Adrian Quayle
President
An experienced technology and management consultant with a career spanning IT, business transformation, innovation and management systems. He has worked with organisations across the UK and internationally, and more recently has focused on helping develop our region’s growing AI ecosystem.
Founding member of the Manchester AI Guild, Adrian is also a leading figure in the Manchester Statistical Society. He is passionate about connecting people, businesses and expertise to turn Manchester’s strength in AI into practical economic and social value.
Mihran' Hovnanian
Acting Chairman
Technology and transformation leader with 30 years experience across AI, digital, data and industrial technology. He has held senior CIO and CTO roles in global organisations, leading large-scale transformation in manufacturing, aerospace and technology businesses.
Founding member of the Manchester AI Guild, Mihran is passionate about turning AI into practical business growth, while developing the people, skills and ecosystem needed for responsible, lasting change across Manchester and the UK.
Fernando Torres
Events & Marketing Director
Fernando works at the intersection of analytics, experimentation and AI, with experience spanning the NHS, Sony Music and the BBC. His work focuses on helping teams understand whether new products and technologies are creating real value for users.
Founding member of the Manchester AI Guild, Fernando is particularly interested in how organisations can measure the real impact of AI, use experimentation to understand what works, and move beyond hype towards practical value. He is also a co-founder of Silicon Mingle, one of Manchester’s fastest-growing tech communities for start-ups and founders.
Rufus Curnow
Communications Director
Rufus is the founder of The Red Giant, an AI training and consulting business helping organisations build practical AI capability. Since April 2025, Rufus has trained more than 2,500 people in AI across over 100 sessions.
With more than 20 years of experience in education, he works with teams to make AI relevant to their people, roles and day-to-day challenges.
He is focused on helping organisations identify useful applications of AI, and implement it safely, responsibly and with confidence.
Edwin Luther
Risk & Governance Director
Edwin works at the intersection of artificial intelligence and enterprise risk, with experience scaling financial crime compliance frameworks for high-velocity payments and cross-border banking. His work focuses on bringing emerging technology and regulatory rigour together so institutions can scale securely and respond to a changing global regulatory landscape.
Particularly interested in AI risk within financial services, Edwin helps organisations establish practical ethical guardrails and governance standards. As a speaker and advisor, he focuses on moving beyond technical implementation to support safe and responsible AI adoption.
Phil Davies
Operations Director
Phil has spent 30 years working in health technology software product development and delivery across multiple geographies. Throughout his career, he has worked at the intersection of people and technology.
For more than a decade, he has developed NLP-based solutions for healthcare and life sciences organisations, in addition to deploying LLM technology into the software development lifecycle. Phil is passionate about helping organisations get started, grow and scale with AI.
