Archives: Speakers

Samantha Louis is Chief Executive Officer of Praxity Global Alliance, joining in June 2021 from the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants where she was Vice President in charge of International Advocacy. She’s an experienced leader and prior to her moving to London she was Regional Vice President for Africa at the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) where she directed the growth of the member and student population in Africa from 2,000 to over 25,000 and led the expansion of CIMA into Southern and Western Africa. Samantha has served on various local and international boards and senior leadership groups, including the Professional Accountancy Organisation Development Committee of the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) and has extensive experience in several non-executive directorships. She currently serves on the Council and Finance Committee of Roedean School, UK. Samantha is a Fellow of CIMA and a Chartered Global Management Accountant. She holds a Batchelors degree from the University of the Witwatersrand and holds post-graduate courses in public relations and management, as well as a Master’s degree in business administration, with distinction, from the Gordon Institute of Business Science at the University of Pretoria.

Maurizio Garro works as a Model risk manager at Lloyds Banking Group, where he works as subject matter expert for implementing model risk management policy, governance and framework and lead the team to implement the activities defined in model risk management framework. He also provides guidance in the identification of models, documentation of model design, assumptions/limitations, administration, output and uses, governance, change management, and input processing. He has a long-standing experience as an internal auditor, consultant and banker in model risk management and previously worked in the Development and Validation teams of top-tier financial institutions in Europe, U.S., and the U.K. for over 18 years. Maurizio is a frequent speaker on various topics in risk management, a member of the Institute of Internal Auditor and the Director of the Global Association of Risk Professional (GARP) London Chapter. He has been supporting as mentor start-ups involved in the development of AI/Machine learning products. Maurizio Garro received his Master Degree in Economics from the Bocconi University of Milano and a certificate in Financial Risk Management (FRM) from GARP.

Seb Reeve is a customer experience industry leader who is always seeking to provide thought-leadership, lateral-thinking and decision-support for Fortune 1000 Enterprises who are both his customers and partners. Reeves has more than fifteen years of experience in deploying technologies to improve the user experience. He is currently one of the top managers in charge of the design, strategy and value proposition of Nuance’s Intelligent Engagement business which promotes the best practices in AI and Machine Learning to the world of Customer Experience.

Will Farnell is the founder and a director of Farnell Clarke Ltd, an innovative and pioneering accounting firm based in East Anglia and London, UK offering a fresh approach to SME accountancy and business advisory services. Farnell Clarke was one of the first firms globally to fully adopt cloud accounting technology back in 2009 and remains one of the most innovation firms in the UK. The firm has been named Best Independent Firm (East of England) three times at the British Accountancy Awards, including in 2019 and was awarded Medium Firm of the Year award at the Accounting Excellence awards in 2019. The firm also won the 100% Xero award in 2017. Will is author of ‘The Digital Firm’ a blueprint for digital transformation. He is a regular speaker on how accounting firms can leverage technology, people and process to achieve practice growth, as well as providing consulting services to support firms in becoming a digital practice.