Kate Carruthers

Kate Carruthers is a technologist, entrepreneur, and educator recognized as an authority on data analytics, artificial intelligence, and data governance in Australia. Carruthers brings experience across higher education, large enterprises, startups, and boards. Her career includes senior executive roles at organizations such as Citibank, General Electric, AMP, Westfield (now Scentre Group), and NSW Treasury, and she has co-founded startups including Social Innovation Sydney, MooresCloud, and IoTM.

Carruthers served as Chief Data & Insights Officer at UNSW Sydney, where she led the implementation of an institution-wide data and information strategy encompassing governance, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data quality processes. She delivered UNSW's first enterprise AI system into production and led the re-architecture of the cloud data platform to support artificial intelligence, machine learning, business intelligence and analytics, and low-code applications from a unified set of data pipelines. Carruthers guided the transition from a traditional enterprise data warehouse to a cloud-based data platform using Microsoft Azure and Databricks. She was also part of the management team establishing the UNSW AI Institute and served as Head of Business Intelligence.

In addition to her executive roles, Carruthers has contributed to academia and public discourse in data analytics and artificial intelligence. She served as an Adjunct Senior Lecturer in the School of Computer Science & Engineering at UNSW Sydney and teaches data governance and AI courses at UNSW's Australian Graduate School of Management. Carruthers has served on the NSW Government Data Analytics Centre Advisory Board and the Infrastructure NSW Technology Advisory Board. As a Senior Member of the Institute of Electrical & Electronics Engineers, she has also been a member of the Advisory Board for the Faculty of Informatics at the University of Wollongong and the Telstra Industry Advisory Board.

Carruthers has been recognized by Smart Company magazine as one of Australia's most powerful women in technology and was included in the Constellation Research Business Transformation 150, a list of global executives leading business transformation. She has appeared on the Global Top 100 Innovators in Data and Analytics and the CDO Magazine List of Academic Data Leaders, and received a Lifetime Achievement Award by B&T at the Women Leading Tech awards. Carruthers is known for fostering innovation, advocating for women in technology, and engaging diverse stakeholder groups.

After her tenure at UNSW, Carruthers worked with the Australian Institute of Company Directors as Head of Data, Analytics & AI. Her expertise includes technology risk management, digital business strategy, and cybersecurity. Carruthers remains a prominent voice on the human dimensions of data-driven transformation, emphasizing that behind every data challenge lies a human problem to be addressed.