Archives: Speakers

Blaise Thomson is the technical director at Alfa iQ, the intelligence platform for asset finance as well as the founding CEO of one of Alfa iQ’s parent companies, Bitfount. He was previously the founder and CEO of VocalIQ, which he sold to Apple in 2015, subsequently leading their Cambridge, UK engineering office and holding the role of Chief Architect for Siri Understanding. Blaise holds a PhD in Computer Science from the University of Cambridge, where he was also a Research Fellow, and is an Honorary Fellow at the Cambridge Judge Business School.

Tim Chapman FRICS is a Managing Director at Hickman Shearer who provide capital asset valuation, management and sales across Europe working with many different equipment lessors. Having enjoyed 15 years in the machinery & equipment auction and valuation business he left the industry and gained an MSc is Sustainable Design from Cranfield University subsequently working in a sustainability consulting role within industry. He returned to valuation in 2010 joining KPMG as the Director responsible for EMEA capital asset valuation. He has published articles on the potential proliferation of stranded assets and the resulting impact on capital asset balance sheet values as a result of climate change. Recently, he also worked with lessors in identifying and valuing ‘green assets’ and the benefits and challenges in building a circular economy for different categories of capital assets. In 2021 he worked with lessors and the insolvency practitioners in unravelling the Arena Television asset fraud.

A passionate car nut, Stephen has held Senior positions in Nissan, Fiat, Alfa Romeo, Jeep, and Chrysler, among others. He has a wealth cross functional expertise encompassing Sales, Marketing, Product Management, Logistics, Used Cars, and Light Commercial Vehicles specialisation. In 2012 he co-founded LUMINOSTY; creating digital solutions for real-world challenges he’d encountered in automotive. In 2015, they launched SOAR their pioneering digital inventory (self) auditing solution, and based on its success, the company was acquired in 2021 by Sopra Banking Software. Rebranded SFP Digital Audit, it continues to be the industry leader; now joined by further solutions, with more coming.

Federico Pirovano is the Chief Data Officer at KyaEdge, an AI-enabled platform for the leasing and rental industry that helps companies manage asset portfolios, assess risk, and enable ESG-compliant, pay-per-use business models through IoT and machine-learning technologies. He is also the Founder & CEO of Dynius, a Swiss AI consulting firm officially recognized as an ETH Zurich spin-off for its contributions to data-driven innovation.

He holds a Master’s degree in Data Science from ETH Zurich and a Bachelor’s in Automation Engineering from Politecnico di Milano, both earned with top honors.

Federico has previously taught management strategies at the University of Bergamo and served as a teaching assistant in Dynamic Programming and Optimal Control at ETH Zurich. His research in artificial intelligence and machine learning has been published in leading venues such as NAACL and MLG.

An influential, innovative and highly successful HR leader with commercial expertise, strategic prowess and an exceptional track record developing top-talent and driving people and organisation agendas at top-level in line with corporate goals while driving efficiency , engendering change and leading transformation across all functions, propelling growth for organisations internationally.