Kathryn Hume leads AI Engineering at Vector Institute, overseeing the team that translates frontier research with practical deployment across Canadian industry, government, and health partners. Her work sits at the intersection of technical leadership and institutional impact – accelerating the adoption of AI in ways that benefit Canada’s economy and society.

Kathryn brings over a decade of leadership experience, building products at the frontier of AI and engineering. Most recently, she served as Chief Technology Officer at Tangerine Bank, where she led a bank-wide technology transformation while maintaining operational excellence for existing clients. Prior to Tangerine, she held multiple leadership roles at RBC, including Vice President of Engineering for RBC’s mobile, online banking, and direct investing business units and Interim Head of Borealis AI, RBC’s machine learning research institute. Through these roles, she gained deep expertise in deploying AI at scale within highly regulated environments.

Before joining Canada’s banking sector, Kathryn drove AI adoption across industries through leadership roles at AI-focused startups. As VP Product and Strategy at integrate.ai, she championed privacy-preserving machine learning models across Canadian organizations. At Fast Forward Labs – a deep learning research firm later acquired by Cloudera – she partnered with Fortune 500 data science teams to apply cutting-edge research in production environments.

Kathryn is recognized for her authentic, visionary and empathetic leadership style, creating environments where engineers and researchers feel empowered to thrive. Her work has appeared at TED, Harvard Business Review, and the Globe and Mail and she is a sought-after public speaker on AI’s transformative potential and societal implications.

She has served as guest lecturer and adjunct professor at Harvard Business School, Stanford University, the University of Toronto, and the University of Calgary, teaching courses on applied AI and responsible AI. She serves on the board of CanadaHelps and is an active advocate for women in technology and educational reform in the age of generative AI.

Kathryn holds undergraduate degrees in comparative literature and mathematics from the University of Chicago and a PhD in comparative literature from Stanford University.