Hosted by Simon Burton
Every year, KIMRA brings together the people shaping the future of knowledge, information management, research and analysis — the practitioners running transformation inside their organisations, the suppliers building the tools, and the analysts making sense of it all.
KIMRA Conversations takes that same community and keeps the conversation going all year round.
On the show:
- How research and knowledge functions are actually building AI strategies that work — not just experimenting
- Real transformation stories from law firms, consultancies and professional services, told by the people who led them
- The vendor and client sides of major AI implementations, side by side
- What's really happening with data procurement, vendor consolidation, and pricing in the AI era
- How the research and knowledge professions themselves are evolving — and what it means for skills and careers
Listen: Apple Podcasts Spotify Amazon Music
Find out more about KIMRA: https://www.kimraconference.com
Episode 14: Katleen Richardson, (22 min)
In this episode of the KIMRA Conversations podcast, Katleen discusses her extensive experience in information and data businesses, emphasizing the impact of AI on business models, marketing strategies, and the importance of credibility in the information sector. She highlights the need for companies to adapt their strategies in response to changing buyer behaviors and the risks posed by AI-driven market dynamics.
Katleen has spent 20+ years running go-to-market inside businesses where the product is trust and intelligence, including Citeline, Evaluate and The Economist Group, where she led the marketing workstream of the Group's B2B commercial transformation and the 2026 launch of Economist Enterprise. Her work across private-equity and venture-backed portfolios has one constant: aligning GTM strategy to how buyers actually decide. That has always driven growth, but the stakes are higher now. AI does not fix a broken GTM. It amplifies it. What Katleen is hired for today is the revenue-engine redesign that must happen before AI investment pays back: sequencing strategy first, then applying AI where it compounds. She is the author of The Trust Premium.
Ceri Hughes shares her extensive career journey in knowledge management, learning and development, and her transition into coaching. She discusses the evolution of knowledge management, the impact of AI on the industry, and the challenges leaders face in adapting to these changes. The conversation explores the evolving landscape of knowledge management, particularly in the context of AI integration and its implications for workforce development and organizational strategy. Ceri Hughes emphasizes the importance of active listening, curiosity, and community engagement for professionals in the knowledge management field.
Ceri is an independent Executive Coach, Non-Executive Director, Speaker and Facilitator. Until 2024 she was Director of Operations for KPMG's Chief People Officer. Her career at KPMG spanned more than 24 years, latterly in Operations, but for 16 years she led Knowledge Management and Research groups at the firm in the UK and internationally, including the establishment of offshore knowledge operations in India, and then became the Head of Learning and Knowledge Management for KPMG UK in 2017. In 2020 she was part of the team leading the firm’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Prior to working at KPMG, Ceri was the Global Head of Information and Records Management at an international telecommunications company. She began her career as a Library Association/SCONUL Graduate Trainee in the Information Centre at the Lord Chancellor’s Department.
Episode 12: Charles Thiede, Zapnito (34 min)
The conversation covers the career journey of Charles Thiede, the co-founder of Zapnito, and delves into the impact of AI on community-led growth, governance, and the future of online communities. It also explores the challenges and opportunities of AI in community development, as well as the importance of engagement and community value.
Episode 11: Tom Rebbeck, Analysys Mason (29 min)
The conversation with Tom Rebbeck from Analysys Mason covers his career journey, the impact of AI on the research and consulting business, the challenges of data collection in different markets, the role of AI in the research process, and the value of expert analysis in decision-making.
Episode 10: Daniel Lord, Content Catalyst (42 min)
Daniel Lord, founder of Content Catalyst, on building content intelligence tools for analyst research firms, and why AI is forcing those firms to refocus on customer needs and core competencies rather than the mechanics of publishing. The conversation also digs into MCP — what it is, how it's being used, and the governance questions it raises.
Daniel has spent over 20 years at the intersection of analyst knowledge and technology. He founded Content Catalyst in 2003 and scaled it into a research delivery platform used by analyst firms and publishers. He has just launched DeepRethink.ai, applying agentic AI to analyst research. He began his career as an analyst at Datamonitor. Daniel works with knowledge-led organisations on how research is delivered, and how better delivery leads to faster, more confident decisions. His current focus is the plumbing of AI-enabled research: how connectors and agentic tooling let expert knowledge reach the systems where decisions are actually made.
Episode 9: Hal Kirkwood, Bodleian Business Librarian (1 hr 21 min)
Hal Kirkwood, Bodleian Business Librarian at Saïd Business School, University of Oxford, on the move into business librarianship, how business information and data have evolved, and what AI means for information professionals and business libraries. A wide-ranging conversation on AI in education, medical research and academic reading — and why AI should support human judgement rather than replace it.
