Get to know Spark AI

AI Coach

Mette has spent 25 years in advertising. She's helped agencies win pitches, build braver client teams, and find the fun in transformation – always convinced that even the best technology in the world is useless without people who believe in it. She's someone who makes friends of colleagues and clients alike, and is still in touch with roughly 90% of everyone she's ever worked with. 

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Mette has always been drawn to what technology makes possible for people – new ways of thinking, new ways of working, things that simply weren't on the table before. The technology, in her view, is never the point. The people are. A career spanning global network agencies, independent creative shops, digital consultancies and co-founding an agency has given her a clearer view of how organisational change really takes place: the best solutions aren't delivered for organisations, they're built with them.

It was during her time at Publicis Sapient that this really clicked. Every client-facing employee was trained in workshop design and facilitation, and Mette started weaving workshops into everything – including pitches. Three consecutive wins followed. Clients had been part of the process, helping shape the thinking, so proposals reflected the reality of their world – and by the end, both sides had a strong sense of how well they worked together.

That instinct for participation carried naturally into training. At Spark AI, Mette's focus is client services – one of the most pressured functions in any agency. Her view is that the real opportunity AI presents here isn't efficiency or cost reduction. It's helping teams think and work differently, deliver more value more consistently, and build a culture where experimentation feels exciting rather than threatening. She's seen what that shift looks like in practice: a design business she worked with went from teams who dreaded presenting to people who actively enjoyed it – confidence that spread across the whole organisation because it was built step by step, with team members working together, practicing together and celebrating together.

In 2024, Mette was appointed as the Course Leader for the Cannes Lions Creative MBA, working with talented people from all over the world to help them hone their creative muscles and collaborate.  She also hosted the new learning stage at the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity in 2025, introducing daily workshops for young creatives on a number of different topics.

Mette is equally deliberate about how she spends her time outside work – away from screens and out in nature, hiking, cooking, reading. She thinks a lot about what makes an experience truly memorable. It's the same instinct she brings to her work: time is precious, and what you do with it matters.

AI Coach

Alicia designs the systems and cultures that allow creative organizations to evolve at the same pace as technology. For her, AI adoption is a cultural transformation rather than a software update. When she isn't at her desk, she prioritizes time painting and hiking, allowing her to stay grounded in the intuition and imagination that technology cannot replicate. 

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Alicia started out in art and design, but it was the depth of service design and innovation that held her attention. She became fascinated by how teams think, collaborate and make decisions, and how culture either sustains creativity or quietly kills it. That curiosity took her from scaling startups to large-scale transformation programmes, where she worked with organisations including ITV, BP, the NHS, the Design Council and Pizza Hut Digital Ventures. 

Alicia's core belief is that you can't separate the human system from the technology layered on top of it. For her, the biggest risk in AI adoption isn't choosing the wrong platform. It's placing new technology onto old ways of working and expecting different results. Her approach centres on designing the culture and behaviours required to sustain innovation before any tool is even introduced. 

That thinking has earned recognition beyond the agency world. She has been shortlisted for a Women in Tech award for her digital strategy work with BP Chargemaster, spoken at Web Summit on building technology and teams together, and been named a LinkedIn Top Voice on company culture. 

At Spark, Alicia helps the AI for Leaders programme, and internally for Sparks Client Services. Her approach in the room is warm and direct. She meets teams where they are, but she doesn't let them stay there.

AI Coach

Charlotte is a strategist and coach who helps people build confidence with AI. Her approach is supportive but direct, and is intentional about creating spaces where people feel safe to share questions and challenge each other. She believes AI can help people make more room for the work they actually enjoy.

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Charlotte has spent more than 15 years in the creative and comms industry, first as a strategist and now as a coach. After studying business at Durham and spending a graduate year in marketing at Chanel, she worked across Omnicom, GroupM and Dentsu agencies, developing strategy for brands including IKEA and Sainsbury’s.

In 2020, she completed her coaching qualification and set up her own business, working with agency leaders on confidence, influence and leading in a way that felt true to them. That experience shaped the way she thinks about AI. For her, the challenge is not only technical. It is also about helping people trust themselves enough to experiment and change how they work. 

Charlotte’s work has been widely recognised. She has spoken at industry conferences and events including Advertising Week Europe, delivered keynotes for agencies and women’s networks, and was shortlisted for the Future Is Female Awards for her coaching work with women in the comms industry.

At Spark, Charlotte delivers our strategy workshop. She wants people to leave with something they can use the next morning, and the confidence to keep going on their own.

