Microsoft MVP | AI & Fabric Specialist for Business Transformation | Helping Enterprises Unlock ROI with Azure, Copilot & Power BI | Forbes Tech | Keynote Speaker | CEO, Onyx Data

Strategic Data & AI Leader | Microsoft MVP | Oxford AI Strategist 

I bridge the gap between technical complexity and Board-level strategy. With nearly 15 years of experience, I have delivered over £93M in revenue growth for global enterprises by transforming data estates into high-velocity strategic assets.

Global Authority & Scalable Insight: 

LinkedIn Learning Instructor: Author of "How to Build and Execute a Successful Data Strategy," an industry-standard framework used by 10,000+ global learners (4.5/5 rating). 
Industry Recognition: Microsoft Data Platform MVP, Forbes Technology Council member, and Gartner Community Ambassador. 
Academic Rigor: Currently calibrating enterprise AI risk and leadership at the University of Oxford (Saïd Business School).

The "Onyx Methodology" in Action:  I help organisations move past "AI Hype" to achieve Operational Utility. Whether leading a global practice of 60+ consultants or advising the C-suite on £200TB+ migrations, my focus is on de-risking technology investments to drive EBITDA.

Core Specialisms:  AI Strategy & Governance (Purview) | Microsoft Fabric & Databricks Architecture | Data Monetisation | High-Performance Team Scaling.

Let’s connect,  I’m focused on the intersection of AI Ethics, Enterprise Strategy, and high-stakes Data Leadership. Always open to discussing the future of our industry with fellow Partners and Architects.

Leon Gordon

Turning 40 today.

Things I've learned:
→ The data is never clean
→ The deadline is always Monday
→ Nobody reads the documentation
→ The meeting could have been an email
→ I still Google VLOOKUP syntax

Normal service resumes next week.

Power Query just became a programmable compute engine inside Microsoft Fabric.
Not a refresh. Not a dataflow. A fully callable API.

You can now invoke M transformation scripts on demand, from notebooks, pipelines, or any HTTP client — and receive results as Spark or Pandas DataFrames via Apache Arrow streams.

Here's why this is a bigger deal than the announcement suggests:

→ 100+ connectors. Programmatically accessible.
→ On-premises and private network sources via gateway. No cloud-only limitation.
→ Billed through your existing Dataflow Gen2 meter. No surprise costs.

For data  analysts through to architects, this collapses a layer of complexity that's existed for years. 
The transformation logic you've already built in Power Query? 
It's now reusable infrastructure, not a locked-in dataflow artefact.

Read the full breakdown in this week's Microsoft AI & Data newsletter.

Power Query just became a programmable compute engine. If you're still treating it as a point-and-click transformation tool, you're already behind. TH

Open article: Unleashing Power Query: Programmatic Execution in Fabric by Leon Gordon • 2 min read

Unleashing Power Query: Programmatic Execution in Fabric

Boards have stopped asking "How do we build an LLM?"

The question now is "How do we protect the enterprise from the commercial and legal risks of a black-box AI rollout?"

That shift has changed what organisations actually need from their most senior AI hires. The era of the AI project manager is ending. What's replacing it is something closer to stewardship, someone accountable for making AI governance, architecture, and commercial outcomes work together at board level.

I've spent the last 12 months doing exactly this. Architecting sovereign infrastructure across 200TB+ data estates, calibrating my methodology through Oxford Saïd Business School, and helping enterprises move from proof of concept to production-scale impact.

I'm now opening conversations for Q2/Q3.

Specifically, I'm looking for a Principal AI Architecture or Head of Practice role with a global enterprise or Tier 1 consultancy that's ready to move past the hype phase into governed, scalable AI delivery.

The kind of mandate where:

→ POCs actually reach production and hit EBITDA targets
→ Agentic systems are architected for complex, regulated data estates
→ The gap between technical AI delivery and board-level risk is someone's actual job

If that sounds like a conversation worth having, message me directly.

#AIStrategy #EnterpriseAI #DataArchitecture #MicrosoftFabric #OxfordAI

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96% of executives expect a rise in AI investment over the next five years.

Only 1% of organisations report mature deployment.

That gap isn't a technology problem. It's an architecture problem.

I wrote about this for Forbes Technology Council.

The pattern I keep seeing across enterprise implementations, teams racing to ship AI agents, copilots, and predictive features, then getting stuck in pilot purgatory. Dozens of proofs of concept. Few scaled solutions. No measurable productivity impact.

