CDO Magazine welcomed senior data, AI, and analytics leaders in Dallas to the Capital Grille on October 2 for an Executive Boardroom Dinner focused on building robust, scalable data foundations to drive enterprise AI solutions.

The evening featured a panel discussion on the topic “Building high-performance data infrastructure for predictive, generative and agentic AI.” Panelists examined why many AI initiatives struggle to deliver business value, how to build adaptive systems that learn continuously, the role of organizational culture in scaling success, and strategies for designing feedback-driven, outcome-focused AI ecosystems.

The panel of experts were:

• Mano Mannoochahr, Verizon Chief Data Analytics and AI Officer
• Michelle Foley, Truist SVP, Enterprise Data Manager
• Nitin Kumar, Marriott International Director, Data Science
• Karthikeyan Ilangovan, Mode Global Vice President, Data, Analytics & AI/ML

The discussion was moderated by Sesh Seshadri, Aerospike Chief Evangelist.

Sharing his experience, speaker Ilangovan, says, “Participating as a panelist alongside fellow data analytics leaders was truly energizing, especially as we collectively explored the real-world impact and practical evaluation of AI initiatives before making substantial investments. 

He emphasizes that participants had the chance to share and discuss compelling case studies from Verizon, Truist, MODE, and Marriott. “We also had the opportunity to spotlight how generative and agentic AI are reshaping customer experience, contact centers, operational efficiency, and intelligent automation across industries. These vibrant, thought-provoking conversations highlighted the art of the possible, delivered actionable insights, and fostered a strong sense of community as we addressed shared challenges and exchanged strategies for success,” he adds.

Speaker Foley shares the following key takeaways:

• “A top contributor to GenAI project failures – starting with the tool (GenAI) rather than the problem to be solved.
• Upfront investments in defining the use case, requirements gathering and stakeholder engagement are essential for maximizing ROI.
• Costs associated with agentic AI are likely to grow exponentially, even as cost/unit of work decreases.”

Speaker Mannoochahr says, “Successful adoption of AI-Agents hinges on further maturity of two capabilities:

• The AI Agents’ ability to understand and retain business context
• The means to incorporate feedback and learning ‘on the job.”

In the era of GenAI, according to speaker Kumar, designing solutions involves more than just weighing accuracy against inference; it also involves weighing cost against inference. He says, “Adoption by enterprises necessitates a cultural change, acknowledging that AI is not here to replace workers but rather to complement them by taking over repetitive and routine tasks.” 

Kumar further points out, “Before switching to GenAI or agentic systems, which require more advanced skills, testing, and ROI justification, organizations should concentrate on predictive AI, a more developed and tested technology for resolving business problems.”

Jenna George, CDO Magazine Program Director, highlights, “The Dallas Executive Boardroom Dinner was full of lively discussions from not only the panelists but the guests as well. One of the takeaways that I had was that as AI models mature, humans must continue to monitor to ensure the learning outputs are valid.”

Summing it up, moderator Seshadri, says, “The event was great fun and drew participation from all members of the audience in addition to the experts on the panel. We covered a range of topics from what issues plague agentic AI implementations today – to how to evaluate and plan investments into generative and agentic AI – to what the outlook is over a two to three-year timeframe.”

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

• Thrushna Matharasi, Solera Holdings Director, Engineering, Data & AI/ML
• Priya Reddy, former Reprise Financial VP, Enterprise Data Management, Chief Data Officer
• Hemal Shah, Southwest Airlines Sr. Technology Manager
• Zul Sidi, Bank of America Managing Director, Data & Analytics, Retail, Preferred & Wealth Management

Special thanks to Aerospike for making the CDO Magazine Executive Boardroom Dinner such a resounding success.

Executives attending the CDO Magazine Dallas Executive Boardroom Dinner included: 

Kishore Agasthi, Morgan Street Holdings Global Chief Data Officer & Head, Transformation; David Burton,The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation Director, Solutions Architecture; Brian Faz, BNSF Railway Chief Information Officer; Michelle Foley, Truist SVP, Enterprise Data Manager; Jayadev Gopinath, DraftKings SVP, Data; Karthik Ilangovan, MODE Global VP, Data Analytics & AI/ML; Atul Jain, Verizon Sr. Director, Head, AI/ML & Data Platforms Engineering & Ops; Vino Kingston, Lockheed Martin Data & AI Transformation Strategy & Integration Leader; Nitin Kumar, Marriott International Director, Data Science; Amit Maheska, Capital One Director, Business Analytics; Mano Mannoochahr, Verizon Chief Data, Analytics & AI Officer; Thrushna Matharasi, Solera Holdings Director, Engineering, Data & AI/ML; Darren Pedroza, Teradyne Head, Enterprise Architecture & Data; Dalia Powers, Humana SVP & CIO, Growth & Digital; Priya Reddy, former Reprise Financial VP, Enterprise Data Management, Chief Data Officer; Edy Setiawan, Verizon Sr. Director, Data, Analytics & AI Governance; Hemal Shah, Southwest Airlines Sr. Technology Manager; Manav Shah, Citi SVP, Data Tooling & Strategy; Zul Sidi, Bank of America Managing Director, Data & Analytics, Retail, Preferred & