Contagion project, and ongoing participation in the OII Creativity & Technology reading group.

Patty O'Callaghan

Patty O' Callaghan

Advisor

Patty is a Venezuelan living in Scotland, with a background in Computer Science–specifically the field of Artificial Intelligence, with a keen focus on Ethical AI. 

Through her involvement with We and AI, Patty hopes to bring discussions of artificial intelligence into her work with young people, and ultimately assist in the construction of an educational framework. 

She has 20 years of experience working in tech and is very passionate about encouraging girls to get involved with Computer Science, running a Code Club at her local school teaching 12-14 year olds how to code. She is also a mentor at Career Ready UK, offering career advice to young people. She is a Lead at GDG Glasgow and part of Google’s Women Techmakers.

Keerti Rajagopalan

Keerti Rajagopalan

Advisor

Keerti is a project manager, working at the intersections of inclusion, democracy and human rights. 

With a Masters in Global Governance and Ethics from UCL, and a background in international relations, she is interested in understanding the impact technology and AI has on democracy, rights and political participation, particularly for intersectionally disadvantaged groups, and how to build a responsible technology ecosystem informed by justice, care and human experiences.

Marissa Ellis

strategy advisor

Marissa is a strategy, product and change consultant and the founder of Diversily. Her 20 years in tech has covered areas such as digital innovation, data analytics & business intelligence.

Diversily is on a mission to help others to drive positive change through their self service frameworks and workshops that cover change, inclusion and leadership. Their flagship tool The Change Canvas is supporting positive change all around the world.

Kerry Sheehan Chart

ai communications and engagement advisor

Kerry is a Chartered Public Relations Practitioner and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of PR with extensive experience directing communication and marketing functions in agency and in-house at businesses, brands and in Governments.

With over 15 years’ experience in government, technology, B2C and B2B sectors, Kerry has proven success developing and implementing AI strategies.

Kerry is Chair of the globally-leading Artificial Intelligence in Public Relations panel looking at the implications and opportunities of AI in the PR, communications and marketing communications industry and also advising the industry and business on ethical AI implementation and PR.

Kerry is a member of the CIPR Council and the International Data Science Foundation, and is the first PR in the world to graduate from Dame Wendy Hall’s (worldwide web) Fundamentals of Data, AI and Machine Learning for Business university course.

Kerry is part of the UK Government Communications Service.

Ingrid KariKari

Digital Consultant

Ingrid is a versatile digital professional with over 20 years’ experience of product development, delivery and strategy. She has worked for FutureGov, a number of government bodies and many large UK charities leading on digital projects and product development with a focus on social impact.

She is passionate about creating digital services which empower, enrich and transform. She first became fascinated by artificial intelligence when she led an AI project based on machine learning and natural language processing for a leading UK charity.

Ricardo Coelho

HR and Employment Lead

Ricardo has a well-rounded HR generalist background with business partner experience. With a strategic remit in managing and delivering large-scale HR programmes, he has worked across the public, private and non-for-profit sectors. From his background in tech, he is particularly interested about the intersection between AI and people management strategies.

With a masters from Queen Mary University of London in HR Management, Ricardo specialised through his dissertation in people analytics and the power of AI for predicting human behaviour. Other points of interest are the forth industrial revolution and its impact in employment relations.

Patricia Gestoso

Diversity, Inclusion

and Equity Lead

Dr. Patricia Gestoso is a scientific services leader and a diversity, inclusion, and ethics tech evangelist. She believes that ethical and inclusive technology is an enabler for regenerative innovation and world-class customer experiences. Through her career as global head of scientific support, training, and services, Patricia has worked with Fortune 500 Life Sciences and Materials companies worldwide to build, deliver, and maintain science-based virtual solutions. 

Patricia has spearheaded and guided numerous diversity and inclusion initiatives in tech and she’s the winner of the 2020 Women in Tech Changemakers award. She uses storytelling, data, visualization, co-creation, and digital applications to drive systemic change in workplaces, products, and services.

Amy Ertan

Cyber Security Advisor

Amy is a cyber security PhD researcher at Royal Holloway (University of London), researching the security consequences of AI-enabled technology in military and defence spaces. Through her research, Amy is a non-resident fellow at the Belfer Center – University of Harvard, and a visiting fellow scholar with the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence.

Amy is interested in designing ‘responsible AI’ process to account for unforeseen or unintended consequences of AI innovation, including exploring the human aspects of security and privacy. Amy is a Data Protection Fellow at the Institute for Technology and Society (Rio de Janeiro), where she has lectured on AI oversight requirements, and she has also volunteered with Not-Equal campaigning for responsible use of algorithms in the public sector.

Amy has previously worked across digital innovation and cyber intelligence for financial institutions, and holds a degree in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from the University of Oxford.

Dr. Djamila Amimer

Dr. Djamila Amimer

Advisor

Dr. Djamila Amimer founded Mind Senses Global to help businesses and organisations apply Artificial Intelligence. She is a business leader and an entrepreneur with a broad range of experiences across AI, machine learning, commercial deals, business strategy, energy, supply chain, shipping & trading, business resilience and climate change. 

