MBN Solutions, Alloa (2026)

31/03/2026

Today we launched The AI Decision Room in Edinburgh.

We are delighted to partnered with The Data Lab - Innovation Centre for our first event, we brought together around 50 senior business leaders for a very different kind of conversation. Great to work with The Data Lab - Innovation Centre team on today’s event.

No slides.
No buzzwords.

Just real, honest discussion about how organisations are actually making decisions around AI.

A huge thank you to our outstanding panel, McKinley Muir Hyden from Skyscanner, Stuart McMeechan from OpenAI and Victoria Ferrier from Wild.

And to Atholl Duncan, Co-Founder The AI Decision Room for being an exceptional chair.

The quality of insight and challenge set the tone from the outset.

And to everyone who attended, the engagement in the room was exceptional.

It’s clear this conversation is needed.

But this wasn’t just about Edinburgh.

This was the launch of AI Decision Room.

A collaboration between MBN Solutions and the Black Isle Group | BIG, built around a simple belief:AI isn’t a future conversation, it’s a leadership decision happening now.

I am delighted to be working with Atholl Duncan and Jeremy Campbell on this new initiative.

AI Decision Room is designed to give senior leaders the space to step out of the noise, challenge thinking, and make better decisions around AI.

Edinburgh was the starting point:

https://lnkd.in/e8VarJJx

But the bigger story is here:
https://aidecisionroom.com

We’re only just getting started.

04/02/2026

Michael and Joshua from MBN Solutions spent the start of the week in London - Some brilliant meeting discussing Data & AI Talent with some exciting companies, watch this space 📈

They also had the opportunity to join the AI International Leadership Learning Journey for the presentations - genuinely great to see so many Scottish-based organisations represented and contributing at this level.

Proud moment seeing our colleague, Mohammed Khaleed presenting to the audience - he was brilliant and great to see him sharing his knowdlege of what’s happening in AI.

We have had brilliant conversations with business leaders on what really separates AI leaders from the rest, and, as ever, it’s rarely the tech.

Also, huge privilege to listen to André Balleyguier present last night, his talk was outstanding, can’t wait to see his journey at his new company, Anthropic (exciting times ahead)

Huge credit to Scottish Enterprise , Highlands and Islands Enterprise , South of Scotland Enterprise , The Data Lab - Innovation Centre , and the Scottish AI Alliance for bringing this together and showcasing the depth of AI leadership thinking coming out of Scotland.

Great chat with Sandra Ripley at the The Data Lab - Innovation Centre last night, love hearing about all the work they are doing and excited for a few collaborations coming up (again, keep an eye out for updates) ✔️

Now back to Scotland, no place like it 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

15/01/2026

Huge thank you to everyone who joined us at Agents, Tools and MCP Oh My 📈

What an incredible session, a full house with people standing engaged and energised throughout - not bad for mid January 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

We explored next-level AI concepts for developers, shared practical insights and sparked some brilliant conversations. Grateful for the enthusiasm and curiosity in the room.

02/12/2025

Up and about early for the Generative AI Summit London this morning representing MBN Solutions

A great chance to be in the room with the people people who are building in AI, engineers, data leaders and practitioners pushing real-world adoption.

What I’m looking forward to:

-Understanding the emerging talent gaps shaping 2025/2026

-Insights on scalable, production-ready AI

-Conversations about what great AI leadership really looks like

- Connecting with builders and leaders

If you’re attending, let’s connect.

- [email protected]

27/11/2025

Great morning at the AI Breakfast Club at Barclays Eagle Labs in Glasgow today - diving into Deep Tech from an investor’s perspective.

Brilliant to see Glasgow continuing to build real momentum around AI, deep tech, and commercialising cutting-edge research.

The panel shared some invaluable insight on what investors actually look for in Deep Tech ventures, from the strength of the founding team, to clarity of problem/solution fit, to the often underestimated challenge of taking breakthrough research from prototype to market.

For me, events like this reinforce something I see every day in my work with data and AI leaders:

- Talent is the real differentiator.

You can have world-class research, funding, and infrastructure, but scaling Deep Tech companies ultimately comes down to building the right leadership and technical capability around the vision.

