Marcus East Profile Picture

Keynote SpeakerMarcus East

Technologist, Investor, Venture Capitalist, Board Director, Mentor, Trustee - Fractional CDO / CIO / CTO with a passion for Digital & Tech Transformation

Marcus is a technologist, investor, and advisor passionate about driving change through technology. This love affair started when he was taught to program in elementary school at the tender age of eight. Since then, he has built a global reputation as a talented executive who drives transformation at scale and... Read more

Biography

Marcus is a technologist, investor, and advisor passionate about driving change through technology. This love affair started when he was taught to program in elementary school at the tender age of eight.

Since then, he has built a global reputation as a talented executive who drives transformation at scale and enjoys solving difficult problems in innovative ways, whether they be complex business challenges or life-changing social issues. He has spent half his career working for leading technology companies building world-class technology (Apple, Google, and IBM) and the other half helping iconic brands harness the power of technology to drive business value, including Comic Relief, Marks and Spencer, National Geographic, and T-Mobile.

Uniquely, this means that he has been on both sides of the digital disruption equation— organizations that are creating innovation, such as Google with its pioneering AI, and those that are being disrupted by the change that it brings, like National Geographic.

He has hands-on experience driving major change programs at scale, most recently at T-Mobile, where he was Chief Digital Officer responsible for the company’s digital strategy and all customer-facing technology, including the billing platform. He led product and technology at National Geographic, helping to bring about one of the most successful digital transformation stories, turning the venerable publication into the world’s top social media brand. At Google, he was part of the Office of the CTO, working on Google’s most challenging problems and Google’s customers’ most challenging problems, leveraging this technical expertise to help executives find solutions to significant challenges.

Today, he enjoys using his expertise and experience to help executives grapple with digital transformation and IT modernization and founders seeking to create impact worldwide by leveraging the power of innovative technologies such as AI. As an active investor, he is a director of and advisor to several AI-driven, high-growth startups with a particular focus on healthcare and media.

A passionate and articulate speaker, he excites and inspires audiences with his refreshing, hands-on insights based on decades as a real tech practitioner.

Popular Talks by Marcus East

  • How AI is Changing Lives
    Marcus has been actively involved in health-tech since his role as Expert-in-Residence at the University of Oxford’s Foundry where he helped brilliant scientists to turn their ideas into business ventures – many of them driven by AI. At Google, where he part of the Office of the CTO, he worked...
  • Tech Disruption
    Marcus has been heavily involved in tech-drive innovation since the late 1990s when his role at IBM exposed him to pioneering techniques and technologies in IBM e-business Solutions Unit which blazed the trail for digital innovation with renowned projects for Charles Schwab, the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and Wimbledon.   Since...
  • Working With Dinosaurs: Tech Modernization
    Over the last 30 years, IT (Information Technology) has become an increasingly important factor in most organizations’ operations, with IT systems being at the heart of the business in all industries from retail to finance, to manufacturing.   However, the pace at which technology has changed has left many organizations...
  • What's Next? Predicting the Next Decade
    AI is the current buzzword, and there is no doubt that it will radically change organizations and our lives, but what’s next? What future technological advances should CEOs and their leadership teams be exploring and preparing for to stay one step ahead of the competition? Marcus uses his experience in...
  • Driving Digital Strategy
  • Commercial Management and Negotiation
  • People Management and Leadership
  • Product & Technology Leadership
  • Driving positive change through the use of Technology
  • Digital Transformation
  • Agile
  • Harnessing the Power of Technology
  • Diversity in Technology
  • Managing Technology Talent
  • Project Management
  • Innovation
  • Consumer Technology Trends & Futures
  • The Future of Retail
  • Innovation in Large Organisations
  • Social Tech