# Andrew Stevens

> Executive operator, board member, and investor working at the intersection of cloud, data, AI, and security. Based in Amsterdam, Netherlands and San Francisco, USA.

Andrew Stevens is the co-founder of Sakura Sky, a global cloud and AI consultancy, and a board member at Distinct Star. He has worked across multiple cycles of growth, transformation, and exit in fintech, media, gaming, and AI - holding founder, CTO, CISO, and board roles. Current focus: enterprise AI, governance, and the systems that make autonomy trustworthy.

## About

- [Home page](https://www.andrewjstevens.com/): Single-page site covering bio, publications, writing, experience, and contact details.
- [Mastodon](https://mastodon.online/@andrewjstevens): @andrewjstevens@mastodon.online
- [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewjstevens): Professional profile and full work history.

## Publications

- [The Executive AI Playbook](https://whitepaper.download/aiplaybook/): Strategy, governance, and execution guide for leadership teams operationalising AI across regulated and high-growth businesses.
- [The Governed Agent Trust Environment (GATE)](https://github.com/deterministic-agents): Cloud reference framework of controls for enterprise-grade trustworthy AI agents - closing the gap between agent capability and operational accountability.
- [The Trustworthy Agentic AI Blueprint](https://whitepaper.download/trustworthyagenticai/): Design principles, missing primitives, and human-in-the-loop patterns for deploying autonomous agents responsibly inside the enterprise.
- [The Autonomous Horizon](https://www.sakurasky.com/white-papers/autonomous-horizon/): Strategic white paper on operating model, architecture, and leadership decisions defining the next decade of autonomous enterprise (2026).
- [Signal-to-Noise](https://sakurasky.com/white-papers/signal-to-noise-checklist/): Practical checklist for evaluating AI security tools - built around the four-stage funnel from finding to actionable vulnerability.
- Still Dangerous: A Practitioner's Guide to Strength, Composure, and Capability for Executives Over Forty - book on martial arts, discipline, and the long road (forthcoming 2026).

## Writing

- [Read all essays at Sakura Sky](https://www.sakurasky.com/author/andrew-stevens/): Selected essays on AI, governance, and cloud architecture.
- [The Regulatory Stack, Parts 1-6](https://www.sakurasky.com/blog/regulatory-stack-part-1/): Where AI regulation meets the runtime, and what boards and engineers have to build to close the gap (May 2026).
- [The Mythos Ledger, Parts 1-5](https://www.sakurasky.com/blog/mythos-ledger-part-1/): The Firefox watershed and the new baseline of vulnerability (April 2026).
- [The Autonomous Horizon, Parts 1-6](https://www.sakurasky.com/blog/autonomous-horizon-part-1/): Beyond digital transformation - the architecture of trust and governed execution at machine speed (April 2026).
- [GATE: The Missing Infrastructure Layer for Agentic AI](https://www.sakurasky.com/blog/gate-launch/): Launch essay for the GATE reference architecture (Apr 2026).
- [Engineering the Trustworthy Autonomous Enterprise](https://www.sakurasky.com/blog/engineering-the-trustworthy-autonomous-enterprise/): Essay on building autonomy into regulated enterprise systems (Dec 2025).
- [The Missing Primitives for Trustworthy AI Agents, Parts 0-17](https://www.sakurasky.com/blog/missing-primitives-for-trustworthy-ai/): Long-form series on the missing primitives required for trustworthy agentic AI (October 2025).
- [Reflections on the 2024 DORA Report](https://www.sakurasky.com/blog/dora-report-2024-reflections/): Essay on delivery performance, platform engineering, and what the DORA findings mean for engineering leaders (Dec 2024).
- [EU AI Act: Implications for Data and Cloud](https://www.sakurasky.com/blog/eu-ai-act/): Regulatory analysis for banking, ecommerce, and gaming (Nov 2024).

## Contact

- Email: andrew@andrewjstevens.com
- Open to: board and advisory roles, investment opportunities, selective operating roles, and pro-bono / volunteer work in human rights, privacy, and social action.

## Optional

- [Full long-form profile](https://www.andrewjstevens.com/llms-full.txt): Expanded bio, complete role history, and detailed publication index.
- [Sitemap](https://www.andrewjstevens.com/sitemap.xml): Machine-readable index of public URLs.