Niresh Rajah

Niresh Rajah is a globally recognised executive leader in Financial Services and Professional Services with
over 20+ years of experience at the forefront of Data & Analytics, Artificial Intelligence, Regulation,
Automation, Innovation and Digital Transformation. With a distinguished track record, he has held senior
leadership roles at Barclays, Lloyds Banking Group, Danske Bank, DLA Piper, and Grant Thornton, often
reporting directly to Group CEO or Group COO.
As a seasoned Group Chief Data & AI Officer, Niresh has led complex and high-impact AI and data
transformations, balancing innovation with regulatory rigor. He has led complex regulatory, AI and Data
transformations at Board level including Brexit changes and GDPR working with regulators across Europe.
He also holds a variety of Non-Executive Director and Board Advisory roles. He is an Associate Fellow and
Innovation Expert at Oxford University, and an Honorary Practice Fellow for AI, Data & Digital at Imperial
College.
Recognised in the Global CDO 100 for three consecutive years (2023-2025), AI Executive to Watch (2025),
and Data Management Professional (2023).
Niresh has been appointed as Chair of the UK AI Financial Services Working Group, where he champions
the balance between innovation and practical, pragmatic regulations for consumer protection.
Niresh’s is passionate for sharing his vast knowledge and experience through advancing the Data, Analytics
and AI community; he is a co-chair of the UK Chief Data & Analytics Officer governing body for Gartner
C-Suite communities, an advisory board member at A-Team Group (for both Data and Reg-Tech), CDO
Magazine and Hot Topics Magazine. He is a judge at a number of awards, such as the National AI Awards,
British Data Awards, AI Industry Women in Governance Risk & Compliance, A-Team Data Management and
RegTech Awards.
Niresh is an accomplished speaker and regularly speaks at the FT, Economist and Gartner conferences.
He has steered new innovation in the Data, AI, FinTech and RegTech space by being a mentor for start-ups
and scale-ups through a number of mentor programmes at Oxford University, Imperial College, Seedcamp and FinTech Alliance.