Event: De-Risk Without De-Valuing: Turning Governance into an AI Growth Engine
What if governance and data management didn’t just keep you out of trouble – but helped you spot, shape and scale the AI use cases that deserve your time?
Turning Governance into an AI Growth Engine
In-person event | Limited seats
20th January | 2.30 - 5.00pm
Databricks Office, Windmill Street, W1T 2JG
Most organisations are overflowing with AI ideas. What’s missing are high-impact, reusable use cases built on data that’s clean, connected and governed.
Without that, AI gets smothered in process. Pilots drag on, nothing reaches production, and governance gets blamed – when the real problem is shaky data and fuzzy priorities.
“De-Risk Without De-Valuing: Turning Governance into an AI Growth Engine” brings customers from across industries together to fix that: pairing solid data foundations with sharp use case choices so AI starts to move the needle.
You’ll also join a live panel discussion with industry thinkers from financial services, public sector, retail, gaming, manufacturing, insurance and more, comparing what’s really working, where things get stuck, and how they’re choosing their next AI bets.
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Benedetto Conversano is the former Chief Information Officer of Diageo, one of the world’s leading premium drinks companies. In his role as CIO, he was responsible for enterprise technology and information systems at a global scale, supporting Diageo’s operations across markets, brands, and functions. His experience spans large, complex organisations where technology, data, and business transformation intersect.
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Richard Masters is Vice President of Data & AI at Virgin Atlantic. In this role, he leads the airline’s data and artificial intelligence agenda, focusing on how data capabilities can support commercial performance, operational efficiency, and customer experience within a global aviation business.
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Maria Zervou is Chief Data and AI Officer at Databricks. She works with organisations across industries to help them define and execute their data and AI strategies, focusing on how modern data platforms can enable analytics, machine learning, and AI at scale.
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George Bettsworth is Head of Data Science at the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO). He leads the department’s data science activity, focusing on how applied data science can strengthen decision-making and delivery across policy, programmes, and operations in a complex, global organisation.
We'll be focusing on how to:
- Move from a long list of AI “ideas” to a short list of priority use cases tied to real outcomes.
- Build the right roadmap of use cases based on value.
- Use your data foundations to identify where AI can create reusable assets – not one-off experiments.
- Spot the “spicy” use cases: high impact, politically meaningful, and forcing you to tidy data you’ll reuse elsewhere.
- Use Databricks as the place where governed data, trusted AI assets and real-world delivery come together.
At this event, you will:
- Learn how to assess AI ideas through a value lens – who benefits, what changes, how it will be measured.
- Connect use cases to your data reality – which ideas are actually feasible given where your data lives and how it’s controlled.
- See patterns from other industries – fraud, customer experience, localisation, planning, operations – and how others chose where to start.
- Understand how Databricks supports this journey – from governed data and shared features to AI products that can be deployed and scaled.
