Tech Talks

In this conversation recorded at Web Summit Rio, David Savage sits down with Lisa Smith, Global Executive Creative Director at Jones Knowles Ritchie, to unpack the tension between creativity, AI, and brand identity. Lisa challenges the notion that AI equals innovation—arguing that in too many cases, it simply accelerates blandness. With nearly two decades of design and strategy experience, she exp...

In this episode recorded at Web Summit Rio, David Savage speaks with Melissa Jackson Parsey, SVP Global Managing Partner at R/GA, about how brands can stay relevant in a world shaped by AI-driven behaviours. Melissa shares how the agency’s creative strategy has evolved from legacy media to machine learning, the value of cross-industry thinking, and why experimentation has given way to implementati...

David Savage sits down with Rachel Tilghman, Area Vice President at Braze, to explore how the world of customer engagement is evolving in the age of AI. Recorded at Web Summit Rio, Rachel shares insights on the company’s rapid growth in LATAM, the move from persona-based to empathy-based marketing, and the need for brands to go slow to go fast—especially when it comes to data and agentic AI. With...

In this episode, David Savage speaks with Alexey Boas, CTO for Latin America at ThoughtWorks, recorded live at Web Summit Rio. They unpack the risks of chasing AI efficiency without context—and why systems thinking, creativity, and human perspective are more important than ever. Alexey shares insights into the evolution from digital to intelligent organisations, what it really means to be an effec...

Whilst at Web Summit, podcast host David Savage sat down with David Shim, founder and CEO of Read AI, to explore how artificial intelligence can do more than just summarise your meetings—it can understand reactions, recommend actions, and even warn you when your client or team is losing trust. Shim, who previously scaled Foursquare, shares his vision for a future of proactive, personalised AI that...

In this episode, David Savage speaks with Jack McCauley, legendary hardware innovator, co-founder of Oculus, and creator behind Guitar Hero’s iconic controller. Jack shares what it takes to survive and thrive in hardware—from million-selling hits to failed camera startups. He reflects on Meta’s struggles with VR, why hardware investment is so fraught, and how he’s now applying the same curiosity a...

Sasha Lund—founder of Core Values Consulting and editor of The Rising Role of Women in Family Offices and Family Businesses—joins David Savage to explore the evolving dynamics of leadership, legacy, and decision-making. After a profound near-death experience, Sasha rebuilt her life with a renewed sense of purpose, championing values-led leadership, emotional intelligence, and the long-overlooked c...

Tom Leathes, CEO and co-founder of Motorway, joins David Savage to talk about the startup journey from humble beginnings to unicorn status. In a £180B market full of noise, Tom’s team cut through by focusing relentlessly on one thing: helping people sell cars better. He shares lessons from five businesses, insights on scaling lean, and why staying laser-focused on the customer problem still drives...

In this episode, David Savage speaks with Nora Jones, Senior Director of Strategy and Growth at PagerDuty, and former founder of incident analysis platform Jeli. They discuss Jeli’s journey from startup to acquisition, what it means to build tools that truly support engineers under pressure, and how PagerDuty is redefining incident response in a fast-evolving AI-driven landscape. This is a story o...

In this episode, David Savage sits down with Justina Nixon-Saintil, Chief Impact Officer at IBM, to explore how one of the world’s largest tech companies is responding to the AI talent crisis. With 50% of today’s workforce lacking the basic tech skills needed to adapt, Justina outlines IBM’s bold mission to skill 30 million people by 2030—two million in AI alone by 2026. From responsible AI to inc...

David Savage talks with Jim Mellon, Executive Chairman and Founder of Agronomics, about the rise of clean food—cultivated meat, precision fermentation, and biotech-led food production. With animal welfare, climate impact, and food security all under the spotlight, Jim shares how innovation is reshaping what ends up on our plates. From lab-grown chicken for pets to cheese without cows, this episode...

David Savage sits down with Pietro Candela, EMEA General Manager at Alipay+, to explore how the mobile-first (and increasingly mobile-only) economies of Asia are reshaping global commerce. From QR code-powered experiences to super apps and digital ecosystems, Pietro explains how European businesses can plug into a borderless retail revolution—and why embracing mobile innovation is the key to stayi...

