Piyush Poddar

Board Member @Drupal Association | BIMA100 ’24 | AI-driven digital transformation for Higher Ed, Non-Profits, Sports, and Technology organisations - Platforms, CRO, and what actually moves the needle

United Kingdom

About

I have spent 20 years in digital, and the question at the centre of my work has stayed consistent: how do organisations with complex missions build digital experiences that genuinely serve the people they exist for? What has changed fundamentally, is the answer. AI is rewriting the playbook for how digital work gets designed, delivered, and measured. At Axelerant, we are not treating AI as a feature to add later. We are building it into the core of how we operate: AI-native delivery teams, AI embedded into our engineering and design workflows, solutions with AI built in from the architecture up, and increasingly, standalone AI-powered solutions for our clients. I lead sales and partnerships at Axelerant, working directly with Higher Ed institutions, nonprofits, sports and lifestyle brands, and technology companies. We deliver across digital engineering, platform implementations (Drupal, Acquia, AWS, HubSpot, Salesforce, Confluence), experience design, and digital marketing with a particular depth in conversion rate optimisation. Our clients include Red Hat, the United Nations, the University of East London, The IRONMAN Group, PADI, AITech and many more... The pattern I see across these sectors right now is the same everywhere. Digital leaders know AI matters. Most of them do not yet have a clear picture of where it fits into their platform strategy, their content operations, their CRO programme, or their delivery model. The organisations pulling ahead are the ones making practical decisions about AI integration now rather than waiting for a perfect strategy. That is what I write about - the intersection of AI adoption, platform strategy, and CRO for organisations where the mission is bigger than the margin. I sit on the Board of the Drupal Association, helping drive the future of one of the largest open-source platforms in the world - including how AI capabilities are being integrated into the ecosystem. I was named to the BIMA100 in 2024 and serve on BIMA's Future Growth Council. I host agency leader roundtables globally and the Humans Behind Digital Experiences podcast, where I talk to the people building some of the most ambitious digital programmes in the world. If you lead digital at a university, nonprofit, sports organisation, or technology company and you are trying to figure out where AI fits into your platform and experience strategy, follow me.

Experience

  • Board Member at Drupal Association
    Nov 2023 - Present · 2 yrs 8 mos

    Helping to advance the Drupal Association's mission to drive innovation and adoption of Drupal as a high-impact digital public good, hand-in-hand with our open source community.

  • Axelerant (12 yrs 5 mos)
    • VP Sales & Partnerships
      2019 - Present · 7 yrs 6 mos

    • Director Of Partnerships
      Mar 2017 - Jan 2019 · 1 yr 11 mos

      We partner with Digital Agencies and Web Development Companies for continuous delivery of managed staffing and white labeled support and maintenance services for their clients. We work with Drupal, Wordpress, Magento, Salesforce and other open source technologies, web platforms and marketing automation suites. We have helped organizations such as Stanford, Scouts, and Red Hat in the higher education, nonprofit, and healthcare space.

    • Director of Professional Services, EMEA
      Apr 2015 - Mar 2017 · 2 yrs

      Axelerant is a full-service software development company that focuses on open-source technologies. Our backbone is built on the top technical talent who are passionate, giving, and communicative. We provide high-end engineering services for our clients and agencies we partner with. Our services include Technical Discovery & Information Architecture, Web Development, Website Migration, Support & Maintenance, and DevOps services. Our team members span the world and we follow agile delivery and working processes. Further, we’re actively giving back to many open-source communities and have fostered an innovative, incubator culture to give ideas a chance to succeed.

  • Council Member: Future Growth Council at BIMA (British Interactive Media Association)
    Nov 2023 - Present · 2 yrs 8 mos

    At BIMA's Future Growth Council, we help member agencies in the UK and overseas, to fulfil their potential and achieve sustainable growth via our programs, events and content.

  • Drupal Contributor, Event Organiser, Speaker & Evangelist at Drupal
    Aug 2008 - Present · 17 yrs 11 mos

    My Contributions to Drupal at https://www.drupal.org/u/piyushpoddar

  • Member at TiE Rajasthan
    Jan 2012 - Present · 14 yrs 6 mos