First AI Appoints Dan Coleby as Strategic Advisor for AI Strategy & Copilot
Dan Coleby has joined First AI as Strategic Advisor – AI Strategy & Copilot, bringing over 26 years of IT leadership, Microsoft ecosystem expertise, and enterprise strategy experience to strengthen our mission of helping organisations adopt and scale AI responsibly and effectively.
Dan’s career spans senior roles across the private and public sectors, including transformative work at The Cabinet Office, DCMS, and most recently at the high-growth Microsoft partner IT Lab (now Advania UK). As part of the senior leadership team, he helped grow the organisation from 150 to 1,600 people, delivering almost £0.5bn in revenue and a 4.1x return for private equity shareholders.
Alongside his advisory work with First AI, Dan is the founder of The IT Strategy Coach, where he supports ambitious IT and business leaders in developing and delivering their best IT strategy. His move into coaching stems from a desire to “give back” - helping the next generation of IT leaders acquire strategic, commercial and communication skills that are rarely taught but critical for modern success.
Dan’s expertise in business-backed IT strategy, Microsoft Copilot, AI-driven transformation, and enterprise change makes him a powerful addition to First AI’s advisory capability. He will work closely with our leadership, customers, and growing talent community to ensure organisations have the right strategy to extract measurable value from AI, paired with the human-centred adoption work First AI already excels in.
Reflecting on the appointment, Dan said:
“After 26 years in IT leadership and strategy, across government and high-growth Microsoft partners, I’m excited to be working with First AI in this advisory role. Copilot turns technology from a tool into a trusted colleague, and the organisations that win will pair a pragmatic, business-backed strategy with world-class change that helps people unlearn muscle memory and embrace new ways of working. First AI already excels at the human side of adoption; I’ll bring the strategy, business case and Microsoft ecosystem experience to match, so together we can help customers realise measurable value responsibly and at pace.”
Christina Chen First AI CEO:
“Dan brings a rare combination of strategic clarity, Microsoft expertise and real-world enterprise transformation experience. His perspective will be invaluable as we continue to help organisations adopt AI safely, at speed, and with lasting impact.”
Dan will support First AI across three areas:
AI & Copilot strategy:
Helping organisations create grounded, actionable business cases for AI adoption.
Leadership enablement
Equipping CIOs, CTOs and IT leaders with the tools to drive AI-enabled transformation.
Capability building:
Strengthening First AI’s Academy and talent programmes with enterprise strategy and Microsoft ecosystem insight.