CDO Magazine’s Dallas Leadership Dinner, held on October 16 at the Chamberlain’s Steakhouse, welcomed senior data, analytics, and AI leaders for an evening of peer networking and knowledge sharing focused on “Data Governance – How organizations manage data security and privacy while ensuring accessibility, quality, and consistency.”

Conversations around the tables centered on the AI adoption journey—from exploration to production—and how leaders are navigating governance, trust, and business value with the emergence of agentic AI, while ensuring agile and ethical data governance in line with evolving privacy regulations.

CDO Magazine thanks the Co-chairs of the Dallas Leadership Dinner for their outstanding leadership and commitment:

• Saba Dossani, Comerica Chief Data & Analytics Officer
• Thrushna Matharasi, Solera Director, Engineering, Data & AI
• Priya Reddy, former Reprise VP, Enterprise Data Management, Chief Data Officer
• Hemal Shah, Southwest Airlines Sr. Manager
• Zul Sidi, Bank of America Managing Director, Consumer, Small Business & Wealth Technology

Sharing his experience, Co-chair Sidi says, “It was an inspiring discussion with leaders from across industries — everyone sees the potential of Generative AI and feels the urgency to act. No one wants to be left behind, but the real challenge lies in figuring out how to make it work reliably and at scale.”

Commenting on the discussions, Co-chair Reddy says they were dynamic, grounded in real experiences, and full of optimism. “Everyone leaned in—not just to talk about AI, but to talk about how to do it right. Our table had such an engaging and down-to-earth conversation about how different industries are approaching AI and data. It was one of those rare moments where everyone leaned in and shared openly,” she adds. 

Reddy shares her key takeaways:

• Start small, prove value:  Nitin Kumar reminded us not to boil the ocean. Start with a small agentic AI use case, put the right guardrails in place, show the business value, and grow from there. He also made a great point about managing expectations — you can’t expect deterministic results from systems that are naturally unpredictable.
• Retail is experimenting fast:  Karthikeyan Ilangovan talked about how the retail world is leaning into automation, from supplier deliveries to customer fulfillment. They’re building in simple data protection measures, especially for things like PII, while testing out quick pilots with feedback loops to improve and personalize AI-driven experiences.
• Solar energy is using chatbots:  One of the biggest solar companies shared how they use chatbots to help partners interact with customers more efficiently. It was a great example of combining sustainability goals with smarter data tools.
• Data culture matters:  Jagadeesh Tupakula brought up the importance of data literacy and change management. His message was clear — creating a data-driven culture takes creativity and commitment.
• Moving from Hadoop to flexible AI:  We reflected on how far we’ve come, from heavy, slow systems like Hadoop to today’s faster, more agile tools. These new approaches allow more experimentation and better data sharing with proper approvals in place.
• Balancing speed and responsibility:  Across the board, there was a shared focus on learning fast, failing fast, and making sure AI is built with the right balance of speed, safety, and purpose. Whether it’s working with small vendors, launching quick pilots, or supporting small business customers, the goal is to deliver value — responsibly.

For Shanthi Pudota, Bank of Oklahoma Chief Data Officer, it was “truly energizing” to connect with peers on key data and AI topics. “What stood out were the thoughtful conversations and shared experiences on the successes and challenges we are facing in standing up GenAI and agentic AI,” she says.

“We delved into AI governance, discussing how to balance risk with innovation, and the importance of well-managed and governed data. The discussions also highlighted how AI can provide personalized experiences and enhance customer interactions while maintaining the human touch. I want to extend my gratitude to CDO Magazine for organizing this event. I look forward to more of these enriching gatherings in the future,” she adds.

Aamer Charania, Best Buy Global Head, Applied AI, contextualizes these insights by noting, “AI is a general-purpose technology creating value across every industry with sufficient data. However, the choice of AI techniques and resulting maturity levels vary widely depending upon both the industry context as well as the specific problem being addressed.”

Charania highlights, “The best strategy is to start with the simplest AI technique that solves the problem, rather than starting with the most popular LLM for every use case. This avoids the risk of ‘hammer looking for nails’ mindset and gets you the best ROI,” he adds.

According to Jenna George, CDO Magazine Program Director, “Our Leadership Dinner in Dallas was once again full of lively conversations. Our Dallas community is made up of Data Leaders from diverse industries, and this was reflected in the conversations surrounding Data Governance.” 

Recalling something she recently read, George continues, “While the perception may be Data Governance is about restricting data, complicating policies, and slowing down projects with rules, it is actually about making data accessible, balancing rules and results, building trust, protecting sensitive data, and enabling faster decision making. A theme I heard several times was that, while the notion may be that AI should be integrated at lightning speed, keeping safeguards in place, especially surrounding trust, is crucial.”

