Sonia Patel

Government Chief Technology Officer - Government Digital Service

Sonia joined GDS as interim Government Chief Technology Officer in April 2026. She is widely recognised as an influential digital leader with a strong track record of delivering innovation in complex and challenging environments. Her leadership is grounded in a deep commitment to diversity, equality, and inclusion. She is an active advocate of the Shuri Network, BCS and APHA, and she dedicates significant time to mentoring emerging digital talent, reflecting her passion for developing the next generation of health tech leaders.

Carl Tanner

Databricks

Databricks Data and AI Enablement Leader, Carl leads Databricks Customer and Scaled User Enablement organisation across EMEA, and is based in London.

Rachel Williamson

Science and Technology Facilities Council UKRI

After 30 years as a Computing Teacher and Vocational Quality Manager in North West colleges, Rachel Williamson joined STFC Hartree Centre in 2022. As Training Assurance Lead, she ensures the quality for cutting-edge digital training specifically designed organisations to enhance organisational processes and technical economy skills.

Paul Griffiths

Microsoft

Paul Griffiths is a Senior Learning & Skilling Manager at Microsoft, helping UK public sector organisations build the digital and AI skills needed for the future. He specialises in creating large-scale skilling programmes that help people develop confidence, gain Microsoft credentials and progress their careers. Paul is passionate about making technology learning accessible and inclusive, connecting skills.

Isha Howlett

QA

I'm passionate about helping people build the skills and confidence to embrace new technology. After 25 years at QA, I'm more excited than ever about the potential of AI, and the importance of equipping people with the right data and cyber security foundations to use it effectively and responsibly.

Martin Hill

ServiceNow

VP, Global L&D, Customer Acceleration ServiceNow University An established global training business leader, with over 25 years of commercial leadership success. Martin maintains a passion for learning innovation and accelerating customer time-to-value, through digital workforce transformation combined with effective talent enablement and AI adoption strategies. With repeated success in building high-performing GTM, consulting and operational businesses and strategies for numerous vendor learning organisations, currently he is responsible for the global commercial, Customer Acceleration business within ServiceNow University. Martin is part of ServiceNow's Global L&D exec leadership team.

Grant Eaton

Oracle

Program and Business Development specialist with vast experience in the area of Learning and Development across the Technology industry. Experienced in the development and delivery of skills and enablement programs to support effective adoption of technology investment. 4th year involvement with GTC campaign (and counting!)

Scott Powell

Amazon

Scott Powell is Training & Certification Lead for UK Public Sector at AWS. With over 20 years’ experience in technology training, he has delivered training programmes to public sector organisations across UK and EMEA. Scott works with central government, health, local government, and the wider public sector to build cloud and AI capability – from first-time learners to established teams. From delivering assessments to baseline organisation’s skills, to supporting initiatives like Get Tech Certified, he focuses on widening access to free, foundational AWS learning and recognised certifications that help public sector professionals apply cloud and AI with confidence.

Angelina Padarnitsas

Celonis

Enthusiastic and dedicated educational professional with 15 years of experience in the corporate education industry. Passionate about delivering innovative learning experiences and accessible education to everyone – from kids in their early school days to professionals in every stage of their career.

Dean Oliver

FinOps Foundation

Dean Oliver is the UK & Ireland Community Lead at the FinOps Foundation and Staff Liaison to its Technical Advisory Council. He organises and facilitates community events and initiatives and works with practitioners on evolving FinOps best practices and standards.

Thibaut Rouffineau

WSO2

Thibaut is the Senior Vice President & Chief Marketing Officer at WSO2 and based in our office in London, United Kingdom. Before joining WSO2, Thibaut spent a decade at Canonical, where he served as Vice President of Marketing. During this time, he led Canonical's rebranding, positioning it as a portfolio company beyond Ubuntu, and guided the organization's transition from product-led to sales-led growth. He also spearheaded joint go-to-market initiatives with partners across the technology ecosystem, including silicon and hardware manufacturers, public cloud providers, and independent software vendors (ISVs). Thibaut holds a Master's degree in Telecommunications Engineering from Télécom SudParis and a postgraduate Diploma in Marketing from Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM).Outside of work, he enjoys what he describes as "type 2" fun, including marathons, ultra-trail running, and triathlons. While competing at age-group level, he is known for never leaving a colleague behind during team runs or hikes. Between training sessions, he enjoys a wide range of science fiction, comics, and business books.

Seb Antony

Google

Seb is an enterprise growth and public sector technology leader with 24+ years of experience bridging strategy with technical execution. Leading Gen AI and GTM strategy at Google Cloud, he specialises in helping large organisations cut through tech hype to deliver measurable citizen impact, operational efficiency, and scalable digital modernisation.

Phil Swan

Government Digital Service

Phil Swan is Director of Government Digital Enablement at GDS, where he leads work on digital standards, workforce capability, and local government transformation. Before joining GDS, he spent eight years as Director for Digital and CIO at GMCA, helping shape Greater Manchester's approach to digital transformation and public service reform. He is passionate about using technology to improve people's lives, strengthen public services, and help organisations work together more effectively across institutional boundaries.

Martin Turner

Government Digital Service

As a Senior Change Delivery Manager here in GDS I’ve had the privilege of delivering the Get Tech Certified initiative for the past three years now and have thoroughly enjoyed being part of a programme that delivers real value across the public sector. Watching it grow year on year fills me with immense pride, particularly seeing the positive impact it has on individuals and organisations. What motivates me most is knowing that we are making a tangible difference by helping public sector employees develop new skills, gain industry-recognised certifications, and access opportunities that can transform their careers.

Chris Prahl

Prosperops

Chris Prahl is a FinOps Specialist at ProsperOps, a Flexera company. ProsperOps autonomously manages cloud commitments and workloads on AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud to maximize savings and minimize commitment risk. Based in Hamburg, Chris previously served as CTO of CoachBot.ai and VP of Engineering at Y42. He also spent three years at DoiT International, a Google Cloud and AWS partner, rising to Staff Cloud Architect. Earlier, he was Head of Technology at Trakken Web Services.