V2 AI hires four executives as enterprise demand soars
Wed, 1st Jul 2026 (Today)
V2 AI has appointed four senior executives as demand from enterprise customers has risen fivefold in recent months.
Clare Cranston has joined as General Manager Consulting, Millicent McCutcheon as Partner, Gulnnar Grover as Director, Data & AI, and Dwayne Helena as Director of AI Engineering.
The appointments add senior leadership across consulting, AI strategy, engineering and data transformation at the Asia-Pacific data and AI consultancy, founded in 2023, with offices in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Kuala Lumpur.
V2 AI has also recently been appointed an implementation partner in Anthropic's Claude Partner Network. The firm works with AWS, Databricks, Google Cloud and OpenAI on enterprise AI projects.
Consulting lead
Cranston joins with more than 20 years of experience leading consulting, customer success and delivery teams in Australia and across the Asia-Pacific region. Before joining V2 AI, she held senior roles at Cognizant, including Head of Delivery & Strategy and Industry Lead for Public Sector & Health.
She has also held executive roles at Contino, Logicalis, Optus, Interactive and IBM. At V2 AI, she will lead the consulting practice, with a focus on delivery, the company's squad-based model, delivery maturity, and pre-sales and customer engagement.
Her appointment comes as companies seek external support not only with AI planning, but also with the work required to deploy systems across large organisations.
"Clients increasingly need partners who can move from AI strategy to enterprise-scale delivery, and I'm excited to help grow that capability at V2 AI," Cranston said.
Enterprise focus
McCutcheon joins after roles at Amazon Web Services and Dropbox. She spent more than six years at AWS, advising senior leaders at major Australian financial institutions and insurers on cloud and AI transformation.
At V2 AI, she will strengthen the company's consulting work with large organisations in regulated sectors, including financial services and insurance, where governance, risk and implementation remain central to AI adoption.
"V2 AI combines deep technical capability with practical execution, helping organisations adopt AI responsibly and at scale," McCutcheon said.
Grover joins as Director, Data & AI with more than a decade of experience across consulting, product, engineering and enterprise delivery. Her background spans strategy, architecture and delivery, with a focus on aligning data and AI programmes with business goals.
He will help clients establish the data, governance and delivery foundations needed for broader AI use across their organisations. The role reflects a broader market shift as companies move from pilot projects to more formal AI operating models.
"Successful AI starts with trusted data, strong governance and a relentless focus on business outcomes," Grover said.
Engineering push
Helena joins as Director of AI Engineering with more than 25 years of experience in engineering transformation across banking, financial services and consulting. He has worked on software delivery modernisation and the use of AI within engineering practices.
His appointment highlights the growing overlap between software engineering and AI deployment, particularly in sectors updating legacy technology while introducing new tools.
"I joined V2 AI because it sits at the intersection of two areas I'm most passionate about: engineering transformation and enterprise AI adoption," Helena said. "The future of software engineering will be AI-enabled, and enterprises need modern engineering practices to realise its full potential."
The hires come as specialist consultancies and larger technology services firms compete for work tied to corporate AI spending. Many businesses are still trying to balance experimentation with governance, integration and internal skills development.
The latest appointments are intended to strengthen V2 AI's ability to support clients through different stages of AI programmes, from strategy and data preparation to implementation and engineering delivery.
Craig Howe, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of V2 AI, linked the hires to the company's next stage of expansion.
"As we enter our next phase of growth, we're investing in exceptional leaders who bring deep consulting, engineering, data, cloud and commercial expertise. Clare, Millicent, Gulnnar and Dwayne significantly strengthen our ability to help clients build AI capability that is secure, scalable and delivers measurable business value," Howe said.