Using data to drive digital transformation – what can the public and private sector teach each other?

Heather Cover-Kus

Head of Central Government Programme, techUK

Heather is Head of Central Government Programme at techUK, working to represent the supplier community of tech products and services to Central Government.

Prior to joining techUK in April 2022, Heather worked in the Economic Policy and Small States Section at the Commonwealth Secretariat.  She led the organisation’s FinTech programme and worked to create an enabling environment for developing countries to take advantage of the socio-economic benefits of FinTech.

Before moving to the UK, Heather worked at the Office of the Prime Minister of The Bahamas and the Central Bank of The Bahamas.

Heather holds a Graduate Diploma in Law from BPP, a Masters in Public Administration (MPA) from LSE, and a BA in Economics and Sociology from Macalester College.

Gavin Freeguard

Policy Associate, Connected by Data

Gavin is a freelance consultant working on research, policy and advocacy around data. He was previously programme director for data and digital and government at the Institute for Government, where he remains an associate (running the Data Bites event series). He is a special adviser at the Open Data Institute, a consultant at mySociety and a member of the Public Digital network, and has also worked on projects for organisations including the Ada Lovelace Institute, Full Fact and the Alan Turing Institute. He sends a weekly email on data and dataviz called Warning: Graphic Content. 

Emma Presley Abbott

Deputy Director, Head of Enterprise Insight, Head of Practice, Data , Department for Work and Pensions

No bio provided

Jeni Tennison

Executive Director , Connected By Data

Jeni Tennison is an expert in all things data, from technology, to governance, strategy, and public policy.

She is the founder and Executive Director of Connected by data, an initiative that aims to put community at the heart of data narratives, practices and policies. Through that initiative, she challenges the language of data ownership and question the role of individual consent, arguing that when data is processed in aggregate, it should be governed collectively. She undertakes this work as a Shuttleworth Foundation Fellow and an Associated Researcher at the Bennett Institute for Public Policy, examining the practice and public policy behind data governance.

Ed Thewlis

Co-founder , The Data Shed

Ed Thewlis is the co-founder of The Data Shed, an award-winning data engineering and analytics consultancy, as well as the founder of The Data Refinery, a SaaS data platform providing automated insights to SMEs.

With a background in Economics, Ed spent the first decade of his career working within Financial Services and Travel, and the last 10 years working across a wide range of industries, focussing on helping organisations make the most of the data they hold through the development of their Data Strategy, and building their own Data Engineering and Data Science capabilities.

Alex Yedigaroff

Head of Product and Performance , dxw

Alex is an experienced strategic advisor having worked as a trusted partner to executive leadership teams across central and local government.

He started his career designing solutions and managing complex change in a global bank through the financial crisis of 2008, he moved into public sector digital, initially as a project and product practitioner. 

He has developed specialist skills in creating and implementing strategies, organisation design and building capability through roles at the Home Office, High Speed 2, Ministry of Justice and the Government Digital Service where he worked as a close adviser to the Government’s Chief Technology Officer.

Before joining dxw, he led digital transformation work at Southwark council across a wide range of services including social care and planning.