Andy Vitale is the Director of Product Marketing at Brandhub, where he leads a team focused on transforming the mortgage lending experience for millions of people who want to buy or refinance a home, as well as professional partners across the lending and real estate spectrum.

Heidi Edwards is the Assistant Head of AI Skills and Talent Lead within the Ministry of Defence, bringing over 26 years of experience in the UK Government. With a background in Cloud, Architecture and Artificial Intelligence. Heidi's career has included roles in multiple government organisations, focusing on digital transformation and capability-building initiatives.

Heidi’s career has been centred on technology and innovation in cloud computing and now AI, emphasising the importance of learning to drive digital innovation to transform careers. She leads learning initiatives designed to enhance the organisation's capabilities through strategic development.

She has introduced the 'Amazon’s Cloudupfor Her programme,' the first of its kind for the UK Civil Service. Additionally, she has developed the UK Civil Service ‘TechHer’ Microsoft programme, which trained over 10,000 women across government last year.

In her work in technology and innovation, Heidi Edwards has focused on inclusivity and strategic leadership. She supports initiatives that promote diversity and empower underrepresented groups, influencing approaches to technology within the UK Government.

Heidi is an award-winning capability lead, and Learning and Performance Institute finalist, 2024.

Claire Fry was appointed Director Functional Integration for the Ministry of Defence Digital Function in February 2021. Her role providing leadership across the Digital function which is Pan Defence. This includes being the Digital Head of Profession and leading the People agenda across the Digital Function. Her aim is to drive functional impact, working closely with the Chief Information Officer (CIO) community across Defence to ensure cohesion and integration of Digital. Amongst other things her key responsibilities include the £4.6bn Portfolio Digital spend, the Digital governance that reports into the Defence Board and is leading the Digital Skills for Defence Programme, working across Defence and industry to develop ground-breaking Digital skills uplift. Starting off in the private sector, Claire has now worked in Defence for over 20 years, primarily in Digital roles, including working as a Head of CIO in a TLB (setting the Information strategy, driving IT efficiency and delivering business value), leading Digital Programmes and as the IT Head of Profession being responsible for setting up the first Digital Apprenticeship and Graduate programmes and for the professional development of up to 14000 Digital Professionals. She has driven Portfolio development of up to £26Bn and is grounded in ITIL based processes such as Configuration Management, Business Change and driving value from Technology in the business. As a Certified Management Consultant (CMC), running the internal consultancy team for Defence the team was awarded the Institute of Business Consultancy (IBC) premier practice status, delivering business process engineering, organisational development, and team building.

Dina is a Deputy Director in the MOD and has led the Software, Data, AI and Cloud Services category in Defence Digital Commercial since 2019. She oversees around £2bn annually across Cyber, Crypt Key, Cloud, Intelligence, Software, AI and Foundry portfolios. With 19 years of Commercial and Procurement experience across public and private sectors, she joined the MOD from Worldpay. Known for innovation and digital transformation, she builds and motivates high‑performing teams. Dina also created and leads the Commercial X programme, focused on simplifying how the MOD procures digital, technology and innovation services.

Professor Meers is a Fellow at the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) specialising in application of artificial intelligence and machine learning to Defence and Security challenges. He is the Technical Strategy Leader for Dstl’s AI & Data Science Capability and is the Head of Research & Experimentation for the UK Defence AI Centre. He provides advice at the highest levels within the Ministry of Defence regarding the opportunities and threats presented by artificial intelligence and machine learning and how the UK can responsibly & safely adopt these technologies to strengthen Defence and National Security.