Get to know Spark AI

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.

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.

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. 

Chris is a natural problem solver who specializes in building the functional foundations that turn ambitious ideas into reality. He is driven by the idea that effective systems should act as an invisible support, handling the routine details so that the team can focus on their craft. This practical focus is informed by his inquisitive nature and constant experimentation.

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Chris studied Philosophy at University, where he learnt the value of logic and structured thinking. While many approach philosophy as an intellectual exercise, Chris recognizes it as a powerful toolkit for the physical world. For him, the same frameworks used to deconstruct complex arguments can be used to build coherent operational systems. 

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 the Spark vision. While the team generates abstract ideas and ambitious goals, he creates the essential infrastructure that makes those visions possible. 

Chris is a perpetual student of new possibilities, 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.

Asta is a cultural anthropologist interested in how technology shapes the way people make meaning. She pays close attention to how people experience AI and make sense of change as it unfolds. Her perspective is people focused, and grounded in helping others navigate new technology.

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