Fantastic to connect with founders, researchers, and investors who are shaping Scotland’s deep tech ecosystem.

There’s huge opportunity ahead, especially with initiatives like the Deep Tech Manufacturing Pathway helping create the bridge from lab to market.

Thanks to Barclays Eagle Labs Glasgow and Twin Path Ventures for hosting a strong session.

If you’re working in AI, Deep Tech, or building the teams to power your next phase of growth, always happy to connect.

- [email protected]

TechInvestment GlasgowTech

03/11/2025

MBN Solutions have partnered with EWOR an incubator that backs Europe’s top 0.1% startups, to recruit, differently - Mohammed Khaleed has been running this project 📈

We’re running an Operator Day on 7 November (9:00–10:30 UK time),

You’ll meet founders from 16 funded tech ventures, hear their short pitches, and join 1:1 breakout sessions with those hiring their first key team members across Engineering, Product, GTM and Marketing.

It’s a rare chance to get early access to roles and ventures most people never hear about, all fully remote with strong base salaries and equity.

Spaces are limited, so if you’d like to join, grab your spot here:

👉 https://luma.com/toilaa0k

02/10/2025

This week MBN Solutions hosted the latest roundtable meeting of the Data Impact Leadership Forum, where we considered ‘Creating pathways to effective AI leadership’.

When it comes to enabling innovation and change with AI the message was clear. Innovation is not about technology. The technology will always be there. Whilst AI is accelerating faster than forecasters predicted, it is merely an enabler. Innovation is about people, and people need strategy and leadership.

The session was opened with some leading questions form the Forum Chair Ian Davey. How do organisations find the right people to lead AI, how do you keep those people, and how do those people deliver impact and value?

The discussion was kicked off off by Alan Crawley who outlined Optima Partners 3 mission model and 5 principles approach for assessing AI leaders. Strategic vision, change enablement, governance, risk management, impact and value realisation all featured.

The group echoed these thoughts, creativity, curiosity, critical thinking were outlined as core principles. AI, it was felt, is failing on the softer skills. We need leaders who are charismatic, collaborative and able to influence change.

On the subject of effective AI leadership in practice, Eddie Short, Chief Digital & AI Officer, and Founder of TRINS hit home the message. It is not about the technology, it is what you do with it. AI cannot be a bolt on - it must be built into your corporate DNA. Leadership must be focused on change. Business as usual is dead - organisations must be focused on reinvention to become a truly data enabled AI powered business.

What comes next? Forum Co-Founder and CEO of MBN Solutions, Michael Young proposed some reflection. Some time to take stock of the key takeaways and to assess what toolkits and follow up actions could be taken as a group to enable change and to explore solutions to the challenges raised by the group.

The full report will follow in the coming weeks.

Thanks to all of our supporters and attendees.

26/09/2025

Great to be back in Glasgow last night hosting another fantastic AI event - Thanks to CGI for hosting us in their amazing office, great to work with Mark Keogh on this event. And a big thanks also to Louise Hogg, Emma Gillespie, Amy Morrison and David McGarrigle for their support 📈

Making AI Real: From Building Your Own Tools to Keeping Models in Check

Last night, MBN Solutions had the privilege of hosting another packed-out data community event, this time exploring what it really takes to make AI practical, reliable and trusted.

Chaired by our MD, Shannon McKechnie, the evening brought together two brilliant perspectives:

🔹 Richard Bownes, Head of AI Solutions @ vector8
“In a World of Platforms, Bring Your Own Tooling”
Richard shared how his team has stepped away from the hype cycle to build their own AI stack, showing that when you truly understand your tools, you move faster, build stronger, and stay ahead.

🔹 Maria Kalantzaki,Senior Validation Manager, AI @ Virgin Money
“Validating AI in Finance: Compliance, Trust, and What’s Next”
Maria took us inside the world of AI validation, from fraud detection to GenAI, showing how banks ensure models remain compliant, fair and fit for purpose while keeping pace with rapid change.

The common thread? Real stories and sharp lessons on building AI that works in the wild, not just on the whiteboard.

Huge thanks to Richard and Maria for their insights, to Shannon for chairing, and to everyone in our community who joined the discussion.

