Shahid Ahmed

Speaker Bio

Shahid is the Global Head of EDGE Services at NTT DATA. As an innovation leader, NTT DATA is perfectly positioned to drive new digital experiences, offerings and technologies that create growth unlocking value for companies with new technologies and business models.

Shahid was previously a Managing Partner at Imagine Wireless, a consulting firm driving digital transformation across the Telecoms and the Industrial sectors. He was also a co-founder and COO of EQITII – a blockchain-based foundation that enables enterprise businesses to securely exchange and share data. Shahid is also a visiting professor teaching Industrial Internet of Things (IoT) course at McCormick School of Engineering at Northwestern University.

Between October 2015 and January 2017, Shahid was a Partner at PwC responsible for several digital businesses including Emerging Technologies, IoT, Data & Analytics, PwC’s Emerging Technologies Lab, and PwC’s Center for Technology and Innovation. As the practice leader, Shahid transformed PwC Consulting into a digital business. Shahid was also the New Ventures Lead helping PwC launch innovative new businesses in the consulting marketplace.

Before joining PwC, Shahid was a Managing Director with Accenture for 20 years, where he had P&L responsibility for Accenture’s North America Telecoms $1B+ business. In this role, Shahid helped telecommunications clients build new digital capabilities, operate more efficiently and drive new growth. He was also responsible for the Global Network Solutions Practice helping enterprise businesses adopt Cloud and SaaS solutions. During his 20-year tenure at Accenture, Shahid was involved in creating many practices including the formation of the wireless practice, the Accenture Cisco Business Group and the Accenture Alcatel-Nokia Business Group.

Prior to Accenture, between 1992-96, Shahid held several management positions at Sprint where he spent four years expanding Sprint’s wireless services in North America. Shahid was also responsible for rolling out the first cellular digital packet data (CDPD) network in the US to support industrial IoT applications.

In February 2014, Shahid was appointed as an Advisor to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) advising on technology issues facing the United States. Shahid has worked on several network policy issues and currently serves as the chair for IoT and 5G working groups.

Shahid was also a commencement speaker at Northwestern University’s McCormick Engineering School in June 2015.

Shahid holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science from Elmhurst College and a Masters in Engineering Management from Northwestern University. He resides in Chicago.