Djamila has a PhD in AI and Economics and has developed frameworks and novel AI techniques in the area of investment decisions, dealing with uncertainty in project evaluation. She has a track record in leading teams, delivering results and focusing on performance. In addition to helping organisations unlock AI potential, she spends significant amount of her time exploring the next wave of AI. 

Djamila is passionate about AI for good and would like to make AI accessible to everyone. 

Man in photo is Spencer Collins

Spencer Collins

Head of Disability Inclusion

He/Him/His, Deaf since birth, Tinnitus 24/7, a pioneer in driving diversity and inclusion with over 20 years of experience as a keynote speaker, business adviser, and well-being expert. A leader in transforming organisational cultures and ways of working with diversity and inclusion, communication expert who enables organisations to drive disability inclusion with customer-centric, adaptive teaching, innovative, and groundbreaking initiatives.

Sébastien A. Krier

AI POLICY AND ETHICS ADVISOR

Sébastien A. Krier is a lawyer and an AI policy and ethics expert who previously advised the Office for Artificial Intelligence, a government joint-unit responsible for designing and overseeing the implementation of the United Kingdom’s AI strategy.

He now helps public and private organizations design strategies/policies that maximize the benefits of AI, while minimizing potential costs and risks. Séb has also represented the UK at various panels and multilateral organizations such as the D9, the EU Commission, and the OECD.

He is also a Fellow at the Royal Society of Arts and holds a Master’s in Public Administration and Management from University College London.

Caroline Williams

STATUS QUO DISRUPTION Advisor

Founder, Head Rebel, Banjo player and activist based in the Netherlands.

If you want technology to be more inclusive, then you need to make room for people to learn it today, apply it tomorrow and bring it back to their communities.

I go to work every day teaching practical data science and building inclusive data communities.

Cheryl Low

Digital and Social Media

Working Group member

Cheryl is an International Relations and Economics student at SOAS, University of London. Hailing from Singapore, she has done research for the government as an intern in the areas of mis/disinformation, cloud technologies and AI.

She is interested in development, in areas like sustainability or how technology can be used for good. Coming from a traditionally non-technical background, she likes to look at how AI can be used from different perspectives and its influence today.

Hannah Claus

Climate Change, Health & Social

CARE WORKING GROUP

My life is mostly driven by discovery and curiosity. I am passionate about solving complex problems, which is why I study Artificial Intelligence and Robotics: it’s another way of creating an impact. There is so much opportunity in automatic systems and the way we can apply AI in everyday life. I want to be a part of progressing in the right direction. I like thinking about different scenarios, designing and creating new machines, connecting all the parts, programming an algorithm and bringing a robot to life. And I think it is very important to show our society what potential these systems hold for our future. 

Aside from mechanical and technological advances, I also like to look at AI and Robotics from all kinds of perspectives, especially the ethical parts. In order to coexist with intelligent systems, we need to understand how they work and what influences their decisions.

Claudine Tinsman

Policy Advisor

Claudine is a doctoral researcher in Cyber Security at the University of Oxford. Her research aims to design a personalised harm detection AI that enables users to manage their exposure to psychologically harmful social media content. 

Claudine holds a Master of Law from the University of Lausanne (Switzerland) and Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from UC San Diego. In her spare time, she writes for Oxford Analytica on social media regulation and online harms.

Amina Memon photo

Amina Memon

Advisor

Amina Memon is a Professor of Psychology at Royal Holloway University of London and Co-Director of the Centre for the Study of Emotion and Law. She conducts research on information gathering in legal contexts and contextual influences (such as emotion) on judgements about truthfulness and credibility. 

She is interested in the use of AI systems in criminal justice settings and drawing attention to biases that can exacerbate social divisions and endanger human rights.  Her goals align with We and AI in seeking more transparency around the use of artificial intelligent systems.

Ana Montague-Nelson

Ana Montague-Nelson

Advisor

Ana is a postgraduate student at SOAS University of London, undertaking an MA in Conflict, Human Rights and Justice studies. Her research focuses upon the relationship between artificial intelligence and human rights, specifically the rights of children and freedom of thought in the new digital age.

She has worked on projects focusing on colonial AI, embedded racial bias and the impact of this on human security in Global South countries. Through her work with We and AI, Ana hopes to assist in constructing an educational framework for AI literacy, ensuring equal access to every individual.

Mia Aleksandrova

Mia Aleksandrova

Advisor

Mia is a recent graduate in Consumer Marketing, passionate about marketing communications, technology and the intersection between them.

She is currently working at a fintech start-up as Growth Marketing Lead where she is responsible for the organic growth strategy. Prior to this, Mia has experience in the automotive industry working for an industry-leading car manufacturer, and has an extensive interest in sustainable luxury fashion.

Layla Li

Layla Li

Advisor

Layla is a Boston University and Harvard University graduate, and founder of KOSA AI (an organisation helping companies operationalize principles of responsible AI). 

