Paula Riano

AI Strategy Advisor

Paula Riano brings extensive experience in bridging the gap between cutting-edge technology and human behaviour to ensure organisations can actually absorb the tools they invest in.

She has led AI change programmes, agile transformations, and engineering project delivery for a number of leading organisations and says her ‘super-power’ is the ability to enable people to own their own AI journey.

She also brings a deep technical background in electronics engineering and project management with a passion for driving organisational agility and sustainable AI adoption.

She's got over 20 years of experience in leading, doing, coaching, and advising at some of the world's and NZ's leading organisations.

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You can talk to me about:

❇️ Performance

AI Compass

🟤 Strategy & Leadership

AI Strategy & Enablement

I've recently written about:

March 26, 2026

Performance

KPIs for AI: What metrics actually matter? (Hint: It’s not "number of prompts written")

Measuring AI impact by prompts written misses the entire point. Globally, the C-suite conversation has shifted. We're moving past deployment figures to concrete results: increased revenue, reduced costs, and enhanced satisfaction for customers and employees. This isn't just about doing AI, it's about AI doing something meaningful. I've consistently observed that for New Zealand organisations, especially, ethical integration is a non-negotiable KPI. Trust and compliance are fundamental for long-term adoption and success in our market. True value often comes from augmenting human capabilities, streamlining workflows and empowering teams. We need to assess how AI elevates our people, not merely how many tasks it automates. Pragmatic leaders understand that AI investments must directly align with strategic business metrics.