“Amid the accelerating adoption of AI-driven solutions, it is critical for organizations to dedicate time and resources to experimentation to remain competitive and avoid falling behind,” says Jennifer Young, MGM Resorts International VP, Data. That reflects the tone of CDO Magazine’s Roundtable Exchange on June 17 at McCormick & Kuleto’s Seafood & Steaks in San Francisco.

Young adds, “To maximize the value of these efforts, companies should establish clear success metrics and rigorously measure the return on investment (ROI) of AI initiatives. Importantly, this evaluation should extend beyond individual projects to assess the broader organizational impact and business value generated by AI.”

During the Databricks Data + AI Summit 2026 week, CDO Magazine welcomed prominent data, analytics, and AI leaders from the Bay Area and other regions from Boston to Peru. Focused on the theme, “Beyond the Hype: Pragmatic AI Integration, Governance, and the Pursuit of True ROI,” the event fostered meaningful dialogue and valuable peer connections.

Throughout the evening, executives exchanged ideas on demonstrating tangible AI value, embedding AI into existing business processes, encouraging workforce adoption, strengthening governance frameworks, and mitigating emerging risks.

Sharing his experience, Patrick McQuillan, Visa Global Head, AI & Data Governance, says, “It was wonderful bringing so many AI leaders in the Bay together to exchange perspectives on the future of AI innovation, headwinds to scalability, and how to deliver effective value creation in the wake of the broad technological expansion we are seeing across industries.”

Young agrees, “Engaging with Data and AI leaders from diverse industries and professional backgrounds provided valuable perspectives on both the challenges and successes organizations are experiencing in today’s rapidly evolving technology landscape.”

Anthony Losanno, CDO Magazine Managing Director, highlights, “San Francisco will always hold a piece of my heart and it’s a pleasure to get to spend time with executives here. We had a great, mixed group of locals and those attending from out of town for Databricks. Balancing governance with ROI struck a chord and is something that all of the execs in attendance are thinking about in their daily work lives.”

Summing it up, Jaclyn (Jax) Skvarla, Starburst Account Executive, says, “The overarching takeaway from our discussion is that the industry is rapidly maturing past the ‘experimentation’ phase of AI. It was fascinating to hear how data leaders are actively rearchitecting their strategies to shift away from massive data consolidation toward a more unified, federated approach.”

Special thanks to Google Cloud, Reltio, Starburst and Strategy for making this event a success.

Executives attending the CDO Magazine San Francisco Roundtable Exchange included: 

Rachel Belino, Mars People (P&O) Data Officer; Cheria Coram, Starbucks Director, Tax Technology & Data Enablement; Brian Dempsey, Robert Half VP, Managed Technology Solutions; Justin Heller, former Synchrony SVP, Chief Data Officer; Vipin Kataria, Picarro Engineering Leader/Sr. Lead Architect (Data/ML); Nitin Kumar, Visa VP & Global Head, Data Products & Agentic AI; Patrick McQuillan, Visa Global Head, AI & Data Governance; Jiaqi Qian, Spectrum Brands Sr. Manager, Consumer Data Strategy; Jean-Paul Saliou, Augura Chief Technology Officer; Lori Sherer, BetterFuture-ai.com Principal; Andrew Simon, Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP Chief AI & Innovation Officer; Eduardo Torres, Credicorp Chief Data Officer; Jennifer Young, MGM Resorts International VP, Data; Ramon Avila, Strategy Senior Strategic Enterprise Account Executive; Mustafa Aziz, Google Cloud Field Sales Representative; Robby Cunnie, Google Cloud Enterprise Field Sales Representative; Daniel Ellis, Reltio Regional Sales Manager; Chris Martin, Reltio VP, Product Management; Akshat Nair, Starburst Staff Solution Architect; Aidan Reilly, Strategy Director, Product Management; Jaclyn (Jax) Skvarla, Starburst Account Executive; Michael Butts, Burtch Works CEO; Dan Lynch, Burtch Works Talent Strategy Advisor, Data & AI; Marisa Harmon, CDO Magazine Account Director; Anthony Losanno, CDO Magazine Managing Director.