Fortifai Ltd Appoints Westpac and MetLife Tech Veterans to Nol8 Advisory Board
FortifAI builds out Advisory Board with Westpac and MetLife technology heavyweights
FortifAI Limited (ASX: FTI) has established an inaugural Advisory Board to support its Nol8 subsidiary ahead of the first commercial release of the Nol8 AI Data Plane. The two appointees bring senior enterprise technology credentials: David Walker, former Westpac Group Chief Technology Officer and former executive director at DBS Bank Singapore, and Tim Edwards, who has 25 years of global technology leadership and currently serves as MetLife’s Head of Global Network and Hosting.
According to the Company, attracting executives of this calibre this early signals the strength of the Nol8 opportunity and is positioned to accelerate product build-out and adoption. The appointments mark the latest step in the leadership build-out as FortifAI scales toward its first release of the Nol8 AI Data Plane with design partners.
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Who is joining the FortifAI Advisory Board
The two inaugural members each bring decades of experience driving the adoption of innovative technologies within large, complex enterprises.
David Walker — financial services technology leader
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Almost four decades of experience in technology, digital transformation and enterprise innovation
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Began his career as a software engineer in 1987
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Founded and exited a leading ASEAN-based data science company
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Held senior technology leadership roles at ANZ Banking Group, DBS Bank Singapore and Westpac Banking Corporation
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Currently founder of Activate, a strategic advisory firm focused on AI-driven business transformation
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Serves as an Adjunct at the University of New South Wales, where he chairs the AI Institute External Advisory Board
Tim Edwards — global infrastructure architect
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Over 25 years of global technology leadership across infrastructure engineering, enterprise architecture and operations
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Started his career at a technology startup later acquired by JD Edwards and Peoplesoft
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Held senior roles including Senior Vice President at Bank of America and Executive Director of Infrastructure at Ally
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Currently Head of Global Network and Hosting at MetLife, responsible for mission-critical technology platforms supporting large-scale global operations
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Deep expertise in infrastructure architecture, cloud and hosting environments, automation and governance
Kelly Herrell, CEO at Nol8
“Having David and Tim as the inaugural members of our Advisory Board speaks volumes about the Nol8 opportunity. Our ability to attract executives of this caliber, this early, will accelerate our pace of innovation and adoption, driving continued growth in shareholder value.”
Understanding the Nol8 AI Data Plane and why it matters
For investors weighing the significance of these appointments, the underlying technology offers context. According to the Company, Nol8 delivers the AI Data Plane, “purpose-built to govern and deliver the right data to every AI agent at wire speed.”
The commercial hook lies in efficiency. By enforcing policy inline, Nol8 “recovers idle GPU capacity and lifts effective utilisation for NeoClouds and the customers they serve.” In plain terms, the platform aims to recover idle GPU capacity and lift effective utilisation by ensuring data reaches AI agents without delay.
Walker framed the broader theme around agentic AI. Moving the right data to a growing population of agents in real time is, in his view, an unsolved problem that Nol8 is addressing.
The Nol8 commercialisation roadmap sets out a three-phase path to a full Commercial Platform launch by end CY2026, underpinned by demonstration testing that verified 400x throughput improvements over baseline configurations.
The investor takeaway is third-party credibility, including from Tim Edwards, who has sat on both the buyer and supplier sides of enterprise technology.
Tim Edwards, Head of Global Network and Hosting at Metlife
“As both a former supplier and buyer of advanced technology, I can clearly see the gap in the market that Nol8 is addressing. I’m looking forward to helping the Company establish a strong position in what I believe will become an essential category within the AI infrastructure stack.”
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Appointment terms and what comes next
The key material terms of the appointments are set out in Annexure A of the announcement. Both appointees will provide the executive team with guidance on customer engagement, market trends and alignment of company strategy with business objectives.
| Term | Detail |
|---|---|
| Performance rights (RSUs) agreed to issue | 428,571 to each of Walker and Edwards (and/or their nominees) |
| Issued under | The Company’s existing employee incentive scheme |
| Vesting | Equal tranches on a 6-monthly basis |
| Initial term | 2 years |
| Advisory Board role | Guidance on customer engagement, market trends and strategy alignment; meets management regularly and the Board twice annually |
The Company plans further additions to the Advisory Board in the coming months, reinforcing the leadership build-out as it scales toward the first release of the Nol8 AI Data Plane with design partners.
A nil-discount placement completed in late April 2026 raised $15 million at $0.715 per share, with enterprise design partner engagement flagged as a Q4 FY26 priority, providing the runway context against which these advisory appointments sit.
For investors, the next catalysts to watch are further leadership announcements and the design-partner commercial release. No release date or revenue figures have been disclosed at this stage.
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