Smarter Decisions
Founder & CEO
Strategic advisory across talent, data, technology, AI, innovation, culture, governance and growth.
Experience
Experience that connects strategy with delivery.
Across financial services, technology, retail, public sector, property, education and social impact organisations, Kevin has helped leaders make data, digital and innovation opportunities useful, trusted and commercially relevant.
Current portfolio
Board and advisory roles today.
Mediaworks
Non-Executive Director
C-level strategy and governance for an integrated creative, performance, data and technology business.
FinTech North
Non-Executive Advisor
Strategy, skills and partnership development supporting an inclusive fintech ecosystem across the North of England.
FinPact
Co-Founder
Data, finance and innovation partnerships focused on inclusive economic and social impact.
MoneyMatiX
C-Level Impact & Funding Advisor
Strategy, funding and proposition development focused on financial inclusion.
Selected experience.
Leading change and growth
Smarter Decisions, Thoughtworks, TransUnion, Acxiom, VeriSign and BankTec.
Building trusted data-sharing and innovation foundations
Smart Data Foundry, secure data environments, governance, data partnerships, research capability and data-for-good.
Growing ecosystems and capability
FinPact, FinTech North, multi-sector skills partnerships, innovation programmes, regional growth and social impact.
Selected brand experience by sector
Selected experience
Consumer retail & services
- Sainsbury's
- Tesco
- Asda
Financial services & technology
- NatWest Group
- Shawbrook Bank
- Mastercard
Data, research & innovation
- Nectar
- Equifax
- Sage
Insurance
- AXA
- DLG
- Collingwood
Automotive
- Mercedes-Benz
- Toyota
- Lexus
Government & public sector
- GOV.UK
- Information Commissioner's Office
- Digital Catapult
Charities & third sector
- Cancer Research UK
- Oxfam
- Barnardo's
Media, marketing & entertainment
- Mediaworks
- Disney
- Pizza Hut
Payments & fintech
- Adyen
- Worldpay
- Visa
Beyond the brands, ecosystems and social impact
Alongside client work, we contribute to the wider ecosystem through FinTech North, championing responsible fintech growth across the North of England. We support MoneyMatiX and its mission to widen financial literacy and inclusion for under-served communities, and we collaborate with Finpact on financial-services innovation and impact. Social impact runs through our advisory work, backing AI skills, apprenticeships, employability and inclusive growth so that new technology creates opportunity for people, not just for platforms.
FinTech NorthMoneyMatiXFinpact
Connect on LinkedInBoard advisory · Fractional · AI, data & growth · smarterdecisions.ai
Recognition
- DataIQ Top 100 recognition for influence in data, AI and responsible innovation.
- Co-author and speaker on responsible AI governance, data strategy and innovation.
- Experience working with senior leaders across industry, government, regulation, academia and communities.
Trusted data leadership
Leading trusted data partnerships at scale.
Kevin played a leading role in establishing the foundations for one of the earliest large-scale financial data-sharing ecosystems in the UK. The work created a trusted route for private-sector data to be used securely for research, policy and public benefit.
Opening financial data for public good.
Context
Financial institutions held valuable data that could help policymakers, researchers and charities understand household and business resilience. The challenge was to make insight available without compromising privacy, security, customer rights or commercial confidence.
Leadership contribution
Kevin helped lead the foundational work at Smart Data Foundry. This included data partnership strategy, governance, risk, compliance, ethics, information security, contractual agreements and the trusted research operating model.
NatWest Group
NatWest Group became one of the first UK banks to share de-identified data through a trusted research partnership for public benefit. More than one million households were represented in de-identified transaction data used to understand the financial impact of the pandemic.
Sage
Kevin also helped establish the foundations for trusted work with Sage. Anonymised accounting and payroll data was used to support insight into late payments, SME performance and workforce trends through initiatives including the Sage Small Business Tracker and Workforce Tracker.
What this demonstrates
- Board-level understanding of data value, privacy, governance and trust.
- Ability to create partnerships across corporates, government, academia, researchers and technology providers.
- Practical experience of moving from ambition to secure operating models.
- Strong understanding of how trusted data can support commercial insight, policy and social impact.
The work described reflects Kevin’s leadership contribution during the founding and development of trusted data partnerships. Partner initiatives have continued to develop over time.
The right conversation can make complex change more practical.
For a board appointment, fractional strategic role, partnership opportunity or speaking engagement, start with a confidential conversation.