Hal is the Bodleian Business Librarian at the Said Business School, University of Oxford. He leads the team at the Sainsbury Library in providing support for teaching and research endeavours across the university. Previously he spent 20 years at the Roland G. Parrish Library of management & Economics at Purdue University. He served as President of the Special Libraries Association in 2019. Currently he is the regional coordinator for the UK & Ireland division of the European Business School Libraries Group.
With over 30 years of experience in academic libraries, he is an award-winning instructor and author; becoming the first-ever librarian inducted into Purdue University’s Book of Great Teachers. Hal’s focus is on business information literacy instruction, concept-mapping, and competitive intelligence. He also is expanding his involvement into data management and the use of AI for research.
Episode 8: Carter Lusher, Lusher Advisory (1 hr 11 min)
An industry-analyst veteran on how the analyst business has evolved, the role of analyst relations, and what AI-mediated research delivery means for firms built on human expertise. Carter also talks through the changing talent model, and why open integration matters as firms reinvent themselves around AI-powered intelligence platforms.
Ludovic Leforestier on analyst relations as the bridge between tech vendors and industry analysts, and why human expertise still matters even as AI changes how research gets produced. The conversation covers the rise of independent analysts, shifting client expectations, and how to assess a research provider.
Episode 6: Izabella Kaminska, The Blind Spot (1 hr 20 min)
Izabella Kaminska on The Blind Spot, editorial freedom, and where financial media coverage falls short — plus new ways to fund independent journalism. The conversation broadens into AI's effect on journalism: writing, research and editing, transparency about AI use, and what short-termism is doing to corporate reporting.
Episode 5: Maribeth Martorana, Sapient Advisors (52 min)
Maribeth Martorana built her career inside FactSet, Moody's Analytics and the CFA Institute before founding Sapient Advisors to help information businesses invest more wisely in AI. She talks through why strategy, people and process need aligning before any AI rollout, the role of data quality, and how mid-market firms are budgeting for AI amid shifting data-feed pricing.
Maribeth Martorana, CFA, is Founder and CEO of Sapient Advisors, a data and AI consultancy helping financial services and other mid-market companies develop and implement data and AI strategies. She has spent more than 25 years at the intersection of financial services, data, technology, and product innovation, with a particular focus on turning complex data and emerging technologies into practical products and business solutions. Prior to founding Sapient Advisors, Maribeth held senior product and strategy roles at Aiera, CFA Institute, Moody’s Analytics, and FactSet. At Moody’s Analytics, she led data, AI and machine learning initiatives, product strategy, and strategic partnerships, and earlier in her career developed research and information products at FactSet. Today, she advises executives on AI readiness, data strategy, use case prioritization, and data and AI product development. Maribeth is a frequent speaker and podcast guest, co-chaired New York FinTech Week, mentors early-stage companies through Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator, and writes The Strategy Signal, a newsletter exploring strategy, data, AI, and innovation.
Episode 4: Max Friberg, Inex One (32 min)
Max Friberg spent years as a consultant using expert networks for due diligence before founding Inex One to bring the fragmented world of expert networks together in one place. He explains why aggregating across networks — rather than running just one — turns out to be the more valuable position, and where he sees AI falling short of genuine expertise and tacit knowledge.
Max Friberg is the CEO of Inex One, the global aggregator of expert networks. Inex One is ranked the best expert network solution on independent review sites, and is used by more than 8,000 professionals worldwide in strategy consulting, private equity, and corporate strategy teams. Prior to Inex One, Max was a strategy consultant at McKinsey & Company.
Episode 3: CJ Anderson, Iron Carrot (33 min)
A qualified librarian with over 30 years in the information profession, CJ Anderson now runs Iron Carrot, a specialist data governance consultancy. She explains why real AI readiness starts with getting data in order, where accountability gaps tend to sit inside law firms, who should own data governance, and what separates governance that works from governance that exists only to tick a box.
Episode 2: Dominic King, Accenture Research (1 hr 9 min)
Dominic King discusses his book "Tools or Traps? The Rising Social Cost of Unchecked Innovation," and the dependencies that new technologies — from social media to AI — build into their own business models. The conversation covers what AI is doing to the work of business researchers, the difference between thinking and simply delivering, and the questions synthetic data raises in a market research context.
Episode 1: Ben Longman, Trendtype (53 min)
Ben Longman, founder and CEO of Trendtype, a market intelligence company covering FMCG, consumer health and retail across Africa and the Middle East. He explains why so much data on African markets is poor or simply doesn't exist, why on-the-ground fieldwork keeps surfacing things desk research never would, and why AI can confidently invent an academic source that was never there.
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