Outside work, painting and gardening shape the way she thinks about learning. Both remind her that progress starts in the doing. That same mindset runs through her work with AI, where confidence comes from having a go and building from there.

AI Coach

Dr Matthew brings a lifelong creative practice to his work. He believes that while AI can organize and accelerate thought, it lacks an essential human element: the need to bring something into existence – something that should exist, but doesn’t. By prioritising this human instinct for meaning he helps teams ensure that technology remains a collaborator not a competitor. An ally that enhances, rather than replaces, the value of their craft.

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From an early age, Matthew knew what he wanted to be: a rich, famous artist. As it turned out, only the artist bit stuck. His career in the applied arts began in film and TV in California before moving into digital design, where he spent two decades leading projects for retail giants, tech titans, global banks and government ministries. 

When AI arrived and the industry started asking difficult questions of what it meant for creativity, Matthew went back to school. His PhD in Creative AI at Middlesex University examined how generative AI can function as an extension of human imagination. To do so requires balancing control with chaos; embracing the apparently limitless imagination, vocabulary, and imitative skill of AI with the intentionality of artistic meaning-making.

In his own visual art practice, Matthew uses generative models to explore the ontology of AI, asking whether it is a neutral tool or a mirror reflecting our own humanity. This philosophical grounding ensures his approach to AI is never just about the tools, but about the intent behind them.

At Spark, Dr Matthew leads the AI for Creatives programme, helping teams move from scepticism to AI fluency. His workshops are practical, and always rooted in the bigger question of what AI actually means for creative work. 

AI Coach

Jonas has spent nearly two decades translating between people and technology. He has the ability to "see the invisible", where he identifies the structural issues and uncomfortable truths that must be surfaced before a breakthrough can happen. As a certified somatic coach, he understands that change happens in bodies, not just minds. 

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The foundation for Jonas’ work was established at Zurich University of the Arts, where he studied human-centred design. This taught him to identify cultural patterns and build products responding to societal needs. From there, an early career in Swiss advertising showed him the power of clear communication, but left him searching for work aligned with deeper values.

This led him to technology transformation. For nearly two decades, Jonas has worked at the intersection of innovation and organisational change—from fast-paced startups building new products to Fortune 500 enterprises navigating cultural transformation. He has worked as the Head of Innovation at Decoded, where he designed and facilitated learning experiences for thousands of professionals at global giants like IKEA, P&G, and Fidelity.

After fifteen years discovering what actually works, Jonas completed an MSc in Organisational Psychology to understand why. His research revealed four distinct relationship patterns that explain why so many transformations fail. Whether teams use AI well or fall into dependency traps isn't an individual choice. It's determined by organisational design. This work gained him a Best in Class and he graduated with High Distinction. 

At Spark, Jonas helps teams navigate the human reality of AI adoption. He has a habit of asking the hard questions others avoid, and creating the psychological safety necessary for open dialogue and sustainable change.

Outside of work, Jonas maintains an active technical practice, building tools and prototyping ideas. This ensures his guidance is never just theoretical but is grounded in what is actually possible.

AI Coach

Known for her ability to merge creativity with the latest in tech, Emma Jackson (EJ) is an award-winning Executive Producer and Prompt Engineer specialising in the creative and tech industries, with over a decade of experience driving digital transformation.

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EJ is the first port of call for ambitious early adopters and while many were only beginning to explore AI's potential, Emma was already leading ambitious marketing AI projects for global brands like Deutsche Telekom (Europe-wide), Ernst & Young (Global), and Garnier (Europe-wide). Her work consistently proves that technology can complement creativity without compromising the human connection that drives successful marketing.

Passionate about the advantages that early adoption can provide, and the value of deep knowledge that this affords, EJ is an experienced facilitator. She counts working with the UK Government’s Department of International Trade in digital transformation as a career highlight, and is a spirited educator working with networks of women in tech, and working class people in the creative and tech industries.

EJ thrives on collaborating with visionary agencies ready to harness AI and reshape the industry’s approach to creativity and efficiency.

AI Coach

Simone is a speaker, coach, trainer and mentor, and since 2023 Simone has partnered with the UK’s leading AI educators and upskilled hundreds of professionals enabling them to embrace AI technology whilst demystifying unwarranted fears.

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Simone is a speaker, coach, trainer and mentor, with over 15 years of experience in senior leadership, training and development - transforming workplaces and empowering individuals. As founder and CEO of EvolvedMe Training & Consulting she brings a uniquely authentic approach to professional development, blending creative energy with corporate expertise.

