AI program and governance leader who wins the work, then ships it
Senior AI Program Manager at Horizon 3 AI Labs, Unilever, with 11+ years taking enterprise AI from idea to funded business case to production. Based in Toronto, working with teams across Canada, the US, the UAE, and India.
€3B procurement spend base6 AI programs funded in 2026100+ person team led
€3Bprocurement spend base my AI programs targeted
€30M+savings mandate owned
10,000+man hours saved with agentic AI
$150M+AI roadmap shaped
$15M+AI/ML portfolio with a 100+ person team
200+users adopting agentic workflows
I started as the engineer Now I lead the room
I spent my first years as a full stack software engineer at Infosys in India, building on .NET, Microsoft Dynamics ERP, and IBM BPM. That foundation still shapes how I lead: I know what it takes to build the thing, so I can plan it honestly and defend it credibly.
After moving to Canada, I grew into delivery leadership, then led a $15M+ AI/ML portfolio at Bell Canada. Today I lead agentic AI programs at Horizon 3 AI Labs, Unilever, where I also win the work: six AI programs funded this year across four new business groups.
I am also an Agile Coach with 6+ years of experience. The common thread is simple: make AI useful for real teams, govern it properly, and prove the value in numbers.
I lead at portfolio scope: owning the strategy, the funding case, the governance, and the people who deliver it, with executive reporting up to a Chief Procurement Officer and teams of 100+.
AI Strategist
Shapes AI roadmaps and builds the business case that gets them funded, including a $150M+ roadmap.
AI Governance Leader
Builds AI delivery that manages risk, aligned to OSFI E-23, NIST AI RMF, and ISO/IEC 42001.
AI Adoption and Change Leader
Drives real usage, not just launches: 200+ users onboarded onto agentic workflows.
AI Delivery Enabler
Takes AI from proof of concept to production with clear gates, owners, and executive visibility.
Most AI programs stall between the pilot and the payoff. I close that gap with a funded case, clear gates, and adoption you can measure.
Eleven years, one direction: closer to the outcome
Jan 2026 to present
Senior AI Program Manager and Delivery Lead
Horizon 3 AI Labs, Unilever, Toronto
Led an agentic AI ecosystem against a €3B global procurement spend base, with a €30M+ savings mandate: 10 concurrent projects, 8 product owners, executive reporting up to the CPO.
Saved 10,000+ man hours through agentic automation and scaled adoption to 200+ users.
Originated and won funding for new AI programs beyond procurement: 6 funded programs across 4 business groups in 2026, from presales and business case through first prototype.
Transitioned the flagship program into operations and now leads a newer AI program.
6 programs funded in 2026
Mar 2022 to Jan 2026
AI/ML Portfolio Lead
Bell Canada
Led a $15M+ AI/ML portfolio and a cross functional team of 100+ people.
Built and presented AI/ML business cases to the steering committee 15+ times.
Led enterprise incident management for S1 and S2 incidents: ran incident bridges, drove ownership and stakeholder cadence, and improved the process.
Jul 2020 to Mar 2022
Delivery Manager
Corre Junction Inc.
Built costs, benefits, and KPIs for 50+ client business cases alongside project sponsors.
Led delivery of 30+ web, CMS, and ecommerce builds (WordPress, Shopify, WooCommerce) with budgets of $50K to $1M and timelines of 1 to 12 months.
Led a team of 10 to deliver a learning management platform for training companies, and took a Canadian deals platform from kickoff to launch in 6 months.
Cut projected delays by 20% through a delivery maturity assessment and improvement roadmap; ran monthly executive steering committees.
Jan 2019 to Nov 2019
Project Manager and Delivery Lead
Dogico Information Inc.
Delivered a data warehouse and Power BI executive dashboards for the CEO and VPs of Agnico Eagle Mines.
Authored 50+ PMO standards, including business case, SOW, SLA, and proof of concept templates, and led scope, budget, and estimation across 5+ project plans.
Led a cross functional team of 8 to automate change management through a new service desk.
Governed schedule health against a 10% variance threshold, reporting to program governance and the monthly finance forum.
Jun 2014 to Dec 2017
Full Stack Software Engineer
Infosys Ltd., India
Built and customized Microsoft Dynamics AX ERP modules (payables, receivables, general ledger, sales, inventory, warehouse, and trade and logistics) for Hitachi Powdered Metals, cutting invoice processing time by 25% and missed early payment discounts by 20%.
Engineered warehouse layouts, picking strategies, and bin location logic, delivering 35% faster order fulfillment and 30% fewer picking errors.
Developed IBM BPM workflows for Wells Fargo across multiple lines of business.
Owned the path from requirements to UAT with business and QA teams: the foundation of how I scope, estimate, and defend delivery plans today.
Select advisory engagements for organizations in Canada, the US, the UAE, and India that want AI that is governed, funded, and actually in production.
AI governance and risk readiness
A governance model your regulators, auditors, and board can trust.
