Adam Hibbs, FCMA, CGMA, MCIPS
Graduating with a Bachelor of Commerce Degree with a double major in Finance and Marketing from the University of Canterbury in New Zealand, Adam has taken a non-traditional path. Upon graduating, he took a role with the telecommunications competition regulator in New Zealand during the dawn of widespread high speed internet and set industry-wide terms to foster competition (while occasionally executing search warrants) and created the initial framework for the incumbent telecoms operator’s eventual structural separation. He then moved to the UK and took up a role with the UK competition regulator (Ofcom), where he extended his experience in this area to the UK telecommunications market. He enabled one day movement of your mobile number to another network.
In 2010, he took up a role at Vodafone UK, part of a global blue-chip company, undertaking financial analysis and recommending deal structuring for mobile products. He then took up a new role at Cable and Wireless, a connectivity, cloud and hosting business that was then acquired by Vodafone UK. It was there while building financial business cases, contracts and pricing for clients and that he began to get to really get to grips with the technology that would eventually underpin AI. He worked with household names like the BBC, SKY TV, the UK Home Office, Met police and more across a varied portfolio, running and winning contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
During 2020 he had a brief stint working for the Ministry of Defence in the UK, as the Head of Contract Performance and Management. There, he had a significant team, and a supply chain portfolio worth in excess of US$4bn under his stewardship. While there Adam qualified as a certified coach and was also admitted as a Member of the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply.
In 2021, he began his journey in the Association, where he took up the role of Global Director of Commercial Strategy and Operations. This role supported the B2B sales function, and eventually the regions of the AICPA and CIMA where his team supported contract negotiations, pricing and commercial policy. While there he achieved the status as a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Management Accounting (FCMA) following his achievement of the CGMA designation.
His role at the AICPA was extended to include Licensing sales of Association materials in the B2B space, growing it 20% in his first year. The extension into Licensing sales brought into the spotlight the opportunity AI was creating to make technical standards and content more accessible and consumable. With that, Josi – a GenAI tool for Auditing and Accounting professionals – was born. Adam brought Josi to market to serve the needs initially of CPAs in the USA, as new avenue for the Association as a proof of concept for capability of the Association, being at the frontier of AI technology, and as a service to members. Josi was named the top research tool for 2026 by Accounting Today. After the successful launch of Josi, he was promoted to VP – Global AI products, Commercial Operations and Licensing, where he has taken responsibility of Navigator for Rise2040, a global AI research tool to be rolled out in June 2026. He is a passionate advocate for the responsible use of AI, and the transformative nature it can bring when done correctly. With his background in technology and his thirst for knowledge, he is a leading individual within the Association world pushing AI forward, leading and participating in webcasts, webinars and is in demand as a speaker.