Since 2023 Simone has partnered with the UK’s leading AI educators and upskilled hundreds of professionals enabling them to embrace AI technology whilst demystifying unwarranted fears.

Her journey from theatre director to corporate leader has shaped her distinctive training style. Having held senior roles in operations, HR, and people management in some of the UK's leading training organisations, including the pioneering code educator Decoded, Simone has led and built thriving global teams from scratch and advanced how organisations approach learning and development.

Operation and Automations Manager

Chris is a problem solver who specializes in building the functional foundations that turn ambitious ideas into reality. His practical focus is informed by his inquisitive nature.

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Chris studied Philosophy at University, where he learnt the value of logic and structured thinking.

His career began at EY, where he worked as a Tech and Transformation Consultant. Through his work within the high-stakes environment, he gained the experience required for large-scale transformation. During this time, he also founded a marketing agency. This period taught him how to move from a consultant’s mindset to a creator’s. After three years in the corporate world, Chris embarked on a year-long sabbatical travelling across fifteen countries.

Upon his return, he joined Spark as the Operations and Automations Lead. Here, he serves as the engine that powers Spark’s vision.

Chris is often found deep in a technical rabbit hole or planning his next adventurous trip to a corner of the map he hasn't yet charted.

Marketing and Insights Executive

Asta is a cultural anthropologist interested in how technology shapes the way people make meaning. Her perspective is people focused, and grounded in helping others navigate new technology.

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Asta spent four years studying in Amsterdam, where she received first-class honours in her master's degree. Her ethnographic research explored how people construct a good life, and how deeply digital technology has become embedded within that process. 

Asta now works for Spark in marketing, where she applies her social science lens to understand how people collectively make sense of the AI shift — who it serves, who it leaves behind, and what it means to work alongside it. Asta’s interest lies in looking past the numbers to uncover the "why" behind human behavior. While data can track a trend, she necessitates the need to investigate the underlying motivations and cultural frictions that drive it.

Her interest in people extends to her social life, where she spends time travelling and surrounded by loved ones.

Client Operations Director

Chris is a systems thinker who cares about making work run better. He believes great client experience depends on what happens behind the scenes, where the right systems keep everything moving. His approach is calm, practical and focused on making other people’s jobs easier.

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Chris spent the first half of his career in hospitality, running high volume operations across multiple venues. He managed teams of more than 100 people and helped scale a business from £2 million to £8 million. That taught him that great service depends on strong systems, good people, and not dropping the ball on either.

He moved into digital around six years ago and found his footing in agency operations. At his previous agency, he led AI transformation across the business, building workflow automations and AI agents that became part of the team’s everyday working infrastructure.

He now works as our Client Operations Director at Spark. He looks after the systems, client experience and operational structure behind our programmes, making sure everything runs smoothly from onboarding through to completion.

His approach is structured but not rigid. He likes clear processes and documented playbooks, but he also recognises the importance of adaptability. 

For Chris, AI does not replace the need for good processes. It makes them more important. Automating a broken workflow just means you're producing bad outputs faster. The real value of AI is what happens after you've done the hard work of getting your systems right. Then it becomes transformative.

Outside work, Chris spends time with his family. He is also often working on DIY projects, which reflects the same practical mindset he brings to operations. Plan it properly, work through it step by step, and build something that works.

Spark Advisor

Julia is a senior commercial and product leader with over 25 years of experience scaling high-growth businesses across media, digital learning, and technology.

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As CPO and then GM EMEA at QA, she led product innovation, M&A integration, and commercial strategy across multiple markets. Before that, she helped scale Circus Street from a £3m start-up to a global digital learning platform - serving clients including Coca-Cola, Nike, and WPP - before its acquisition by QA.

With deep roots in the creative and media industry, Julia brings a rare combination of product thinking and commercial rigour to advising on how AI can be made genuinely useful for creative agencies.

Spark Advisor

Brian is a hugely experienced agency leader, brand strategist and coach with 25+ years of board-level experience. He has worked across the 'holy trinity' of marketing, from client-side at BA, to brand consultancy, and leading independent brand agencies in Australia and the UK. He is now NED of four UK agencies and coaches leaders across many more.

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Despite referring to himself as a 'dinosaur,' Brian wants to retain relevance for the individuals and teams he coaches. He has been on the journey with Spark's co-founders, Jules and Emma, since they founded wearetheloves. When Spark was established, he transferred his mentoring there, determined to keep pace with their ambitions and the developments in AI as they relate to independent agencies and their business models