Simon Poole

Simon Poole is the founder of Grounded Thinking and brings a commercially focused perspective to artificial intelligence and its implications for boards. He holds a Certificate in Machine Learning and AI from Imperial College London and has extensive experience at board level, including serving as a Non-Executive Director and Audit Chair at Hubtel Ltd, a fintech business.

Simon’s career spans senior roles in private equity as an Operating Partner at Helios, as well as a foundation in chartered accountancy with PwC, Bank of America, and BT. He works with company directors and senior executives to demystify AI, clarifying what it can and cannot do, and helping boards ask the right strategic questions. His approach is pragmatic and accessible, cutting through technical jargon to focus on what truly matters for governance and decision-making.