Our Trainers

AI Enablement & Leadership Trainer

Alexie O’Brien is an AI Enablement Coach, Executive and Leadership Trainer, and former Finance Executive with deep, cross-industry experience spanning Manufacturing, Retail, HR, and Professional services. Over the past decade, Alexie has worked at the intersection of strategy, leadership, and operational effectiveness, supporting organisations to build capability, improve decision-making, and lift performance at scale.

For the past two years, Alexie has specialised in AI fluency, applied AI training, and executive-level AI leadership, helping organisations move beyond experimentation to practical, value-creating use of AI in everyday work. Her approach is grounded in real operating environments - translating emerging AI capability into tools, workflows, and leadership behaviours that materially improve effectiveness across roles and functions.

Alexie has delivered AI and leadership programs for organisations including Pillow Talk, Harris Farm Markets, St Kilda Football Club, The Dom.com, Entain (NEDS, Ladbrokes, and Betcha) and multiple sporting and high-performance teams. Her work with Harris Farm Markets has included training senior leaders and functional teams across finance, operations, supply chain, people & culture, buying, sustainability, and technology, embedding AI capability across the entire business rather than in isolated teams.

A core focus of Alexie’s work is supporting executive and leadership teams to understand how to lead with AI, not just deploy it. This includes building AI literacy at the leadership level, identifying where AI can create the greatest strategic leverage, navigating data governance and risk considerations, and shaping the cultural conditions required for responsible adoption and innovation.

Alexie’s philosophy is that AI capability should be broadly accessible - giving teams the tools and skills to work more effectively - while leadership remains accountable for clarity on what matters most to the business and how AI is applied to those priorities. Her programs guide leaders through this shift, moving from tool awareness to strategic application, governance, and sustained behavioural change.

Known for her practical, grounded style, Alexie brings credibility from having operated inside complex organisations, combined with a strong track record in coaching leaders through ambiguity, transformation, and capability uplift. Her work consistently focuses on enabling people to use AI confidently, responsibly, and in ways that deliver real business outcomes.

Qualifications

Generative AI Certified Trainer (Individual Professional Certification), Theia Institute

DISC ADVANCED® Accredited Consultant, DISC Profiles Australia Pty Ltd

Emergenetics Associate, Emergenetics International

GAICD Company Directors Course, Australian Institute of Company Directors

Chartered Accounting, Institute of Chartered Accountants Australia

Bachelor of Commerce, The University of Queensland

CEO, AI Accelerator & Educator

John McGiffin is an AI Ecosystem Architect, AI strategist, keynote speaker, and education specialist who helps leaders and organisations make sense of artificial intelligence and apply it responsibly, confidently, and with purpose.

With more than 35 years of corporate leadership experience and over 12 years working hands-on with AI, John brings a rare combination of strategic insight and real-world practicality. His work sits at the intersection of leadership, technology, and organisational change, helping executives, boards, and teams move from uncertainty to clarity in an AI-driven world. This includes training on Meta Skills to amplify human values in this new world of Artificial Intelligence.

John is the CEO of Natural Velocity, an ecosystem company focused on strengthening the AI supply chain and building leadership capability for responsible AI adoption. Through Natural Velocity’s AI Innovation Centre, AI Learning Centre, and AI Experience Centre, John delivers hands-on programs and immersive experiences that translate AI from abstract concept into real-world impact across industry, government, and education.

Known for making complex ideas human, relatable, and actionable, John’s keynotes cut through hype and fear to focus on what truly matters: leadership judgement, trust, and decision-making in the age of AI. His sessions are practical, engaging, and grounded in lived experience .
John regularly speaks on topics including:
• Leadership and decision-making in the age of AI
• Being human in a world shaped by artificial intelligence
• Ethical and responsible AI as a business advantage
• Turning AI uncertainty into opportunity

Whether addressing a boardroom, conference audience, or leadership team, John is valued for his ability to connect emerging technology to real leadership challenges, and to leave audiences with clarity, confidence, and a clear path forward.

AI Trainer 

Lukas is AI By PSG technical lead and a computer scientist and software engineer who translates a fast-moving AI landscape into clear, usable guidance for everyday work. He keeps a close eye on what AI can actually do right now, what’s improved recently, and where the limits still are, so teams don’t waste time chasing hype or building around the wrong assumptions.

In workshops, Lukas makes complex tools and concepts easy to grasp in plain English, with an emphasis on practical reality: which capabilities are genuinely useful today, how to get reliable results from them, and how to use them responsibly. His strength is helping people move from “AI is confusing” to “I understand what’s possible, what’s not, and exactly how we’ll use it.”

Lukas co-delivers alongside Ria, giving you the best of both worlds: adoption and clarity from Ria, plus a grounded, current view of AI and how to apply it simply from Lukas.

Founder, AI Consultant & Marketing Director

Ria Verma is the founder of Problem Solve Group (PSG) and the lead behind AI by PSG, a practical, human-centric approach to helping people actually use AI at work (without the overwhelm or the hype). With 10+ years’ experience in marketing and operations, Ria specialises in turning messy, real-world business problems too many tabs, inconsistent follow-up, scattered knowledge into simple, repeatable workflows that teams can stick to. 

What makes Ria’s workshops different is the focus on useful outcomes and safe guardrails. Instead of theory, sessions are built around the tasks people do every day, with clear guidance on privacy, redacted/demo data practices, and what not to do so businesses can adopt AI confidently.

Ria has already delivered successful paid workshops (including with local government) and now brings that same structured, friendly, “leave with something usable” style to Natural Velocity’s community often co-delivering with PSG’s technical lead, Lukas, for a perfect blend of implementation and strategy.

Qualifications

Automate with Your Work, Zapier Certification 

Self-taught in AI through implementation, tooling, testing, iteration, and measurable business outcomes

Master of Accounting and Marketing, University of Adelaide

Digital Marketing Elevate, Academy Xi

Bachelor of Business Administration, Maharashtra Institute of Technology