About

The people
behind hum[ai]n.

Built by someone who has done the work. Working alongside people who have led organisations through real change. And one belief at the centre of everything: AI works when people do.

Kate Russell
Kate Russell
Founder, hum[ai]n
LinkedIn
Our founder

Built on experience.
Focused on people.

I stepped away from my career for two years to focus on becoming a mother. When I came back, AI had changed everything. Most of the leaders I spoke to were either overwhelmed by it or overconfident about it. Very few felt genuinely prepared. That gap is what I work in now.

With hands-on experience across marketing, brand, sales, and people development, I understand how departments actually work and where AI can genuinely fit into each of them. That breadth matters. It means I do not arrive with a generic framework. I arrive with an understanding of the pressures, the workflows, and the human dynamics that are different in every function. The difference between AI adoption that sticks and AI adoption that does not is rarely the technology. It is always the people.

As Founder of hum[ai]n, and previously Co-Founder and CEO of The Square Wave, I built this practice around a simple belief: AI adoption is a leadership and culture challenge, not an IT project. hum[ai]n equips organisations with practical AI literacy and the conditions needed to use it well, and keep using it well.

If that is the conversation you are trying to have in your organisation, hum[ai]n is built for it.

“I was very deliberate about the kind of AI expert I wanted in the room. My clients are senior hospitality professionals, not tech people, and I needed someone who could meet them where they were. That search led me to Kate. She delivered a genuinely engaging, practically grounded session that had a room full of commercially sharp, experienced professionals leaning in. She read the room beautifully, made complex ideas feel immediately accessible, and left people feeling excited rather than overwhelmed. If you are looking for someone to help your organisation navigate AI in a way that actually brings people with it, Kate Russell is the person I would call.”

Kate Hemat-Siraky, Founder, Zest People
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Who we work with

Our advisory team

Mark Papendieck
Mark Papendieck
Chief Technology Officer, DASH
LinkedIn

Mark built Australia's first online wrap platform from concept to acquisition by a major bank. As co-founder of Avanteos and now Chief Technology Officer of DASH, he has spent his career replacing what does not work with what actually does. That experience shapes how he thinks about what organisations need, not just what technology can do. Mark is also a Founding Member of the AI Industry Association of Australia, focused on how AI governance intersects with financial services infrastructure.

Stephen Hunt
Stephen Hunt
Founder, The Square Wave & VP Slack ANZ
LinkedIn

Stephen is an award-winning social impact entrepreneur and pioneer in applying AI technologies across industries to improve human outcomes. He co-founded The Square Wave, served as CEO of UnLtd and its social enterprise arm MOOD, focused on improving the lives of children and young people at risk, before taking on VP at Slack ANZ. Stephen is also a co-founder of the AI Industry Association of Australia. A practitioner who has built at scale and knows what good looks like from the inside.

Why hum[ai]n exists

AI is not failing because of the technology.

70% of AI and digital transformations fail because of cultural misalignment, not technical problems. Organisations rush toward AI without bringing their people along. Confidence varies, standards are unclear, and teams experiment in isolation. The result is inconsistency, risk, and a lot of wasted investment.

hum[ai]n was founded because the same pattern kept repeating. Organisations that had invested in tools but not in the human conditions that make those tools work. Technology should enhance human potential, not create new ways for people to feel left behind.

hum[ai]n exists to make sure that does not happen. We are tool agnostic, which means we work with whatever your organisation already uses or is considering. Our focus is always on the people and the conditions around the tools, because that is where the real work is.

70%
of AI transformations fail because people are not brought along
Source: McKinsey
Beyond hum[ai]n

AI Industry Association of Australia

Kate is a founding force behind the AI Industry Association of Australia, a not-for-profit community built to connect practitioners, leaders, and educators across the country.

The association exists to ensure Australia's AI future is shaped with trust, inclusion, and accountability at its centre. Not as an afterthought, but as the foundation.

Find out more →
AI Industry Association of Australia
Ready to talk

Just a straight conversation.

No pitch deck. No pressure. A short conversation is enough to work out whether we are the right fit and what would make the most sense for your organisation.

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