In this episode, David Savage is joined by Alan Trefler, founder and CEO of Pegasystems. With over four decades of leadership at the helm of a billion-dollar software company, Alan offers a rare combination of deep technical insight and strategic foresight. They discuss the evolving landscape of AI—from statistical models to generative agents—and what it really takes to deliver ROI, resilience, an...

In this episode of Tech Talks, David Savage speaks with Megha Kumar, Chief Product Officer and Head of Geopolitical Risk at CyXcel. Megha explores how technology, policy, and global politics intersect—unpacking the realities of fragmented supply chains, the misunderstood role of data in AI, and why trust in tech must be earned, not assumed. This is a must-listen for anyone navigating digital risk,...

David Savage sits down with Peter Swartz, co-founder and Chief Science Officer at Altana, to discuss how AI is helping governments and global enterprises manage supply chain risk in an increasingly fragmented world. From forced labor and geopolitical tension to critical imports and climate disruption, Peter explains why legacy systems can’t cope—and how networked intelligence could be the key to a...

Michael Walrath, Chair of Yext and serial tech entrepreneur, joins David Savage to break down how AI is disrupting the traditional rules of digital presence and search. As brands wake up to the shift from human-focused web experiences to AI agents as digital gatekeepers, Michael shares what companies need to do now to stay visible. He explains why businesses must stop building for websites alone a...

In this episode, David Savage speaks with Dr. Sarah Schlobohm, CAIO at Zally, about what it means to build a business where AI isn’t just a support function—it is the product. From passwordless security to redefining tech team structures, Sarah explores the fast-evolving AI landscape and what modern tech leadership really looks like. They also discuss how emerging businesses can stay agile amid re...

In this episode, David Savage talks to Stevie Case, Chief Revenue Officer at compliance and security leader Vanta. Stevie shares her remarkable journey from being one of the world’s first professional female gamers to leading Vanta’s explosive growth. Along the way, she opens up about the risks AI poses to data security, why regulation alone isn’t enough, and how trust has become a core business d...

In this episode of Tech Talks, David Savage reconnects with Barry O’Connell to explore the growing cybersecurity risks in manufacturing, particularly as geopolitical instability, outdated systems, and operational technology (OT) vulnerabilities collide. As Barry explains, manufacturing is increasingly targeted by cybercriminals and even state-sponsored actors due to gaps in cyber maturity and spra...

In this episode, David Savage speaks with Svetlana Tarnagurskaja, CEO and co-founder of The Dot Collective, a next-generation consultancy helping enterprises make the most of their data. Svetlana explores how organisations can stop treating data like an afterthought and start building modern, cloud-native infrastructure that actually delivers ROI. From the myths of traditional consultancy to the r...

The pace of AI and cloud innovation is relentless—but are enterprises keeping up? In this episode, Jason Rees, SVP Technology and Cloud Infrastructure at Oracle, joins Tech Talks to discuss the shift from AI experimentation to execution. With Oracle’s AI Agent Studio, businesses now have the tools to build, extend, and deploy AI-driven automation at scale. But what does this mean for vendor choice...

In this special episode of  Tech Talks , David Savage sits down with Feryal Clark, Minister for AI and Digital Government, to explore the UK government's AI Energy Council—its goals, challenges, and why the national strategy must centre both sustainability and inclusion. As AI continues to demand more power and shape the global economy, how does the UK ensure all communities—not just London—re...

The world of insurance has remained largely unchanged for centuries—but in an era of rapid technological innovation, is the industry keeping up? Joseph Ziolkowski, CEO and co-founder of Relm Insurance, joins Tech Talks to discuss why emerging industries, from AI and Web3 to private space exploration, struggle to find coverage in traditional insurance markets. Joe explains how Relm is addressing si...

In this episode of Tech Talks, Becky Tanner, Chief Marketing and People Officer at Wisk, takes us inside the future of autonomous air travel. Wisk is pioneering the development of self-flying, all-electric air taxis, aiming to transform urban mobility while maintaining the highest safety standards. With Boeing as its backer, Wisk is working toward FAA certification for its groundbreaking aircraft—...

In this episode of Tech Talks, David Savage speaks with Ben Colman, CEO of Reality Defender, about the alarming rise of deepfake technology, its impact on fraud, and how businesses can defend themselves in a world where AI-generated deception is becoming mainstream. With deepfake-related losses projected to hit $40 billion by 2027, companies are waking up to the threat of AI-driven fraud—whether i...