Isuru Fernando

Based in: Auckland

Isuru is passionate about helping people and organisations use emerging technology to create magical solutions that improve the everyday. Isuru works for Google, bringing the best of Google Cloud to New Zealand. Before Google, he was at IBM, as the Chief Design and Technology Officer for New Zealand and was previously the NZ Head of Artificial Intelligence, where he established and grew the IBM Watson business. He was part of IBM’s Global Top Talent, and sat on the Worldwide panel for Product Futures. Isuru has co-founded a start-up that went on to a successful acquisition. Isuru holds Undergraduate and Postgraduate degrees where he spent his time pushing the boundaries of theory and practice and is an Adjunct Advisor at a number of universities and academic research groups, and a member of the Embedded Systems and Robotics research group at the University of Auckland. Isuru was also a founding Board Member of the AI Forum and is an Advisor to the World Economic Forum on AI Ethics and Human Centred Design.  He is active on twitter at https://twitter.com/wizzy