Designing for Tomorrow’s Consumer by Balancing Risk + Innovation

Safia Rahemtulla is a Partner in EY’s Consulting team and specializes in emerging technologies and digital risk. She holds the CPA,CA, Certified Internal Auditor (CIA) and Certified Third Party Risk Management Professional (C3PRMP) designations. Safia brings a unique perspective to the world of automation with a focus on scalable and purposeful transformation. Over the course of her career, Safia has worked with clients across the country in various industries. She plays a vital role in advising clients through the complexities of risk, as the landscape continues to evolve specifically due to technology and transformation. Today, Safia spends her time guiding clients through harnessing the power of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) while balancing people, process, risk and technology considerations. There is an important balance to be struck between scaling and transforming an organization and the cost benefit to do so, recognizing that as organizations change they are subject to varying types of risk.

Charlotte Sobolewski is a Partner and EY’s AI Leader for Consumer Products and Retail. She brings a uniquely diverse background across industry, strategy and product consulting, startup leadership, and entrepreneurship—each shaping her bold approach to enabling the future consumer experience.

Charlotte works with Canada’s leading retail, CPG, and life sciences organizations to design consumer journeys that are personalized, sustainable, and powered by emerging technologies. Her focus is on responsible innovation—embedding the right safeguards to protect privacy, promote fairness, and build trust.

Her career spans leadership roles at a major Canadian bank and global technology consulting firms, where she co-developed an AI-enabled recruiter solution, and led team’s out of the Future of Work Centre in Singapore. As a startup executive, she led Element AI’s North American solution team, launching market-ready AI products prior to its acquisition by ServiceNow. She also founded and scaled a learning services company before a successful exit.

Today, Charlotte is driving the evolution of retail—where emerging technologies meet consumer values, and responsible innovation becomes a competitive advantage.