Pamela Maynard

Pamela Maynard is the first-ever Chief AI Transformation Officer for Microsoft Customer and Partner Solutions (MCAPS). In her role, she spearheads AI-driven transformation for the tech giant and its customers.

Prior to joining Microsoft in October 2024, Pam was the CEO of Avanade, the leading digital innovator on the Microsoft ecosystem, where she headed up the digital, cloud, AI and advisory services, industry solutions, and design-led experiences. She led Avanade’s global team of 60,000-plus employees, while driving sustainable growth.

Prior to being named CEO of Avanade in 2019, she was its president of product and innovation. Earlier in her Avanade career, she served as president of the European organisation and general manager of Avanade UK.

Pamela is passionate about using technology not just as an enabler of business, but to support the missions of non-profit organisations and close the digital divide, especially for young people. She served as executive sponsor of Avanade’s Technology for Social Good initiative, which lends cloud and digital technology skills and expertise to non-profits.

Achievements on her watch included the hiring of a first-ever chief inclusion and diversity officer; women accounting for 35.5 per cent of promotions and 40 per cent of new hires in the last fiscal year; 100 per cent gender pay equity globally as of December 2022; mandatory unconscious bias and antiracism courses for all employees; and diversity training for recruiters and hiring managers.

She won Black British Businessperson of the Year 2024, with the prize chair praising her global leadership in AI innovation, calling her success “a powerful reminder of the resilience, brilliance, and leadership within our community”. She sits on the boards of the Royal Horticultural Society and Junior Achievement Worldwide.

Pamela, who was the first in her family to attend university, comes from very humble beginnings. Her parents, both from Barbados, are part of the Windrush generation, who came to the UK in the 1960s. Her mother was a nurse and her father drove buses before training as a welder. She says: “They instilled that courage in us – I’m one of three siblings – and my passion comes from them.”

She is passionate about using technology as an enabler of business, to support the missions of non-profit organisations, and to close the digital divide, especially for young people.