Biography
Barbara Cresti is Founder and CEO of StratEdge, a boutique advisory firm she launched nine months ago that guides boards and executive teams of midsize enterprises (300+ employees) through responsible AI adoption, digital transformation, and competitive resilience. With 20+ years in the corporate world spanning technology, product innovation, and go-to-market strategy, her most recent corporate role was at Amazon Web Services (AWS), where she led sales strategy and growth for midsize companies across EMEA. At StratEdge, Barbara partners with a data law expert to offer a one-stop-shop model—combining AI literacy training (from fundamentals through deep learning), function-specific use case workshops (supply chain, HR, operations), and board-level governance advisory on AI risks, liabilities, and opportunity framing. A strong advocate of AI sovereignty, she advises European and Swiss organisations on adopting sovereign cloud, video conferencing, and SaaS tools to prevent data leaks to foreign-owned tech platforms. She has spoken publicly on AI sovereignty at the World Summit AI Amsterdam and is a vocal proponent of the "fail stage" concept—sessions where companies share failed AI implementations to accelerate collective learning. Barbara was pre-confirmed as a speaker at AI Summit Barcelona 2026 following a meeting with Adam on February 18 and will block September 22–23 for the event.