Governance frameworks aligned to OSFI E-23, NIST AI RMF, and ISO/IEC 42001
Model inventory, risk tiering, and accountability mapped to real owners
Readiness roadmap ahead of regulatory deadlines
Best for regulated organizations, especially financial institutions preparing for OSFI E-23. Discuss this
Proof of concept to production
Stop pilots from stalling. Give them a path to production.
A structured framework of documentation, checkpoints, and delivery gates
Implemented in 1 to 2 months, then owned internally as best practice
Clear go and no go criteria leaders can act on
Best for teams with promising AI pilots and no repeatable path to scale. Discuss this
AI portfolio and delivery leadership
One view of every AI initiative, its cost, and its value.
Portfolio governance, prioritization, and intake
FinOps discipline for AI and cloud spend
Executive reporting that ties delivery to business value
Best for organizations running several AI initiatives at once. Discuss this
AI business cases and funding strategy
The case that gets your AI initiative approved.
Value framing, cost modeling, and delivery roadmap
Steering committee and executive pitch preparation
Built on a record of 6 AI programs funded in 2026
Best for product and innovation leaders seeking investment. Discuss this
Workshops and speaking
Practical AI delivery and governance for leaders and teams.
The AI ready project manager
Delivering agentic AI in the enterprise
AI governance for regulated industries
For conferences, universities, and internal leadership sessions. Invite me
Building in the open
I am publishing my AI delivery and governance methodology as an open framework on GitHub, free for any team to use, adapt, and improve.
In progress, launching on GitHub
An open framework for taking AI from pilot to production
The same gated approach I use to move AI proofs of concept into governed systems ready for production. Documentation templates, decision checkpoints, and governance controls mapped to OSFI E-23, NIST AI RMF, and ISO/IEC 42001.
Frame the value Problem, owner, and measurable outcome
Assess the risk Risk tier and governance controls
Prove it works A proof of concept backed by evidence
Ready for production Operations, monitoring, handover
Scale and sustain Adoption, value tracking, iteration
On stage and in the classroom
McMaster Continuing Education
The AI Ready Project Manager
Panelist and guest speaker on how project leaders can lead confidently in the age of AI.
PMI webinar
AI program delivery
Guest speaker on delivering AI programs, for students entering the field.
Singing is my first love, and I accompany myself on guitar. Bollywood, Hindi, Urdu, and Punjabi music is where I reset, and it keeps me honest about practice: nothing good happens without reps.
I care about people, craft, and making technology feel useful rather than intimidating. Mentoring the next generation of delivery leaders is part of that.
Questions people ask me
Who is Amber Gargrish?
Amber Gargrish is a Toronto based AI program and governance leader with 11+ years of experience. He leads agentic AI programs at Horizon 3 AI Labs, Unilever, and previously led a $15M+ AI/ML portfolio at Bell Canada. He started his career as a full stack software engineer at Infosys.
What does an AI Program Manager do?
An AI Program Manager turns AI ideas into funded, governed, production systems. The role covers building the business case, prioritizing a portfolio of use cases, coordinating engineers and product owners, managing risk and governance gates, driving user adoption, and reporting measurable value to executives.
How do you govern agentic AI in an enterprise?
Start with an inventory of every AI use case and a risk tier for each. Assign a named owner, define approval gates before a use case reaches production, and keep evidence of testing, monitoring, and human oversight. Frameworks such as NIST AI RMF, ISO/IEC 42001, and, for Canadian financial institutions, OSFI E-23 give the controls a common structure.
How do you take an AI proof of concept to production?
Use a gated path: frame the value and owner, assess the risk, prove the solution works with evidence, prepare operations and monitoring, then scale adoption and track value. Each gate has clear go or no go criteria so leaders can decide quickly. Amber implements this approach in 1 to 2 months, after which teams run it as internal practice.
How does Amber win funding for AI programs?
By proving value before asking for budget. Amber leads early conversations with business teams, builds the business case and roadmap with the product owner, and builds a first prototype so sponsors can see the idea working. In 2026 that approach led to 6 funded AI programs across 4 business groups at Unilever.
What is Amber's technical background?
Amber spent 3.5 years as a full stack software engineer at Infosys, building on .NET, Microsoft Dynamics AX ERP, IBM BPM, and SQL for clients including Hitachi Powdered Metals and Wells Fargo. That engineering foundation is why his delivery plans are realistic and hold up under technical scrutiny.
What leadership scope has Amber held?
At Unilever, Amber has led AI programs against a €3B global procurement spend base, with a €30M+ savings mandate and executive reporting to a Chief Procurement Officer, and a $15M+ AI/ML portfolio with a team of 100+ people at Bell Canada. He owns the full arc: strategy, funding case, governance, delivery, and adoption.
Is Amber available for advisory work or speaking?
Yes. Amber takes on select advisory engagements in AI governance, AI portfolio delivery, and AI business cases for organizations in Canada, the US, the UAE, and India, and speaks on AI ready project management and agentic AI delivery. Use the contact form on gargrish.com or message him on LinkedIn.
Let's build something that ships
Hiring for AI leadership, exploring an advisory engagement, or planning an event? Send a note through the form and I will reply by email.
