Dr. Mechie Nkengla (she/her)

Dr. Mechie Nkengla is a PhD Applied Mathematician and AI executive who has spent two decades proving a single thesis: AI fails not because the technology is insufficient, but because the infrastructure beneath it was designed for the wrong people.

She is a member of the Illinois Generative AI & NLP Task Force, a Fellow of the Aspen Technology Policy Hub, a former Chair of CompTIA's AI Advisory Council, and a faculty member at the Practicing Law Institute on AI governance. Through Data Products LLC, she advises federal agencies, health systems, and Fortune 50 boards on AI strategy and governance, holding multiple patents in applied AI systems.

Earlier, as Director of Ernst & Young's Global Data Science Center of Excellence, she led AI transformations across four continents. She is the founder of Africa Trade Bridge, a digital trade infrastructure that activates the AfCFTA for 80 million MSMEs across 54 nations.