Kendra Vant

Director, Europa Labs

Dr. Kendra Vant is a product and tech executive with experience in industry and research. She led AI and data product development for Xero during its scale-up phase, launching seven AI products to the global Xero user base and generating a strong defensive patent portfolio.

Prior to Xero, Kendra led an ML team at SEEK, APAC’s biggest job board, building state-of-the-art candidate-job matching tools using natural language processing and deep learning. Kendra has also worked in some of Australia’s largest companies, including Commonwealth Bank and Telstra, and was a Director at Deloitte.

Starting with doctoral research in experimental quantum physics at MIT and a stint building quantum computers at Los Alamos National Laboratory, Kendra has made a career of solving hard problems and pushing the boundaries of what’s possible. She is deeply committed to creating environments of continual learning and development for her teams and increasing AI and data literacy for the general public.

She provides an expert voice to investors, analysts, media, and founders on AI product strategy, ethical AI, and the current and emerging market and regulatory landscape. Kendra advises several Australian and New Zealand startups and is an invited member of the Australian Federal Government’s National Data Advisory Council and DSIR’s National AI Centre Industry Forum.