The Data & AI Chief

At the end of every year, you’re probably asking the same questions we are. What are the big changes coming next year? How do I stay ahead of them? And what’s separating real trends from the hype? To answer these questions, we are excited to bring together some of the top minds in the industry. In this special episode, we’ll pick their brains and dig into what you need to know to thrive in the yea...

We are back with more episodes! In the coming months, you’ll hear from executives and data leaders from companies like Databricks, Google, General Motors, Etsy, ServiceNow, and more. Our guests cover topics like cloud acceleration, ethical AI, data fluency, scaling data teams, the trends that matter as we enter 2022, and much more! You won’t want to miss these upcoming episodes, so be sure to subs...

As we wrap up Season 2 of the Data Chief Podcast, It’s time to once again thank all of our listeners for tuning in and sending Cindi your ideas, and to all of our awesome guests who willingly shared their time and insights along the way.   This season The Data Chief shared stories such as Sol Rashidi , CAO Estèe Lauder Companies, about how she starts every day by reading for an hour.  Or from Seas...

Is the role of a data scientist still a “sexy job” or has it lost a bit of its luster? And what’s more important for successful data leaders, deep data knowledge or business savvy? Daniel Seymore is the Head of Business Intelligence for Investec , a bank that is delivering out of the ordinary insights in the world of finance to help its customers create and manage wealth. One of Daniel’s career-gu...

JoAnn Stonier loves her role. After all, when you’re the Chief Data Officer for Mastercard, the opportunities to create real change are plentiful. But Stonier knows her work is about more than just data privacy and governance, it’s about aligning the company’s data strategy to business goals and impacting the organization in a positive way. And of course, making sure that all 725 million of Master...

Every data professional will gladly discuss their big wins — but what about their big losses? How have career hiccups molded them into the leaders they are today and put them on a path to transform entire industries?  Sol Rashidi is the Chief Analytics Officer at the Estée Lauder Company. Throughout her personal and professional life, Sol has used moments of uncertainty as opportunities for growth...

Data governance. It’s a “dirty word” in business often associated with being told “no,” but from the perspective of the CDO it’s a crucial part of managing data quality and trust. How are employees being held accountable? Do people have the right access to insights? And is your own business’ data infrastructure and governance policies fostering innovation or stifling it?  Ameet Shetty is Chief Dat...

No journey to the cloud is the same. While some will encounter similar obstacles, each journey has its own unique challenges. But what happens when a company born in the midst of a crisis and changing technology, has to innovate just as fast as the changing landscape to keep up? Ryan Graciano is the co-founder and CTO of Credit Karma , a company that is aligning technology and data to help bring t...

The role of the Chief Data Officer is an evolving one. Today, data professionals are expected to be champions for their business  – aligning data goals with business values – while also leading their company’s digital transformation. It’s a position best suited for visionaries, advocates, and change agents.   Darren Pedroza is the Vice President of Enterprise Data and Analytics at First Command Fi...

In the age of data-driven decision making, an adage still bears true: People are a company's most valuable asset. No matter how technologically advanced and forward thinking your company is, it cannot operate without the individuals that make the organization go. So how are companies using data and analytics to not only make better decisions at the company level, but also improve the employee expe...

The restaurant industry has been one of the hardest hit industries over the last year. Amid countless closures and reopenings, restaurants have overcome many obstacles in an effort to survive. Through these struggles, restaurant professionals have turned to data to optimize everything from takeout orders to new layouts, all the way to analyzing market recovery.  Grant Parsamyan is the Senior Vice...

Data and the power it wields has made its way into every industry over the last decade. From entertainment to real estate, all the way to the fashion industry, companies leading their industries are using data to create uniquely personalized digital experiences. Brad Klingenberg is the Chief Algorithms Officer at Daily Harvest, the direct-to-consumer brand that helps stock your home with fresh, pl...

“Garbage in, garbage out.” It’s a philosophy every data leader is familiar with. Your algorithms and models are only as good as the data you put in them -- so how do you ensure the data you are leveraging is reliable and trustworthy?  Joining Cindi today is Opendoor Co-founder and CTO, Ian Wong. Opendoor is on a mission to remove the guesswork from homebuying, and in this episode, Ian details how...

