Two complementary disciplines. Both people-focused.
Deep enterprise AI architecture and delivery on one side; commercial, adoption and stakeholder expertise on the other. Governance built in from day one. That combination is what makes transformational AI different.
Steve Naudé
Enterprise AI architect & transformation leader. From experimenting with AI to operationalising AI.
Steve is a global leader in AI whose work spans multinationals, banking, legal tech, agritech, manufacturing and enterprise software. He led Fonterra's AI transformation — authoring the Global AI Policy for one of the world's largest dairy organisations, chairing its AI Architecture Board and sitting on its AI Risk & Advisory Committee.
He has designed sovereign and agentic AI solutions for one of the largest banks in the Middle East, was Global VP of Data & AI at LawVu, Chief AI Officer at Smartspace.ai, and is CTO of Newform Global. He's been a keynote speaker for Databricks, an industry expert for Microsoft NZ, and a member of the inaugural AI First Movers Tour to Microsoft HQ in Seattle.
Ryan Ashton
Commercial transformation & adoption leader. How organisations align stakeholders, adopt change and move ideas into production.
Ryan is a leader in connection and client care, with nearly two decades in enterprise technology across sales, product strategy, marketing and executive community building. He founded A Few Quiet Yarns — the no-selling tech community that has connected more than 28,000 senior technology leaders across Aotearoa over 14 years.
His track record spans enterprise technology sales into government, banking and enterprise organisations: Kiwibank's AI programme engagement through Smartspace.ai, Gallagher Security's innovation programme, and BNZ's culture and engagement transformation — where connection lifted the tech group's engagement score above the bank's average.
The buying assistant
From the "no selling" philosophy of AFQY: Ryan helps buyers buy what fulfils their objectives — including when the honest answer is that it's not something Humation should do for you.
Proven in NZ enterprise
BNZ won Best ICT Culture at the CIO Summit; 300 IT staff across Mercury Energy and Trustpower united in a single half-day. Connection is how adoption sticks.
Transformation runs on trust.
People who feel genuinely connected to their work and colleagues are 56% more productive, seven times more engaged, and half as likely to leave. Technology, governance and people have to move together — that's why one founder builds the systems and the other builds the trust.