Kimra Conference - Speakers 2027

Andrew Cosgrove

EY Global Lead Analyst
EY

Andrew Cosgrove leads Insights globally at EY. Andrew has >25 years’ Consumer Goods and Professional Services experience as an analyst in the US, Asia and Europe including roles at Mars and McKinsey. He has a track record of delivering distinctive insights which challenge executives to reframe their strategic choices on where and how to compete. Andrew has an MBA from London business School and is co-author of ”Managing Profitable Growth in Emerging Markets: Scaling the Tail.

Anthony Cummins

Head of Research
Bridgepoint

Anthony has been Head of Research at Bridgepoint, one of the world’s leading mid-market investors, specialising in private equity, infrastructure, credit, secondaries and private wealth, for over twenty years. He leads a team that provides research support for deal origination and execution activities across the firm as well as having responsibility for relevant subscription procurement and management. Prior to Bridgepoint, he held roles in research and information at Global professional services and investment firms, including Hogan Lovells and Goldman Sachs.

Athena Peppes

Head of AI Research
BossUp.AI & Director
Beacon Thought Leadership

Athena Peppes is Head of AI Research at BossUp.AI and a Director at Beacon Thought Leadership. Her research focuses on the gap between organisations’ AI investments and their people’s readiness – and what that gap is costing in productivity. She started her career as an economist, followed by over a decade at Accenture researching emerging trends and their impact on business. Her insights have been featured in Harvard Business Review, The European Business Review, and Rotman Magazine. Her book “AI-Q: The new leadership imperative for the Human+AI era” is forthcoming in 2027.

Dan Donovan

GTM Leader
AlphaSense

Dan Donovan began his career in consulting at KPMG. He then moved into private equity, working with both large-cap PE and growth equity, with a focus on investing and value creation. Dan is now leading and building out the Emerging Markets business at AlphaSense.

Daniel Entrup

Co-Founder
AggKnowledge

Dan is Co-Founder of AggKnowledge, a data management and enrichment business purpose-built for knowledge networks. He has spent the majority of his career in information services and primary research businesses, working with and advising private equity firms, hedge funds, law firms, management consultancies, and large corporations on sources of intelligence. Prior to founding AggKnowledge, Dan was Executive Director of Data Strategy at Henry Schein, a Fortune 500 healthcare solutions company, and SVP of Partnerships at FactSet, a leading financial information services company. Additionally, he is an Advisor to multiple companies across the insights value-chain and writes the It’s Pronounced Data newsletter, a weekly digest of M&A, funding, people moves, events, articles, and more on the info services and market research sectors.

Dominic King

EMEA Research Lead
Accenture

Dominic is currently focused on how AI and other technologies can drive competitiveness across Europe. Previous work includes building the commercial case for diversity and sustainability with organisations such as the World Economic Forum and International Finance Corporation. He splits his time between London and Bath, where he plays and watches as much sport as his two young children allow.

Emma King

Insight Center – Senior Director
Alvarez & Marsal

Emma has worked in the information industry for more than 30 years, working within professional services research functions for more than 20 years. Emma is currently a Senior Director in the Insight Center at Alvarez & Marsal a consulting firms providing global leadership, problem solving and value creation for companies across industries and around the world. Emma has worked at A&M for 8 years – firstly developing and now leading the global “On-Demand” research service for the firm. She also supports other service offerings of Thought Leadership, Subscriptions, Internal Communications and Knowledge Management across EMEA.

Francis Hintermann

Global Executive Director
Accenture Research

Francis Hintermann is the Global Executive Director of Accenture Research. He is based in New York City. Accenture Research identifies and anticipates game changing business, market and technology trends through provocative thought leadership. Francis’ team of 300 researchers based in 20 countries partners with world class organizations and Academia to discover innovative solutions for clients. Accenture Research produces more than 100 thought leadership reports per year on the priority topics selected by Accenture and its clients. Francis’ own work is currently focused on the business and societal impacts of AI and Generative AI and the way companies develop successful AI strategies to create value. Francis has more than 25 years of experience in assessing the business impacts of new technologies for international companies and public organizations in North America and Europe. He is also an Adjunct Professor of Corporate Strategy at Sciences-Po in Paris, France.

