Marcel Pesch
Most organisations have run AI pilots. Far fewer have managers who can govern AI decisions, interrogate model outputs, or redesign a process around an agentic system. The gap is not tooling. It is a workforce of decision-makers who do not yet know enough about AI to lead with it.
Marcel Pesch is the founder of academy4.ai and a keynote speaker who helps companies turn AI literacy into managerial capability, with a stated focus on ethical deployment and equality of opportunity in algorithmic systems.
Full Profile
Why organisations work with Marcel Pesch
- He runs a structured AI executive education programme, MMAI, with practitioner faculty drawn from Deutsche Bahn, E.ON, Strategyzer, and academic and legal specialists. Few keynote speakers come with their own curriculum.
- His material covers the full operating stack: generative AI, data science, AI Act compliance, automation and agents, and leadership in the AI era. Audiences leave with a managerial map, not a tour of tools.
- He treats fairness, bias, and equality of opportunity as operating problems for organisations deploying AI, not as a separate ethics conversation.
- Fifteen years of coaching practice underpins the keynote register. Sessions translate into how managers behave on Monday, not just what they understood on Friday.
- Active member of the German AI Association (KI Bundesverband), with a stated engagement in AI standards and ethical guidelines.
Biography highlights
- Founder of academy4.ai, an AI education and training organisation
- Designer of the MMAI (Master Management with AI) programme, a nine-module cohort-based course covering AI strategy, compliance, and deployment
- Faculty network on MMAI includes Prof. Dr. Johannes Stübinger (HS Coburg), Dr. Kristina Schreiber (LOSCHELDER), and practitioners from Deutsche Bahn, E.ON, and Strategyzer
- Member of the German AI Association (KI Bundesverband)
- Over 15 years of professional coaching experience with individuals and organisations
- Keynote topics include “AI on Steroids”, “AI & Diversity and Inclusion”, “AI & Inequality of Opportunity”, and “AI & the Workforce of Tomorrow”
Biography
Most companies have already bought into AI. The harder question is whether their managers can use it well: govern its decisions, interrogate its outputs, and redesign work around it. That is the gap Marcel Pesch built academy4.ai to close.
Through the MMAI (Master Management with AI) programme, Pesch and his faculty take working professionals through nine modules covering generative AI, data science, AI Act compliance, marketing and sales applications, automation and agentic systems, sustainability, project management, and leadership in the AI era. Faculty draw on academic specialists, legal experts at LOSCHELDER, and practitioners from Deutsche Bahn, E.ON, and Strategyzer.
Alongside the curriculum, Pesch speaks publicly on the harder political content of AI deployment: bias in algorithmic systems, equality of opportunity, and the way AI is reshaping who gets which jobs. He is a member of the German AI Association (KI Bundesverband), engaged in standards and ethical guidelines for the field.
Fifteen years of coaching shape his keynote register. Sessions are designed to leave senior audiences with a managerial map of where AI changes their work, where it does not, and where the next governance and fairness decisions will sit.
Key speaking topics
- AI literacy for managers and executives
- Operationalising AI beyond pilots
- AI Act and regulatory compliance for business leaders
- Bias and equality of opportunity in algorithmic systems
- Automation and agentic systems in the workplace
- The AI-era workforce and future skills
- Leading teams in AI-augmented organisations
Ideal for
- C-suite teams and senior managers preparing to deploy AI across operations
- Heads of HR, transformation, and learning planning AI workforce upskilling
- Boards seeking a structured view of AI governance, compliance, and risk
- DEI and ethics leads working with technical teams on algorithmic fairness
Audience outcomes
- A practical map of where AI changes managerial work and where it does not
- Sharper language for governing AI decisions, model outputs, and vendor claims
- A clearer view of bias and equality-of-opportunity questions in algorithmic systems
- A workable next step for AI literacy across leadership and team levels
Talks
A keynote on the operational reach of current AI systems and what changes when managers stop treating AI as a feature and start treating it as infrastructure.
Key takeaways:
- Where generative AI and agentic systems are already changing managerial work
- What organisations need in place before they scale AI use
- The honest limits of current systems and where human judgement still wins
A session on how AI systems reproduce or amplify bias, and what leaders can do about it inside their own deployments.
Key takeaways:
- How bias enters models through data, design, and deployment
- Practical questions for leaders to ask about fairness in AI projects
- The line between technical mitigation and organisational accountability
A keynote on how AI is reshaping access to work, training, and advancement, and the implications for employers.
Key takeaways:
- Where AI deepens and where it narrows inequality of opportunity
- The employer’s role in shaping who gains from AI literacy
- Policy and design choices that move the curve
A talk on workforce redesign in the AI era: which skills compound, which decay, and how to plan a learning portfolio.
Key takeaways:
- Which capabilities hold value as AI scales
- How to build a layered AI literacy programme across the organisation
- The leadership behaviours that determine whether AI lands well or badly