Boston Data Leaders Examine the CDO Role in the Age of AI at CDO Magazine Dinner

Top data executives from financial services, government, healthcare, pharma and manufacturing convened in Boston at CDO Magazine's Executive Boardroom Dinner on May 1. The event featured a panel of experts deliberating on the pivotal topic of the evolving Chief Data Officer (CDO) role amidst the global surge in AI adoption.

The expert panel speakers were:

• Kamal Distell, Toyota Motor North America Vice President, Data, Analytics, Platforms and Data Science

• Jane Urban, Otsuka Pharmaceutical Companies (U.S.) Vice President, Customer Engagement Operations

• Joel Vengco, Hartford HealthCare SVP and Chief Information & Digital Officer

The session was moderated by David Washo, AHEAD Client Services Partner.

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Urban shares that the future of data in an AI-enabled world is bright across multiple industries. She highlights how data leaders like Distell, Vengco, and herself, from across industries are grappling with similar data and AI challenges.

Some of the key challenges according to Urban include “how to securely democratize data, how to ensure adequate control and business rigor for the proliferation of AI use cases, and how to establish and accelerate citizen data scientists across the company.”

“The opportunity to leverage AI and bring personalized engagement with our customers is what most excites me about this wave of innovation we have coming,” Urban further adds. “This area has grown from a very nascent one to something being tested in every aspect of our business in a matter of months, so I am very excited for the future.”

Raj Nimmagadda, Sanofi Chief Data Officer R&D, Data and Data Sciences, outlines the following takeaways from the discussion:

1. Data's significance in business transformation was underscored, highlighting its pivotal role in modernization plans and its potential to drive change and address complex issues. It was emphasized that data ownership should not act as a bottleneck, and there should be clear articulation and education within organizations.

2. Realizing value from data products requires aligning them with business objectives and integrating data across functions to achieve desired outcomes. Ensuring data availability and sharing, along with adhering to proper guidelines and security measures, is crucial.

3. Operating model challenges across data, digital and business teams were identified as common across industries. Strong alignment of roles and responsibilities across groups is necessary to deliver at scale. There should be a focus on outcomes to overcome fragmentation.

4. Finding the right balance of governance is essential. Being overly restrictive with AI governance can hinder innovation. Establishing well-balanced councils ensures decisions are made with the right checks and balances in place. The significance of data standardization and governance in successful AI implementation underscores the need for high-quality data in achieving effective AI.

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Distell thanks fellow panelists Urban and Vengco for their insights, and mentions enjoying the common themes of data and decision intelligence across various industries. She finds the highlights around measuring value “always intriguing” and listening to different techniques based on size, scale, discipline of the organization as “always informative.”

“We all shared techniques of how to do this more effectively to ensure that data and decision intelligence efforts get the funding and visibility needed,” says Distell. “As Joel (Vengco) spoke of data liquidity in healthcare, it resonates well with all since we can create the right mix of portability, liquidity alongside the capabilities to get the data in the hands of people.”

She further highlights the conversation around data ownership, saying, “Who should own? What does it actually mean and how to play with different models based on the type of organization? Jane’s (Urban) perspective on the size of the organization and how they are moving their data and AI efforts was great as a comparative to some of the large organizations and how to create that nimbleness.”

According to Prem Swaroop, Dover Corporation Chief Data and Analytics Officer, “It was interesting to have two CDAOs and a CIO take the stage for panel discussions. While the job titles move around, I found it represented the width of expertise this community brings to our respective organizations.”

Swaroop continues, “Also notable was the continued emphasis on data governance – which had taken the data community by storm in the last 3-4 years, but was thoroughly eclipsed by GenAI (true not just data governance!) Indeed, as ‘AI needs data, and data needs AI’ – data governance, and now AI governance are worthy of attention for business and data leaders alike.”

Adding his highlights, Shahidul Mannan, Bon Secours Mercy Health Chief Data Officer, mentions the need for focusing on value, understanding the culture before transforming it, and realizing that “good AI needs good data.”

Dave McEachern, AHEAD Managing Director, New England, recaps the event: “The common theme that resonated was developing use cases that provided measurable business impact in hard dollar costs. This provides confirmation to AHEAD as we align our subject matter experts with the challenges and gaps that clients face in attempting to execute on monetizing data and AI at their organizations. The scenarios described by our talented group of CDOs spanning multiple verticals continues to show commonality, which lends to the focus on developing a data framework as a fundamental building block to be leveraged by all, regardless of the unique nature of their individual governance and/or regulatory challenges. As always, we are immensely grateful for the thoughtful insights of all of the CDO members with special thanks to the panel.”

CDO Magazine Global Editor Camille Prado agrees and adds, “At CDO Magazine, we have the privilege of bringing together data, analytics and AI experts in our Boston community to connect with their like-minded peers, and exchange learnings and insights that elevate the game for everyone in the space.”

Special thanks goes to AHEAD for their partnership in making the event a success.

*Joel Vengco, Kamal Distell, Jane Urban, Prem Swaroop, and Shahidul Mannan are members of the CDO Magazine Global Editorial Board.

Executives attending the CDO Magazine Boston Executive Boardroom Dinner included:

Yogesh Bhardwaj, Sensata Technologies Sr. Director, GSO, Data & IT Shared Services; Venkata Chirravuri, Fidelity Investments Vice President | Enterprise Data Architecture Strategy; Nava Cretu-Kessel, National Grid Senior Director, U.S Customer Data Office; Chathuri Daluwatte, AstraZeneca Head of AI Diagnostics (Alexion AstraZeneca Rare Disease); Amyn Damania, Toyota Motor Corporation Sr. Director, Data Platforms & Engineering; Kamal Distell, Toyota Motor North America VP Data, Analytics, Platforms and Data Science; Sravan Kasarla, former Thrivent Chief Data Officer; Kiran Kodali, Sanofi Head, R&D Data Strategy & Governance & Data Foundations; James Leyden, SLC Management Managing Director, Chief Data Officer; Shahidul Mannan, Bon Secours Mercy Health Chief Data Officer; Cliona Molony, IDEXX Chief Data Officer, Vice President R&D; Raj Nimmagadda, Sanofi Chief Data Officer R&D, Data and Data Sciences; Mamta Singh, Commonwealth of Massachusetts Deputy Chief Data Officer; Prem Swaroop, Dover Corporation Chief Data & Analytics Officer; Jane Urban, Otsuka Pharmaceutical Companies Vice President, Customer Engagement Operations; Krishna Valluru, Fidelity Investments Vice President / Team Leader Advanced Data Analytics Tech; Joel Vengco, Hartford HealthCare SVP and Chief Information & Digital Officer; Dave McEachern, AHEAD Managing Director, New England; David Washo, AHEAD Client Services Partner; Jackie Osborne, CDO Magazine Global Events Manager; Camille Prado, CDO Magazine Global Editor.