At MBN, we’re proud to continue connecting Scotland’s data & AI community, creating spaces where ideas, expertise and practical lessons are shared.

25/08/2025

A New Episode of A Class Act: Conversations in Data & Leadership is live tomorrow.

In this episode, MBN Solutions MD Shannon McKechnie sits down with David Meikle, Founder of BloxWeaver on A Class Act - The Podcast.

Almost a decade ago, David was already working with AI and automation at scale, while most industries were still years away from facing the same challenges.

In the episode, they got into:

– What it was like leading teams through the fear of AI and automation in the workplace
– Why psychological safety is the real foundation of effective leadership
– The hardest moment of David’s leadership journey - leading a restructure and rebuilding trust afterwards
– His belief that transformation happens “little by little, the bird builds his nest”

▶️ Follow A Class Act: Conversations in Data and Leadership on Spotify, Apple, or YouTube so you’re notified when the episode goes live tomorrow, August 26th - link in bio!

05/08/2025

Super excited to see MBN Solutions partner with Tomoro and The Data Lab - Innovation Centre to bring this outstanding event to the data community in Scotland (keep an eye out for a similar event in London over next few months) 📈

Join us on in Edinburgh on Thursday, 21st August 2025 | 6:00 PM

The Future of AI Agents: From Theory to Production

Are you ready to move beyond the hype and into real-world AI agent deployment?

This evening is packed with practical insights from the engineers building autonomous systems at scale.

If you’re an engineer, researcher, or tech leader curious about what’s actually working in production today, this event is for you.

Featured Talks Include:

Emma Rattray (Google DeepMind Scholar, ex-JPMC) on building in public and career transformation

Sabrina Chiesurin (Tomoro) on embodied AI and the future beyond chatbots

Lloyd Hamilton, PhD (Tomoro) on putting MCP into practice for secure, production-ready AI

Rishabh Sagar (CTO, Tomoro) on how to actually evaluate multi-agent systems in the wild

What you’ll learn:

- Production-ready AI agent architectures
-Embodied AI + simulation with NVIDIA
- Robust communication via the Model Context Protocol
- Real evaluation frameworks that scale
- Career acceleration strategies through transparent building

Registration details are in the comments (be quick over registrations are flying in before 8am this morning)

Tom McLaughlin, Heather Thomson, Joshua Smith, Shannon McKechnie, Mohammed Khaleed, David McGarrigle

30/07/2025

Here’s what some of Scotland’s leading women in technology and data had to say about our latest roundtable session, which was dedicated to exploring approaches to deriving value from AI at scale....

“Success in AI doesn’t rest on technology alone. It hinges on the people who can make it relevant, actionable, and aligned with business goals “- Shannon McKechnie, MBN Solutions

“Regardless of industry, the themes repeat: education, expectation, and understanding. There’s still a huge gap in awareness, not just around what AI can do, but what it can’t” - Kathleen Moore Moore, AlbaCo Ltd

“While there’s widespread excitement about AI, the discussion underscored that it’s our responsibility, as technical contributors and leaders, to channel that energy responsibly and hold ourselves to high standards. Crucially, it also highlighted the ongoing need for well-rounded technical professionals: those who can translate effectively across the business, and collaborate with functions like governance and legal, not just build in isolation” - Megan Stamper, BBC

If you are a Data leader anywhere across the globe, you can sign up below to receive future reports, and to be first to hear about opportunities to attend our invite only roundtable discussions.

Request to join by using the link in the comments

22/07/2025

🚨 New Hire: David McGarrigle joins MBN to help us strengthen our position in the AI Talent market 🤖

We’re growing. The demand for top AI talent continues to explode – and we’re investing to meet

A key part of Shannon McKechnie position when she became MD was to build a winning team - not just hiring for skills, but for mindset, culture, and ambition and she’s doing exactly that.

That’s why we’re delighted to welcome David to the MBN team.

David brings years of experience in recruitment and a strong track records of delivering excellence. He knows how to connect ambitious companies with the talent they need to scale.

Join me in welcoming David to the team, If you’re hiring in AI – or looking for your next position in the space – David is ready to speak with you.

MBN Solutions

31/03/2026

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27/11/2025

03/11/2025

02/10/2025

26/09/2025

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30/07/2025

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