Board of Advisors

To ensure excellence in programming and content relevance and accuracy, the AI Leaders Council is guided by a distinguished Board of Advisors comprised of seasoned executives, innovators, and practitioners in artificial intelligence. The AI Leaders Council Board of Advisors provides guidance on programs, resources, and initiatives, helping us represent the needs of AI Directors, Chief AI Officers (CAIOs), CIOs, CTOs, and other business leaders navigating the implementation and use of AI for automating and improving processes, developing new business models, and achieving breakthrough innovations.

Questions, suggestions or recommendations for the Board of Advisors, or AI Leadership Council programs or content? Please use the AI Leaders Council contact form.

Nirmal Jingar

Advisor

Nirmal Jingar is a technology and AI leader with a career focused on building scalable software systems, strengthening engineering organizations, and aligning technology decisions with long-term business outcomes. As Engineering & AI Leader at Wayfair, his work emphasizes practical execution, architectural soundness, and sustained impact rather than short-term optimization.

Nirmal is a member and contributor to the Forbes Technology Council, where he publishes articles on engineering leadership, AI adoption, and scalable system design. He is also a member of the Massachusetts Technology Leadership Council, Chief AI Officer Boston Group, and a member and contributor to the Private Directors Association (New England Chapter), where he engages with senior executives and board-level leaders on technology strategy, governance, and organizational effectiveness.

In an academic and evaluative capacity, Nirmal serves as an Applied AI Advisor at Wentworth Institute of Technology, supporting applied research and curriculum aligned with real-world industry needs. He is also a Judge and Mentor at MassChallenge, where he evaluates startups and advises founders on technology strategy, system architecture, and execution at scale. Nirmal earned a Master’s degree in Computer Science and an MBA in Information Technology, providing a combined technical and business foundation that informs his leadership, advisory, and evaluative roles.

Glenn Hopper

Advisor

Glenn Hopper is Managing Director/Head of AI at VAi Consulting, a boutique Ai consulting firm with global reach. A former CFO, Glenn is author of the Amazon best-selling book, Deep Finance: Corporate Finance in the Information Age; and his new book, AI Mastery for Finance Professionals, also available on Amazon and other retailers.

Glenn serves on advisory boards including the University of Memphis School of Accountancy, and Preql, an AI data platform for finance. He is an instructor, executive education at the Duke University CFO program.

Glenn earned a Master of Liberal Arts from Harvard University, a Graduate Certificate, Business Analytics from Harvard Business School, and a GenAI+Finance certification from the Digital Design Institute at Harvard, and several other degrees.

Martina Matthews 

Advisor

Martina Matthews is Founder/Consultant/Educator @ Miss ChatGPT101 which trains business owners, non-profits and students on AI, ChatGPT, and related AI training. She is also a fractional C-Suite advisor for AI deployment and more.

Prior roles included multiple tech startups including textbook rental/education tech platform Chegg, Life360, Sittercity, Nectar and more. Martina is a founding member of the AI Collective, and an organizer for the Chicago Chapter.

Martina earned a Bachelors of Computer Science and a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Governors State University, where she serves on the College of Business Advisory Board. She is a certified Lean Six sigma Yellow Belt by the Project Management Academy.

Octavio (OJ) Laos

Advisor

Octavio (OJ) Laos is Director of AI @ Armanino Advisory, a top 20 accounting/technology firm with more than 3,000 employees and 26 offices across the U.S. and Globally. OJ founded Armanino AI Labs. 

OJ is a frequent speaker on AI topics at industry conferences, and contributor to academic publications and news outlets including Fox Business. He is a Certified Career Essentials in Generative AI by Microsoft, and a Certified in Conversational AI Designer by Rulai.

OJ earned a JD from UCLA School of Law, and a BA Economics and Political Science from University of California, Davis, and is a member of the California State Bar.

Neil Brown

Executive Director

Neil Brown is Executive Director of the AI Leaders Council, and a professional association manager. Neil is chief marketing officer (CMO) of Modern Marketing Partners, and CEO of Executive Councils, a platform that includes AI Leaders Council, (financial) Controllers Council, Chief Executives Council, IT Executives Council, and the Operations Council.

Neil started his career as a Brand Manager, then chief marketing officer (CMO), CEO and serial entrepreneur of more than 30 startups. Over his career, Brown has provided marketing counsel and services to Fortune 500 and tech start-ups across multiple industry verticals, working extensively with CEOs, CMOs, Boards of Directors and related C-Suite executives.

Neil is a frequent speaker, author and contributor to The Wall Street Journal, Advertising Age, Marketing News, Adweek magazine and many others. He is author of two books including “Breakthrough Branding: Brand Naming Tips & Trade Secrets”, and “Tools of the Trade: Modern Marketing for Construction Brands”. Brown earned an MBA from Northern Illinois University, and a BS-Marketing Cum Laude from Southern Illinois University.