Charity AI Conference 2026 - Speakers

George joined DSC at the beginning of 2017 and, having previously led the sales and customer service teams, moved into training at the start of 2020.

He trains in Management & Leadership, Fundraising, Personal Development, Project Management and Wellbeing. He has extensive experience in helping organisations make positive changes to how they approach social change.

He is also qualified as a Mental Health First Aider, with additional time spent studying Psychosis.

The favourite part of his role is knowing that the work DSC performs has a major impact on both the charities and individuals that we are able to serve.

José joined DSC in 2016 and now leads the organisation’s marketing strategy and product development. Over the years, he has developed and implemented marketing campaigns for dozens of charity publications, supported the launch of new products such as The Governance App, and overseen major digital transformation projects including the redevelopment of FundsOnline, DSC’s largest online platform.

Alongside marketing and product innovation, José is leading DSC’s Artificial Intelligence programme. Having completed a Master’s in AI at Isabel I University, he focuses on how automation, agents, and advanced prompting techniques can be applied responsibly to help charities save time and improve impact. His work brings together creativity, data, and technology to ensure that DSC continues to meet the evolving needs of the voluntary sector.

He particularly enjoys turning complex ideas into practical tools for charities, whether through digital platforms, training opportunities, or sector-focused projects such as podcasts and knowledge resources. For José, the value of innovation lies in making charity work more accessible, effective, and sustainable for the people it serves.

Catherine leads our Core Recruitment team, who work collaboratively with each other, their candidates and clients placing mission led people with the professional skill sets to enable organisations to work effectively to deliver their goals, and to grow. Catherine is an experienced recruiter, having worked across internal, external and commercial recruitment. Catherine has previously managed a breadth of technical recruitment and shown a keen interest in the not for profit sector for 20 years. Her key area of expertise is within the environmental sector. In her spare time Catherine is a trustee with Prestwood Nature, an environmental charity based in the Chilterns, and is also a Parish Councillor. She cares deeply for the planet and people, seeing strong links between the impacts of climate change, and social justice.

Dan Sutch is Co-founder and Director of CAST (wearecast.org.uk), a charity that works to ensure the voice, presence and influence of civil society in the technologies that affect us all. CAST works with nonprofits, charities and funders to ensure worthwhile uses of digital, design and AI across their services, strategy and governance and works with sector leaders, funders and government to make this happen. CAST initiated and incubated Catalyst (thecatalyst.org.uk/), now an independent CIC as an ambitious collective dedicated to shaping technology through building community power.

Dan is the co-chair of the Charity AI Task Force; AI Innovator in Residence at The National Lottery Community Fund, and formerly a Trustee of NCVO.

Amit is the Head of Data Insights for Access Social Care and a freelance speaker. He is an environmental engineer turned data specialist, and his 20-year international career has spanned private sector, startups, international NGOs, governments, several agencies within the United Nations, and freelance consulting. He thinks strategically about how to maximize return on investment by building simple systems that actually empower people. He is passionate about diversity and systems thinking, has authored several R packages, and thinks random forests are always the right algorithm to use*. Read his blog at: amitkohli.com, see his professional profile on LinkedIn, and ask him about Systems, AI, unconventional network analysis, LLMs, Vim, Obsidian, N8N, or working in the #data4good space.

Jake O'Gorman is Director of AI Consulting at 10Pearls, a global AI consultancy, and a leading expert in AI for the charity sector. A Churchill Fellow focusing on AI for good, he is the author of AI and the Future of Doing Good — a practical guide for charity leaders navigating the opportunities and risks of AI.

Zoe Amar is widely regarded as one of the charity sector’s leading digital and AI experts. She founded digital agency and social enterprise Zoe Amar Digital in 2013, helping charities transform inclusively through digital and AI. Their clients have included Sense, the Royal College of Surgeons and CALM.

Zoe shapes sector wide approaches to digital and AI transformation. She founded the annual Charity Digital Skills Report, tracking how charities across the UK are using digital and AI since 2017. She has developed frameworks including the AI Checklist for Charity Trustees and Leaders, and is Founder and Chair of The Charity Digital Code of Practice. She co-founded the Social CEOs awards to celebrate digital leadership in the sector.She also co-chairs The Charity AI Taskforce, where she is working alongside funders and charities to shape a collective, ethical approach to AI. Zoe writes for writing for Third Sector about charities and digital issues.

Zoe brings eighteen years’ experience as a charity trustee to her work. She currently sits on the board of Charity Digital Trust. Previously, she was on the Board Audit and Risk Sub-Committee at the Samaritans as their digital expert. Before founding Zoe Amar Digital she worked for 5 years as part of the leadership team at a national charity which advised nonprofits about technology. She is the winner of an Inspiring Communicator award from Charitycomms and was voted one of the 25 most influential charity leaders by Charity Times. She was also awarded the Changemaker of the Year prize at The Pros Awards.

Zoe is also the co-host of podcast Starts at the Top, which shares the stories of leaders who are leading differently today so they can prepare for the world of tomorrow.

Matt Hill is a charity leader, speaker, and author with over a decade of experience in the UK voluntary sector. He has worked in senior leadership roles since 2013 across service‑delivery charities spanning mental health, housing and homelessness, prevention and rehabilitation, and most recently clinical recovery services for drug and alcohol treatment. His earlier career included leadership roles in bids and tenders, communications, and strategy, before specialising in digital innovation and transformation.



Matt is currently Director of Digital and IT at Change Grow Live, one of the UK’s largest super‑major charities, where he oversees digital and IT services supporting around 8,000 staff and volunteers across nearly 200 sites nationwide. He is the author of the Directory of Social Change’s AI Speed Read and has a strong interest in the practical and ethical use of AI to help charities deliver better outcomes and strengthen their mission. He previously served as a trustee and non‑executive director of the Directory of Social Change from 2020 to 2025, and has held senior leadership roles at P3 Charity, Rethink Mental Illness, and Mental Health UK. Matt lives in South Yorkshire.

Kingsley Okonkwo is a data engineer with over 5 years of experience spanning defence, finance, retail, energy and social impact sectors. His work includes building efficient and scalable data pipelines. Currently, Kingsley consults on Microsoft Dataverse projects, including a PARQ assessment system for MorphFit, a Scottish social enterprise supporting elderly fitness programs. He brings a unique perspective on responsible data handling across sectors with varying sensitivity requirements. Kingsley is passionate about democratizing data access while maintaining rigorous ethical standards. His cross-sector experience informs his approach to balancing innovation with responsible data governance, particularly when working with vulnerable populations.

Sue Turner is dedicated to using her expertise in AI governance and ethics to inspire people and organisations to use AI with wisdom and integrity.

With both a Law degree and an MSc in Artificial Intelligence and Data Science, she established AI Governance Limited in 2020 to advise businesses and policy makers on pragmatic AI, data ethics and governance issues, and making a positive societal impact. Her Board development clients range from Fortune 100 and FTSE 350 businesses to small charities, and her reach is global through accredited training programmes and being a founder member of the United Nations AI Skills Coalition. She has been rated in the World's Top 100 Women in AI Ethics and was one of the first 14 people globally to be accredited in the Foundations of Independent Audit of AI systems.



She is Professor in Practice for AI and Technologies at the University of Bristol Business School, and has been a Board Chair and Non-Executive Director for purpose-driven businesses in regulated industries as well as a Mentor on the Turing Institute’s Skills Policy Awards. Her career spans entrepreneurial private businesses and not-for-profit organisations where she has led significant organisational growth, raised £27 million for charity and collaborated to shift power to help people improve their prospects. She was awarded the OBE in 2021 for Services to Social Justice.