Gabriel Karawani

Co-founder and Director
ClearPeople 

Gabriel Karawani is Co-founder of ClearPeople, the company behind Atlas, the intelligent knowledge platform for Microsoft 365. He works with law firms and professional services organizations to address a critical gap in enterprise AI: the knowledge layer. With over two decades of experience, he argues that most AI initiatives underperform not because of the models, but because of fragmented, ungoverned knowledge. His work focuses on designing structured knowledge architectures that enable Microsoft 365 Copilot, Azure AI, and scalable, multi-source AI adoption.

James Mann

Managing Director
FT Professional

James Mann has been Managing Director, FT Professional since September 2025, after joining the Financial Times in 1994. He has held senior commercial roles across circulation and digital content sales in the UK, US and internationally, including Global Sales for FT Professional and Director of Circulation and Content Sales, EMEA. He has led the FT’s B2B content licensing strategy. Previously, he worked at Euromoney. He holds degrees in Economics and Geography and is an NLA board representative.

Karen Battersby

General Manager,
Baker McKenzie London

Karen Battersby is the Global Director of Knowledge for Sectors and Clients at Baker McKenzie. She leads on AI client advisory services for the firm and is a member of the leadership team responsible for implementing AI tools across the firm. She is a commercial lawyer of many years experience, both in private practice and as a global in-house counsel, and has worked at legal industry vendors, including LexisNexis, developing legal product solutions. She holds an MBA and led the development of the UK’s first MBA qualification in legal Knowledge Management at Nottingham Law School, and is a qualified coach.

Kieron Champion

Managing Director and Advisory Practice Head
Fireman

Kieron Champion is Managing Director and head of the Advisory practice at Fireman, an Epiq Company, and supports law firms in the UK, North America, and Australia with their strategies, operating models, and solutions that span Knowledge, Data, and AI. In this role, he focuses on translating complex business strategies into practical, high-value solutions that deliver measurable impact for firms and their clients.

With over 25 years of experience in professional services – including roles as Global Chief Knowledge Strategy Officer at Cleary Gottlieb, Global Chief Knowledge Officer at KPMG, and earlier at Accenture – Kieron is a recognised thought leader in the field, regularly speaking at conferences, lecturing at universities, and contributing to industry publications.

Lianne Sherlock

Director and Global Head of Knowledge Services
Oliver Wyman

Lianne Sherlock is Director and Global Head of Knowledge Services at Oliver Wyman, a Marsh company, bringing nearly two decades of experience leading and evolving Knowledge Services within complex, global organisations. She is widely recognised for her leadership in organisational transformation, shaping future‑ready knowledge functions through operating model design, capability building and cultural change that embed insight at the heart of decision‑making. Lianne is at the forefront of AI‑enabled Knowledge Services, leveraging AI, automation and advanced analytics to deliver integrity-led insights at scale, strengthen trust and governance, and accelerate impact—ultimately driving organisational growth in an increasingly data‑ and insight‑driven world.

Monica Borjas

Director of Commercial & Business Strategy
Dow Jones

Based in London, Monica is a Director of Commercial and Business Strategy at Dow Jones where she shapes the evolution of their product and market strategy.

With over 15 years of experience spanning finance, media, and business development, Monica spent over a decade as a Senior Sales Manager partnering with world-class financial institutions. Today, she applies that deep institutional knowledge to help organisations navigate the complexities of content management and copyright protection in the age of AI.

Monica holds an MSc in Business and Administration and is passionate about transforming the digital landscape through data-driven partnerships and ethical AI solutions. Her work sits at the intersection of premium content and emerging tech, leveraging AI, NLP, and Generative AI to unlock actionable intelligence for B2B organisations globally.

Rachel Clarke

Knowledge Management Manager – Senior Vice President
AlixPartners

Rachel Clarke leads the Knowledge Management team at AlixPartners, supporting this global firm of consultants to deliver value to clients when it really matters. She has spent 22 years working in Knowledge Management roles: helping to build some of the first knowledge repositories and sites at EY, co-creating collaboration spaces with clients, building and enabling communities of practice and developing and managing global content collections. Since joining AlixPartners she has re-built taxonomies, implemented a full redesign of their primary knowledge hub, led a migration of their priority content collection to a new platform and explored AI tooling to support content translation and sanitization.

