A Class Act: Conversations in Data and Leadership
Claim This Podcastby Michael Young MBN Solutions Data & Leadership
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Podcast Overview
<blockquote>What does it really take to build and lead a world-class AI or data team?<br><br>I'm Michael Young, founder and CEO of MBN Solutions in Scotland. After two decades placing top talent across data, AI, and tech, I've seen what actually separates high-performing teams from the rest, and it's rarely what the headlines tell you.<br><br>A Class Act is where I bring you those stories. </blockquote><p><br></p><blockquote>Honest, experience-led conversations with the data and AI leaders making the hard calls right now: who they hire, how they build data science capability, and what real leadership looks like when the technology never stops moving.<br><br>No hype. No jargon. Just practical insight from people who've actually done it.Whether you're a data leader, a people manager, or hiring in tech, you'll walk away from every episode with something you can use.<br><br>New episodes twice a month. Follow A Class Act so you never miss one.</blockquote><p><br></p>
Language
🇺🇲
Publishing Since
5/13/2025
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Recent Episodes
July 29, 2026
Agentic AI in Financial Services: From Demo to Production at Scale With Stuart Bell, Head of AI & Innovation M&G
Most organisations adopting AI are bolting agentic AI onto the same old processes, then wondering why nothing actually changes. In this season 2 finale of A Class Act, Michael Young sits down with Stuart Bell, Head of AI & Innovation M&G who went from Java developer to shaping how some of the biggest regulated financial-services firms adopt agentic AI at enterprise scale. It’s a straight-talking, practical conversation about why the gap between a slick demo and real production...
July 15, 2026
A Look Inside How OpenAI Deploys Enterprise AI With Stuart McMeechan, EMEA Deployment Engineering Leader at OpenAI
In this episode of A Class Act, Michael Young sits down with Stuart McMeechan, EMEA Deployment Engineering Leader at OpenAI. Stuart leads the team that OpenAI sends into the biggest enterprises in Europe to help them get AI into production and he’s seen first-hand why most never make it past the pilot. In this conversation, they get into👇 ☑️ What OpenAI’s AI deployment engineering team actually does and the two objectives behind every project ☑️ The three types of customer OpenAI wor...
July 1, 2026
The AI Leader’s Playbook for What Actually Works With Andy McMahon, Director of AI & MLOps Engineering at Barclays
In this episode of A Class Act, Michael sits down with Andy McMahon, Director of AI & MLOps Engineering at Barclays, Oxford lecturer, and author of Machine Learning Engineering with Python. Andy went from a physics PhD at Imperial College to leading AI engineering at one of the world’s largest banks, and he’s got a sharp take on why most AI never makes it out of the demo. In this conversation, they get into⬇️ ✔️Why the gap between AI that demos well and AI that works in productio...
25 total episodes available
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- What is A Class Act: Conversations in Data and Leadership?
<blockquote>What does it really take to build and lead a world-class AI or data team?<br><br>I'm Michael Young, founder and CEO of MBN Solutions in Scotland. After two decades placing top talent across data, AI, and tech, I've seen what actually separates high-performing teams from the rest, and it's rarely what the headlines tell you.<br><br>A Class Act is where I bring you those stories. </blockquote><p><br></p><blockquote>Honest, experience-led conversations with the data and AI leaders making the hard calls right now: who they hire, how they build data science capability, and what real leadership looks like when the technology never stops moving.<br><br>No hype. No jargon. Just practical insight from people who've actually done it.Whether you're a data leader, a people manager, or hiring in tech, you'll walk away from every episode with something you can use.<br><br>New episodes twice a month. Follow A Class Act so you never miss one.</blockquote><p><br></p> - How often does this podcast release new episodes?
This podcast updates daily.
- Where can I listen to this podcast?
This podcast is available on 4 platforms including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and more. You can also use the RSS feed directly.
- Does this podcast accept guests?
No, this podcast does not typically feature guests.
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