AI, digital, cyber and the innovators putting Wales on the tech map, with insight from our editorial board, features, research and podcasts.
From compound semiconductors and cyber security to software, data and start-ups, our AI, Tech & Innovation Editorial Board brings together leaders from industry clusters, technology businesses, government and local authorities. They set the themes we explore — artificial intelligence and its adoption, digital skills, investment, cyber resilience and the infrastructure Wales needs to compete.
Board members contribute columns and features, join us on the podcast and help shape our coverage. The board is independent; its job is to make sure Business News Wales covers what matters to the businesses building Wales’ technology sector.
Howard has enjoyed a 35-year international career in the micro-electronics & semiconductor industry, in both technical, commercial and managerial roles. After an initial career as an engineer, he spent 15 years in sales, marketing and business development. His previous work has focused on technology commercialization at a European RTO, implementing initiatives to assess innovations and fund the incubation of new ventures. He has worked with deep-tech start-ups in the USA, Finland and the UK, often working at the intersection of the public and private sectors. He is currently Managing Director at CSconnected Limited, supporting the growth of the Welsh Compound Semiconductor cluster.
Chris Elias is Head of Communications at Perago, a Swansea-based transformation consultancy, and brings the communications and change-management perspective to digital and technological transformation — the discipline that determines whether change actually lands with people. He set up Wales's first Communicating Digital community of practice and founded Engage for Success Wales, linking employee engagement to digital tool adoption and productivity. His track record includes leading on the communication and engagement for a local authority's £65m-saving transformation programme and crisis-led digital engagement for a national water company through Covid-19.
John Davies received an MBE in 2022 for “Services to the UK Cyber Ecosystem”. He the co-founder of Cyber Wales, one of the first cyber security clusters in the UK and co-founder & Vice Chair of UKC3, the UK Cyber Cluster Collaboration group, that supports the 20+ cyber clusters across the UK. And he was a co-founder of GlobalEPIC the Global Ecosystem of cyber ecosystems for Partnership and Innovation in Cyber which, today has 32 member ecosystems, from 26 countries across 6 continents.
Academically, Dr John was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the University of South Wales. He is currently researching another PhD in “Tactical Cyber Power Projection” at King’s College London, Department of War Studies.
Public Sector, Colonel John is an Army veteran, having served for 7 years in UK Special Forces 1983-1990. He is currently serving in a British Army Reserve unit as SO1-Cyber and he is also the Honorary Colonel of 53 Sqn, Royal Corps of Signals. His work with the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) includes being an Industry-100 Secondee (i100) and one of the first NCSC CyberFirst Ambassadors.
Professionally, John is director of a number of cyber security start-ups and scale-ups. A Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Information Security (FCIIS), a Certified Ethical Hacker and a SANS ‘Coin Holder’ in Advanced Penetration Testing.
Personal Life: He is a Welsh speaker living in Brecon where he spends his spare-time raising money for Armed Forces charities and trail running with his wife and their 4 Dalmatians.
Neil Cocker is a Cardiff, UK-based entrepreneur, startup mentor, and innovation expert who transitioned from a successful career in the music industry to become a leading voice in the UK tech ecosystem. Cocker specialises in data-driven startup validation, helping early-stage founders test market demand to dramatically reduce the risk of failure. His core methodology focuses on extracting honest feedback from potential customers and identifying genuine market signals before any product is built or code is written. He frequently consults, mentors, and designs award-winning accelerator programs aimed at turning raw problem statements into validated, investable businesses.
Mark Jones leads the Office for AI at the Welsh Government, where he focuses on how the responsible use of AI can improve public services, productivity and wider economic performance.
Before joining government, Mark spent much of his career in international technology, consulting and business leadership roles, working with organisations and governments across the UK, Europe, the United States, the Middle East and Asia. This included senior leadership roles at Accenture, where he worked on large-scale digital transformation across health and public services in the UK and Ireland.
His wider experience spans international corporate strategy, mergers and acquisitions, corporate restructuring, foreign direct investment and major transformation programmes. He has worked as part of executive teams through IPOs on the Tokyo Stock Exchange and Nasdaq, and has also advised governments and global organisations on strategy, investment, operating models and digital transformation.
Mark is a graduate of the University of South Wales, holds a Global Executive MBA from Alliance Manchester Business School, and has completed executive strategy education at Oxford Saïd Business School.
Laura Newman is Chief Commercial Officer of ModelProp, building AI products for the property industry. She has spent 23 years in proptech start-ups, including Zoopla and OnTheMarket. At ModelProp she brings technology and people together to surface the UK's discoverable properties — through MyPorta.ai, the new generational property platform, and a range of AI tools used daily by estate agents.
Alex leads public policy for Vantage across Northern Europe (including the United Kingdom, Ireland and the Nordic countries). He is responsible for the company’s government relations, community engagement and policy positioning across the region. Prior to joining Vantage, Alex served as special adviser to Penny Mordaunt MP, Leader of the House of Commons and Lord President of the Council. He has also served as an adviser to the Andy Street, former Mayor of the West Midlands, where he led planning and infrastructure policy.
Councillor Dimitri Batrouni was elected by Labour Group as Leader of Newport Council in May 2024. Having been a Councillor in Newport since May 2022 and has extensive experience in local government, including opposition Leader in a neighbouring council has been Cabinet Member for Organisational Transformation.
Dimitri served as Senior Analyst for the Independent Monitoring Authority at the Ministry of Justice, overseeing Brexit and citizens’ rights. With an extensive background and degree in IT; Dimitri has worked at both the UK and Welsh Parliaments in senior researcher roles and lectured politics at the University of Bristol.
As the Welsh Local Government Association’s lead spokesperson for Digital Leadership, Dimitri advocates for innovative solution in local governance provisions.
Dimitri is also Vice-Chair of the Cardiff Capital Region, where he leads the Portfolio for Building Capability – Data and Skills, focusing on regional development and digital transformation.