Sam McDonald

Senior Associate
Corporate Reorganiations
Baker McKenzie

Sam joined Baker McKenzie in 2022 after spending 3 years as an associate in the M&A team at an international Magic Circle firm. Sam is currently a Senior Associate in the Corporate Reorganisations team in London.

He advises clients across multiple sectors on a range of complex multi jurisdictional restructurings, carve outs, spin offs, post acquisition integrations and general corporate governance matters. He regularly leads day to day delivery on large, multi workstream projects, coordinating specialist input across jurisdictions and ensuring practical, well sequenced implementation aligned with client objectives. He is also an emerging contributor on AI enabled delivery of reorganisation projects (acting as both an EMEA Transactional AI champion and Reorganisations legal tech champion).

Stela Bokun

Partner, expert in Technology and Telecoms Industries
Baringa Partners

Stela helps technology companies innovate and grow.

She brings nearly two decades of experience advising technology companies, telecoms operators and vendors and digital ecosystem players on the forces shaping the TMT industry landscape. Her work spans small and medium business (SMB) AI and digital adoption and usage, telco cloud and network transformation, and emerging‑technology opportunity assessment – including areas such as LEO satellite and AI. She has supported senior executives across global hyperscalers, major technology platforms, mid‑market SaaS providers and telecoms vendors and operators, helping them identify high‑value customer segments, differentiate in crowded markets, evolve their channel ecosystems and build strategies for sustainable growth. Stela blends analytical rigour and primary‑research insight with a deep understanding of the TMT industry, helping clients cut through noise and focus on what truly creates impact.

More than anything else, Stela deeply cares about the people she works with: she’s striving to be an empathetic, supportive leader who listens, understands the pressures her clients and teammates face and creates an environment where both feel empowered and supported.

At Baringa, Stela is a Partner in our TMT team, leading our work across technology and digital infrastructure and contributing deep expertise in strategy and go‑to‑market design for both big tech and mid‑market technology firms.

Beyond her client work, she is a committed advocate for women in technology and consulting, helping to broaden access and strengthen pathways into the industry. She speaks Serbian and Spanish, is learning Mandarin, and enjoys running, reading about longevity and biohacking, and spending time with her family and friends.

Stephen Phillips

Stephen is a passionate advocate for the information industry. He recently retired a Lead Analyst at Jinfo, having managed a global research team and an extensive portfolio of suppliers at a global investment bank.

Stephen was a senior advisor to Couranto, now part of Prenax, he continues to support CILIP’s work as Trustee and Honorary Treasurer and serves as a non-executive director of M&A Monitor.

Stuart Tate

Tax Technology & Innovation Partner
KPMG in the UK

Stuart is a Tax Technology and Innovation Partner at KPMG in the UK. Stuart leads on tax technology for the UK firm. In addition to his UK role, Stuart chairs the EMEA Tax & Legal Technology Network, driving a unified technology strategy amongst the EMEA KPMG firms.

Tara Pichardo Angadi

Director of Knowledge (EMEA)
Norton Rose Fulbright

Tara Pichardo Angadi is Director of Knowledge (EMEA) at Norton Rose Fulbright, with responsibility across Learning, Knowledge Management and Data. In this role, she focuses on practical, value led innovation — ensuring that knowledge and data are translated into tools and approaches that support legal delivery and are adopted in practice.

Her current focus is on strengthening data governance within law firms, recognising this as a critical foundation for generating reliable insights and enabling the development of scalable, data driven client solutions.

Tom Mowat

Director, Global Customer Experience Analytics
Microsoft

Tom Mowat is a data science and analytics executive with over 15 years of international research and strategy experience. Tom currently leads the insights and analytics function at Microsoft’s global customer experience team, managing the strategy behind the company’s internal listening instruments and responsible for the dissemination of insights to stakeholders around the wolrd. Prior to this Tom worked as the founder and CEO of Vesta Smart Packaging, as well as multiple consulting and research roles at companies including PWC and Analysis Mason.

Zoe Dowling

Director of Global Customer Experience Insights
Microsoft

Zoe Dowling leads a team turning complex customer signals into decisive action. She built the function from the ground up on a clear premise: better decisions don’t come from more data, but from better questions. With two decades across CX, insights, and strategy, including roles at Forsta and Kantar, she brings research rigour, systems thinking, and storytelling to help organizations move from insight to impact. She holds a Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Surrey.