She has 10+ years of experience building and scaling technology solutions at companies including Tesla and Philip. She has built strong expertise in AI bias during her time developing automated decision-making systems for multiple international organizations. 

Through living, studying and working in China, Japan, US, UK, the Netherlands and Kenya, she’s an advocate for diversity and inclusion through her professional work and other charity involvements.

Helena Ward

Helena Ward

Advisor

Helena is currently completing her MPhil Philosophy at UCL, focusing upon excuses, and their function in the allocation of blame. 

She is interested in the ethical issues surrounding emerging technologies (the AI Ethics field in particular), currently co-writing papers on understanding ethical AI outcomes, and the principles needed to mitigate the more negative ones. As AI technologies become increasingly embedded into our daily lives, it’s important for society at large to understand these technologies, and get involved in guiding AI design and deployment in the right direction. 

Helena hopes to help aid community access to knowledge on AI through her involvement in We and AI’s educational project.

Alexandra Kuzmina

Alexandra Kuzmina

Advisor

Alexandra is an award-winning and Market Research Society (MRS) qualified mixed methods researcher. In her current role at MMR, a global consumer research agency, she leads tech innovation, exploring new opportunities with a core drive to uncover the technology that makes a difference to the quality & depth of market research, avoiding ‘tech for techs sake’. 

She holds an MA in Public Administration and has done research on Transparency, Open Data and the implementation of technology in the public domain.

Zac Lovell

Zac Lovell

Advisor

Zac works within Data Innovation at the Bank of England focusing on delivering and researching new technologies.With a business and sociology background,

Zac is passionate about ensuring AI is ethical and not discriminatory. Zac believes in the importance of raising awareness of how business, capitalism, colonialism and whiteness shape how AI is currently built and utilised.

Valena Reich

Valena Reich

Advisor

Valena is a final-year student at King’s College London, doing a BA in Philosophy and taking modules in the field of Artificial Intelligence. She is particularly interested in the Ethics of AI, which will be the focus of her dissertation.

Furthermore, Valena is currently a Research Fellow at King’s College London, researching the impact of digital technologies on children.At We and AI, she is working on the “AI Literacy” and “Demystifying AI” projects, creating educational material on AI and its ethical implications. Valena hopes that by putting her philosophical skills and her knowledge in AI to practice, she will contribute towards a more ethical progress in AI.

Rick Payne

Rick Payne

Advisor

Rick Payne is a PhD student at the University of Portsmouth researching the communication of data science, including AI, big data and analytics. He is exploring how data scientists communicate with decision-makers and whether there is a need for someone to act as a ‘translator’ to bridge the communication
gap.

The research links nicely with Rick’s desire to make AI work for everyone, particularly through developing educational resources which can empower diverse communities. His MSc in Organisational Behaviour from Birkbeck College, University of London also provides a useful foundation for this work.

Rick is an ICAEW Chartered Accountant who spent his early career managing finance departments in wholesale banking.

More recently, he headed a research programme at ICAEW looking at improving finance department effectiveness. He covered a wide range of topics, including strategy, performance management, finance business partnering, robotic process automation and the Internet of Things.

Peter Rees

Peter Rees

Advisor

Dr Peter Rees was trained in natural sciences and history & philosophy of science at the University of Cambridge. His PhD research on the politics and ethics of science addressed cultural models of artificial intelligence and common assumptions which shape how we think about intelligent machines. He is especially interested in questions of power and how images and art forge worldviews. A past life as a laboratory researcher fostered his interest in the politics of machines and practices of inquiry.

Rebecca Hull

trustee

Rebecca leads Manifesto’s delivery function, providing oversight and direction on project portfolios from inception through to completion on client digital transformation projects.

Rebecca has a wealth of experience managing technology and business change programmes designed to support the delivery of fundraising, marketing and self-serve initiatives.

Adeola Gbakinro

social media strategist

Adeola is digital marketing freelancer who specialises in social media, blog writing and web development.

She has worked with various NGO’s developing their online brand and email marketing techniques. Adeola is the founder of Uplift The Next Generation, an organisation that connects young people from diverse backgrounds with professionals.

Yasmin Jones​

Community Ambassador

Yasmin is currently a software engineer intern and consultant.

She also partakes in ‘Code First Girls’ programs, as it’s important to expose women and the BAME community to a sector in which they’re under-represented in.

Xuan Wang

steering lead

I am a philosopher turned software engineer. I am interested in using technology to improve people’s lives, using ethical engineering design and promoting better understanding and easier access to data.

Ama Wiliams

steering lead

Ama has a background in product design consultancy, but in recent years has worked as a product manager on mobile payment technology (Mastercard), analysis tools (Arup), learning management systems and insuretech (John Lewis).

She believes healthy products are built from consistent questioning and positive feedback loops that involve a diverse set of thoughts and people.

Sian Melonie

marketing lead

Sian is a marketeer with over 12 years experience. She has worked with various organisations including Which? 

Guardian Newspapers and ODEON Cinemas working on various digital transformation projects, she is particularly interested in AI’s role for our future and the numerous organisations developing it and we can protect ourselves from biases