V2 AI has appointed three new leaders, naming Josh Lopez as Partner – Applied AI, Shane Rendoth as Partner – Brisbane, and Sam Harley as Director – Applied AI.
The consultancy said the hires are intended to strengthen its leadership capacity as organisations move beyond AI proof-of-concept work and attempt to deploy systems at scale in enterprise environments.
Lopez joined V2 AI after more than nine years at Versent, most recently as Head of Digital & AI. At Versent he also held senior roles including General Manager NSW, Head of Cloud and Technical Director, Cloud. Earlier in his career he worked at GE Capital in solution architecture and software engineering roles across APJ.
At V2 AI, Lopez will focus on applied AI and helping organisations translate emerging AI capabilities into business outcomes.
“AI is moving rapidly from experimentation into solving core business outcomes, and organisations need the architecture, data foundations, governance and engineering capability to make AI work reliably at scale,” said Lopez.
Rendoth, who will be based in Brisbane, previously served as Head of Major Accounts, ANZ at Versent, leading teams working with major customers on transformation and modernisation programs spanning AI, data, security, identity and digital experience. His prior roles include positions at Thoughtworks and Redman Solutions.
At V2 AI, Rendoth will work with Queensland-based organisations on linking business priorities to technology and AI strategies, and on identifying investment pathways from strategy through to execution.
“The biggest challenge for many organisations is knowing where to focus their effort and investment to achieve the outcomes that matter. I’m looking forward to working with V2 AI’s customers to cut through the complexity, challenge conventional thinking and help leadership teams make confident decisions about where data and AI can create lasting value,” said Rendoth.
Harley brings more than 20 years’ experience across enterprise technology, solutions architecture and AI. Prior to joining V2 AI, he was Principal Solutions Architect at Elastic, where he worked with strategic accounts across retail, banking, telecommunications and multinational software companies, including work on AI architectures such as vector search, RAG and agentic AI.
He has also held senior solutions architecture roles at Databricks, and worked at MongoDB and Airwallex. V2 AI said Harley will work with customers on designing and delivering applied AI solutions that connect enterprise data, systems and workflows with emerging AI capabilities.
“I am passionate about agent-based automation as a core business value driver. I’m excited to be working with V2 AI to support scaled enterprise adoption while ensuring agentic trust, accuracy and governance. There’s a ripe opportunity to help organisations build AI systems that can operate reliably within the complexity of enterprise environments,” said Harley.
V2 AI CEO Craig Howe said the appointments were aimed at improving the consultancy’s ability to support customers across both strategic and technical elements of AI adoption.
“We’re focused on helping organisations address the practical challenges that come with AI implementation. We combine deep technical expertise with an understanding of how AI operates within complex enterprise environments.
“Josh and Sam bring deep applied AI and technical expertise, while Shane brings a strong commercial and strategic perspective on how organisations turn technology investment into meaningful outcomes,” said Howe.
V2 AI said Rendoth will be based in Brisbane, while Lopez and Harley will be based in Sydney.