Summing it up, Jason Little, ThoughtSpot SVP, Strategy & Operations, says, “It was inspiring to hear how innovative companies are pushing the boundaries of AI in real and meaningful ways. The depth of progress shared in the room underscored just how quickly this technology is advancing—and how thoughtfully leaders are approaching it. The future is incredibly bright for AI, and we’re proud to be associated with groups like CDO Magazine and to be helping organizations realize the full potential of AI.”

Sydney Arthur, Dremio Enterprise Account Executive, adds, “Everyone clearly wanted to be there to share struggles and learn from their peers. Despite everyone being at different stages in their AI journey, common challenges remain across the board. Fundamentals like governance and taxonomy are being balanced with managing expectations from the business and deriving enough value to justify continued investments.”

Special thanks goes to ThoughtSpot, Alation, and Dremio for their partnership in making the event a success.

*Zul Sidi and Priya Reddy are members of the CDO Magazine Global Editorial Board.

Executives attending the CDO Magazine Dallas Leadership Dinner included: 

Ian Allison, Ivanti Head, Data; Anand Balasubramanian, Cortico-X Principal, Data & AI Practice Lead; Radhakrishnan Bharathi, BECU Vice President; Aniketh Bothra, Capital One Director, Data Engineering & Analytics; Andrew Brooks, Raising Cane’s Director, BI; David Burton, DTCC Director, Solutions Architecture; Kiran Cavaturu, ORIX Corporation Director, Business Intelligence & MDM; Aamer Charania, Best Buy Global Head, Applied AI; Trey Connolly, Digitas VP, Group Director, Data & Analysis; Vicki Cutwright, Integrity VP, Data & Analytics; Saba Dossani, Comerica Chief Data & Analytics Officer; Arun Gamidi, MGIC Manager, Data & Analytics; Shveta Garg, Truist Sr. Data Delivery Manager; Karthikeyan Ilangovan, MODE Global VP, Data Analytics & AI/ML; Azhar Irfan, Charles Schwab Sr. Manager; Murali Kallem, Salesforce Head, Data Platform; Shrikanth Kannan, Rent A Center Head, Data; Abhishek Karanam, MV Transportation Director, Data & AI; Livia Kessler, Bon Secours Mercy Health Head, Analytics Delivery; Nitin Kumar, Marriott International Director, Data Science, GenAI; Sanjeev Lakkaraju, QCells Sr. Director, Engineering, Data & AI; Satya Malkapurapu, Verizon Sr. Director, Data Engineering; Thrushna Matharasi, Solera Director, Engineering, Data & AI; Shyam Nair, Texas Capital Executive Director, Enterprise Data Services; Anil Pantangi, Capgemini Delivery Executive, AI & Analytics; Vishwesh Patil, McLane VP, Data Analytics; Srinivas Pattabi, Cetera Financial Group Managing Director & Head, BI & Analytics; Darren Pedroza, Teradyne Head, Enterprise Architecture & Data; Dalia Powers, Humana CIO & SVP; Shanthi Pudota, Bank of Oklahoma Chief Data Officer; Sai Pulavarthy, Walmart Director, Walmart Global Tech; Asrar Qazi, Prime Therapeutics Sr. Director, BI Reporting; Swamy Ramajayam, Meta Head, People Data Strategy, Governance & AI Foundations; Priya Reddy, former Reprise VP, Enterprise Data Management, Chief Data Officer; Edward Rips, DTCC Principal Database Engineer; Alissa Schneider, Sinclair Executive Director, Enterprise Data & Insights; Hemal Shah, Southwest Airlines Sr. Manager; Zul Sidi, Bank of America Managing Director, Consumer, Small Business & Wealth Technology; Vish Singh, ZS Associates Partner; Kumar Singirikonda, Toyota Motor Credit Corporation Director, DataOps Engineering; Narendran Sreedharan, Capital One Director, Data Engineering & Analytics; Muthiah Subash, Alcon Head, Data Digital Health Engineering; Lakshmi Subramanian, Mitratech Sr. Director, Enterprise Data & Analytics; Amar Sureka, Microsoft Director, Data Governance & Data Management; Austin Tidmore, ASGN VP, Data & AI Strategy; Subhashini Tripuraneni, JPMorganChase Managing Director, AI/ML, Private Banking; Jagadeesh Tupakula, UNFI Head, Data; JK Venkatesh, Capital One Financial Group Sr. Director, Data Engineering; Sandeep Viswanatha, Globe Life Director, Data & AI Governance; Sydney Arthur, Dremio Enterprise Account Executive; John Bledsoe, Alation Staff Account Executive; Jason Little, ThoughtSpot SVP, Strategy & Operations; Devin McPherson, ThoughtSpot Head, North America Commercial Customer Success; Rob Perry, Alation Sr. Account Executive; Jim Phelan, ThoughtSpot Regional Sales Director; Bill Radde, ThoughtSpot Sales Director; Micah Terry, ThoughtSpot Director, Sales Engineering; Jenna George, CDO Magazine Program Director; Anthony Losanno, CDO Magazine SVP, Sales; Kim Soldavin, CDO Magazine VP, Events.