Novi Technology & Digital Innovation Leader of the Year

Dina is a Deputy Director in the MOD and has been Head of the Software, Data, AI and Cloud Services category in Defence Digital Commercial since 2019. She has commercial ownership of circa £2bn pa of spend across the Cyber, Crypt Key, Cloud Services, Intelligence, Software, AI and the Foundry portfolios that span all areas of Defence She has 17 years of Commercial and Procurement experience in Private and Public sector and joined the MOD from Worldpay, the UK’s largest payments processing company. A recognised innovator with a passion for digital transformation as well as building, developing and motivating high performing teams to maximise value and capability. Dina created and now leads the Commercial X programme alongside her Defence Digital role. She is committed to simplifying the way MOD procures digital, innovation and technology products and services.

A strategic and commercial Global Talent Acquisition Director with 15 years’ experience in C-Suite Executive Search and team build outs in high growth business models. Substantial experience of leading global recruitment teams and delivering on critical Executive Search mandates. Trusted Advisor to Equity Partners on complex Business Plans and Equity Packages for Leadership hiring. Strong advocate of DEI initiatives.

Dr Helen Kimber is Senior Data Scientist at Genetec, where she leads AI innovation in physical security, a domain where transparency and trust are critical. Named Inventor of the Year in 2024, she has submitted eight patents to date, including four in the past year alone. Her research focuses on human-in-the-loop systems and computational steering of multi-modal pipelines, placing users at the centre of their investigations. Helen co-authored Genetec’s AI guidelines and drives their adoption across the company, mentoring teams to embed ethical, explainable practices. She collaborates with academic partners on responsible AI and regularly shares insights at industry panels and conferences. Originally trained in Astrochemistry with a PhD from UCL, she now applies her passion for rigorous research to shaping the future of trustworthy AI in one of technology’s most sensitive domains.

Dr Claire Thorne is Adviser and Venture Partner at Deep Science Ventures, co-founding and now scaling a PhD in invention. She serves on the Council of The Foundation for Science and Technology, is a member of the Sutton Trust’s Tech Future Taskforce and techUK’s TechSkills Advisory Board. She is also co-Chief Executive Officer of a ‘tech for good’ scale-up, Tech She Can – an industry-backed charity tackling the UK’s tech skills gap. Claire regularly speaks at London Tech Weeks, Mobile World Congress, Accenture and Infosys’ client conferences, and contributes to publications in Computing, The Guardian and with the Tony Blair Institute. Her background is in innovation strategy at UK universities: shaping Imperial’s 23-acre White City innovation district, and operating a #1 university business incubator. Claire holds a PhD in Astroparticle Physics from Imperial College London.

Katherine is a Director Global Product Integration at MasterCard, recognised early as a talent and selected for the GDE leadership mentoring programme. After earning her MBA in the UK and Switzerland, she cofounded a female mobility startup, winning the UN and Said Business School’s Reboot Mobility hackathon. Katherine is dedicated to empowering others; At MasterCard, she actively champions the Girls4Tech and Strive initiatives, advocating for technology education and small business growth. Separately, she cofounded the University of Warwick’s Finance Alumni Network, enabling thousands of alumni to thrive, and recently joined the advisory board for Warwick Business School mentoring program.

Brief Biography Caitlin Keam leads Sustainability Applications at IFS, responsible for the development of new products focused on sustainability data management, while also driving sustainability embedded across IFS solutions, to support customers broader sustainability goals. With previous experience at Bloomberg New Energy Finance, followed by her role as Head of Analytics and Sustainability, Caitlin is convinced of the pivotal role data and AI plays in sustainability. She brings extensive expertise in greenhouse gas accounting and has worked on long-term sustainability strategies, all centered around embedding sustainability into organizational business strategies