CDO Magazine Hosts 500 Data Executives at CDO Midwest Summit in Cincinnati

Building on the success of its ComSpark conferences, CDO Magazine celebrated its first in-person CDO Midwest Summit since 2019 at the Delta Hotels by Marriott in Cincinnati, Ohio, September 27, 2022. The one-day CDO Midwest Summit is one of the world's hallmark events for data and analytics leadership. CDO Magazine CEO Steve Wanamaker is excited that the Midwest has become the data and technology corridor of North America. 

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The CDO Midwest Summit featured more than 100 senior data executives speaking across 30 panel breakout sessions and three keynote presentations, exchanging best practices and answering pointed questions. Hundreds of attendees from across the United States, Canada, Australia,  India, Philippines, and South Africa gathered to hear expert panelists with diverse experience from multiple industries, including financial services, insurance, education, government, healthcare, pharmaceutical, grocery, and supply chain.

Keynote speaker Vipin Gopal, Chief Data and Analytics Officer at Eli Lilly and Company, was awarded as CDO Magazine’s first Global Executive of the Year. Gopal kicked off the summit with his keynote on “Insights to the Success of a CDAO,” which was presented by BigID, an industry leader in data management, and moderated by Stephen Gatchell, BigID Director of Data Advisory.

“The energy of the attendees was matched by the intellect and spirit of collaboration,'' said panelist Rackspace VP Ben Blanquera and CDO Magazine Global Editorial Board member. “There are very few events where you can connect with accomplished senior leaders who are willing to share not just their ups but their downs so we can all collectively get better.” Panelist Jennifer Mezzio, Silicon Valley Bank HR Data Officer and CDO Magazine Global Editorial Board member, added that “the conference was able to deliver incredible impact and valuable insights in just one day.”

Hot topic tracks ranged from leveraging data to drive business value and outcomes, accelerating trusted cloud innovation, and designing data sharing with privacy, to CDO leadership, data talent, data literacy and the new data culture, and data governance as a business. 

“The theme that kept coming up was the value of data as an asset and how to leverage it,” highlighted panelist Marcel Mutsindashyaka, Executive Director of IT and Analytics, University of Cincinnati Foundation. Discussions confirmed that technology in the enterprise data management space is evolving at a very high speed, and that technology often follows a data-driven culture.

Nollie Maoto, FNB South Africa Chief Data and Analytics Officer, CDO Magazine Global Editorial Board member and CDO Ambassador for South Africa, summarized that “it was so great to hear that no matter which company we work for and which country we come from, we all have the same or similar experiences when it comes to the data and analytics industry.”

The Summit was sponsored by more than 30 leading data solutions providers.

Thanks to all our sponsors for making the CDO Midwest Summit a huge success!