VIDEO | University of Arizona CDO: Analytics, Governance, Operations, Data Innovations Are a CDO’s Mainstays

(US and Canada) Ravneet Chadha, Chief Data Officer and Associate VP at the University of Arizona, speaks with Dr. Katrina Adkins, Director of Education Solutions at SHI, in a video interview about his roles and responsibilities at the university and his professional journey.

Chadha has worked in the data and IT industry for just over 15 years, and has played an instrumental role in building University Analytics and Institutional Research to provide data and answers to challenging questions in higher education. He says that analytics, governance, operations, and innovations around data are the four mainstays of a successful CDO.

According to Chadha, a key goal is to modernize the enterprise data warehouse. He reveals that the university has created a data lake from a higher-ed perspective which is more conducive to research questions related to machine learning and artificial intelligence. He adds that data literacy has been an important professional interest, helping people answer questions accurately and precisely.

Next, Chadha highlights data literacy and AI as part of strategic efforts. He says that while the university is just getting started on AI projects, it has made significant progress on data literacy — especially with the data exploration series, lunch and learn sessions, videos, training, and providing support to users to understand data.

Chadha continues, talking about his graduate journey and his time with the University of Arizona. He earned his bachelor's in electrical engineering, working and going to school at the same time. He says it has helped him manage time and allocate it efficiently.

Chadha adds that over his 18 years at the University of Arizona, he has built meaningful relationships with the faculty, his bosses, and fellow students who are now his peers or colleagues.

Further, Chadha says that grad school was interesting because he completed it online while working full-time. It helped him understand and relate things he was learning in class to his job. In conclusion, he says the work experience helped him better understand the class material.

CDO Magazine appreciates Ravneet Chadha for sharing his insights and data success stories with our global community.