Harmeen Mehta

Why organisations work with Harmeen Mehta

• She has run digital and AI transformation as an operator inside three of the world’s largest technology and telecoms incumbents (Equinix, BT Group, Bharti Airtel), not as an external advisor.
• She has built and scaled new digital businesses, including Airtel Payments Bank and Airtel’s cloud and security units, giving her credibility on revenue creation, not only cost out.
• Her board work at Lloyds Banking Group, including the IT and Cyber Advisory Forum, gives her direct line of sight on how non-executive directors expect technology risk and AI governance to be discussed.
• Recipient of the 2018 MIT Sloan CIO Leadership Award and the TM Forum Global CIO of the Year, both peer-judged on execution.

Biography highlights

• Executive Vice President and Chief Digital and Innovation Officer, Equinix (from April 2025).
• Former Chief Digital and Innovation Officer, BT Group (March 2021 to September 2024).
• Former Global CIO and CEO of Cloud and Security Business, Bharti Airtel (seven years).
• Earlier CIO positions at BBVA, HSBC, and Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
• Independent Non-Executive Director, Lloyds Banking Group; Vice-Chair and Board member, TM Forum.
• 2018 MIT Sloan CIO Leadership Award; TM Forum Global CIO of the Year; Women Economic Forum “Woman of the Decade in Innovation and Leadership.”

Biography

The gap between AI pilot and AI in production is where most enterprise value is currently lost. Boards want commercial outcomes; CIOs are still cleaning up legacy estate. Mehta has spent the last decade operating exactly in that gap, and her career arc is unusual because she has done it across three sectors.

At Bharti Airtel, as Global CIO and head of the cloud and security business, she launched Airtel Payments Bank and built standalone cloud and security units serving hundreds of millions of customers. This is operating P&L experience, not advisory work. At BT Group, as the first Chief Digital and Innovation Officer, she ran a Group-wide programme that simplified a complex IT estate, scaled digital channels, and put AI into production across customer operations.

Earlier CIO roles at BBVA, HSBC, and Bank of America Merrill Lynch gave her grounding in regulated environments, where governance, cyber risk, and resilience are not afterthoughts. That perspective now feeds her board work at Lloyds Banking Group, where she sits on the IT and Cyber Advisory Forum, and at TM Forum, where she is Vice-Chair and chairs the Appointments and Governance Committee.

In April 2025 she joined Equinix as Executive Vice President and Chief Digital and Innovation Officer, reporting to CEO Adaire Fox-Martin. The 2018 MIT Sloan CIO Leadership Award and the TM Forum Global CIO of the Year recognise the same thing the boards she serves on do: she is judged on what she ships, not what she proposes.

Key speaking topics

• Artificial intelligence and operational deployment
• Digital transformation in complex incumbents
• Cybersecurity and technology risk at board level
• Data strategy and the commercial value of data
• Cloud, platforms, and modern engineering operating models
• Women in technology and senior STEM leadership
• Building new digital businesses inside large groups

Ideal for

• Boards and audit, risk, and technology committees commissioning conversations on AI governance and cyber resilience.
• CEOs, CIOs, CDOs, and transformation leads moving AI from pilot to production.
• Telecoms, financial services, and digital infrastructure leadership teams confronting legacy estate and platform redesign.

Audience outcomes

• A clearer view of where AI investment converts to commercial value and where it stalls.
• An operator’s perspective on what good AI governance looks like inside a regulated, board-supervised business.
• A practical read on how digital channels and platforms produce revenue, not only cost reduction.
• Sharper questions to ask the executive team about AI, cyber, and data risk.