The root cause is almost always the same. AI gets deployed as a series of disconnected tools rather than being anchored in a coherent, governed architecture.

The organisations pulling ahead have flipped the sequence. Architecture first, then AI. Four layers:

→ Data & Integration (governed data products, event streams)
→ Control & Governance (security, lineage, policy enforcement)
→ AI Services (shared decisioning, agents, scoring models via APIs)
→ Experience (where AI actually meets customers and employees)

The result: deployment cycles compressed from 4-6 months to around 5 weeks. Each new use case reuses existing components. Incremental cost drops. Speed compounds.

Competitors can copy a use case. They can't copy the speed and confidence with which you ship the 10th or 20th.

That's the compounding advantage of intelligent architecture.

Is your AI strategy architecture-led, or are you still shipping first and governing later?

🔗 Full article in the comments.

#AI #DataArchitecture #EnterpriseAI #ForbesTechCouncil #MicrosoftFabric

Only 1% of organisations report mature AI deployment.

96% are increasing AI investment.

The gap between those two numbers isn't a technology problem. It's a governance problem.

The pattern I keep seeing across enterprise implementations: teams ship a model into production without mapping lineage from source to inference. The model misbehaves. The diagnostic process starts from zero. Weeks of rework that proper governance would have eliminated before the first deployment.

That's not moving fast. That's iterating blind.

The uncomfortable truth most AI strategies ignore: governance isn't the brake on innovation. It's the prerequisite for sustainable speed.

Without it, every new use case is built from scratch. With it, your 10th deployment is faster than your 2nd, because the foundation compounds.

The organisations winning at AI aren't shipping fastest. They're shipping what they can operationalise, monitor, and iterate on without rebuilding the foundation every quarter.

That's not compliance. That's architecture.

#AIStrategy #AIGovernance #EnterpriseAI #DataArchitecture #MicrosoftFabric

WHY GOVERNANCE IS THE REAL AI ACCELERATOR

Arthur Lawrence

Senior Staff Accountant

Utilizing expertise in various software platforms, including Sage Intacct, Ctuit, Oracle, and QuickBooks, I manage accurate month-end bookkeeping for multiple US clients. My responsibilities include:

- Generating sales reports and processing payroll
- Performing bank reconciliations and overseeing daily accounting procedures
- Ensuring financial precision and optimizing timing efficiency in critical tasks
- Streamlining processes to enhance productivity

With a strong focus on accuracy and attention to detail, I provide valuable insights and maintain precise financial records, contributing to the success of our clients.

Staff Accountant

Trainee accountant 

Crowe Hussain Chaudhury & Co.

Completed the audits of 4 clients solely by providing insights on time.
•Actively participated in audit process for a total of 6 clients in 6 months, successfully leading the completion of audits of 5 of them.
•Implemented comprehensive audit procedures and assertions to ensure accuracy, integrity, and compliance with established standards.
•Contributed to the preparation of audit reports and management letters detailing audit findings and recommendations.

External Audit Associate

SIBA Testing Service

As an Invigilator with SIBA Testing Services, I was entrusted with overseeing examination sessions for candidates from various cities across Sindh. My responsibilities included managing the candidates' testing area, ensuring honesty and integrity throughout the examination process, and diligently handling exam sheets to prevent any instances of cheating or academic dishonesty. By maintaining a strict and fair testing environment, I upheld the credibility and integrity of the examination process, fostering an atmosphere conducive to academic excellence and integrity.

Exam Invigilator

I’m a goal-driven Accounting & Finance graduate who genuinely enjoys solving real-world business problems with numbers, strategy, and technology.

What sets me apart is the way I combine hard work with strategic thinking consistently delivering high-quality results, whether it’s through sharp financial analysis, smart data interpretation, or assisting teams with clarity and purpose.

I thrive on challenges. I enjoy learning new tools like Power BI, AI, and business intelligence systems and using them to simplify complex problems and make better, faster decisions.

Here’s what I bring to the table:
▪️Strong grip on accounting principles & financial reporting  
▪️A passion for turning data into insights that drive impact  
▪️Clear communication, leadership, and time management  
▪️A problem-solving mindset that’s both analytical and creative

I find inspiration in everyday situations and believe every challenge has a solution you just have to look at it from the right angle.

My goal? To keep learning, adapt quickly, and bring real value to the teams I work with. If you’re in finance, data, or tech and believe in using numbers to drive smarter outcomes let’s connect.

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Leon Gordon

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The Battle

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Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Leon Gordon's LinkedIn Performance

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