Ajeet Singh is a risk taker. There’s no other way to describe someone who's done the things he has and accomplished so much in such a short amount of time. An immigrant, entrepreneur, and and most importantly a disruptor, Singh has constructed two multi-billion dollar entities from the ground up. Throughout his journey, he’s been guided by two principles: his out-of-the-box thinking and curiosity...

Much like a roller coaster, 2020 was full of many loops, twists, and turns. From accelerated digital transformations to expedited migrations to the cloud, you were asked to do it all— often with far less time and resources. Through it all, The Data Chief was right there with you, along for the unprecedented ride.  From the beginning this podcast had a vision: To bring you learnings and best practi...

Joining Cindi today is Ruha Benjamin , a professor of African American Studies at Princeton University and the founding director of the IDA B. WELLS Just Data Lab . She has studied the social dimensions of science, technology, and medicine for over 15 years and speaks widely on issues of innovation, equity, health, and justice in the U.S. and globally. Ruha is the author of Race After Technology:...

Joining Cindi today is Radha Sankaran , the Executive Director of Advanced Analytics/AI and ML at Verizon . Radha is a technology executive with more than 24 years of hands-on leadership experience with a proven track record in fast-paced and quality-driven product delivery. She has led and managed high-performance teams in the telecom and wireless industry for 4G LTE, IoT, and 5G technologies. To...

This week we have a very special episode featuring insights from three data and analytics leaders on what to expect in 2021. You’ll hear from: Donald Farmer, a principal at TreeHive Strategy Wayne Eckerson, the Founder and Principal Consultant at Eckerson Group Tom Davenport, Distinguished Professor of Information Technology and Management at Babson College  They discuss everything from how to rem...

Joining Cindi today is Chris Powers , Senior Vice President and Global Product Manager of Business Data Analytics & Digital Innovations at Citigroup . On this episode, Chris and Cindi discuss data literacy as a thought process that is nurtured by a good old-fashioned willingness to take things apart and put them back together again, what common data sense is and how it can be taught to people with...

Joining Cindi today is Jim Tyo , CDO at investment management firm Invesco, and the former CDO at Nationwide, where he was responsible for overall strategic vision, planning, execution, and management of all activities related to the operation of the Enterprise Data Office (EDO). On this episode, Jim and Cindi discuss best practices and the evolution of data governance and information quality over...

Joining Cindi today is Suzette Kent , the former US Federal Chief Information Officer. Suzette joined the Federal Government in 2018 from the financial services industry with two key goals: drive IT modernization and overcome the challenges in federal IT budgeting and funding alignment. On this episode, Suzette and Cindi discuss the creative friction between the public and private sector, the pros...

Joining Cindi today are two guests: Jon Osborn , Software Technology Executive and former SVP, Chief Technical and Data Officer at Ensemble Health Partners , and Todd Crosslin , the Global Head of Healthcare and Life Sciences at Snowflake . On this episode, Jon, Todd, and Cindi discuss how people in the healthcare chain of command can collaborate with one another more freely than ever before thank...

Today's guest is Craig Rowlands, the General Manager of Medibank. Craig is an ambitious leader with a proven track record for delivering major projects including data management, production, and business intelligence solutions. On this episode, Craig and Cindi discuss the life- and cost-saving benefits of leveraging data to improve decision making in healthcare, how moving from financial services...

Joining Cindi today is Bernard Marr, internationally bestselling author, futurist, and keynote speaker. He advises and coaches many of the world’s best-known organizations and was voted by LinkedIn as one of the top five business influencers in the world and the number-one influencer in the UK. On this episode, Bernard and Cindi discuss why businesses should treat AI as a focused strategy rather t...

Joining Cindi today is Chad Hawkinson , the Chief Product and Data Officer at Vertafore , the leader in creating modern insurance technology. A seasoned data and analytics guru, Chad has seen first-hand the profound impact data-driven insights can have on customers’ success.  On this episode, Chad and Cindi discuss how the cloud makes it safer to use sensitive data, when it was long-feared it migh...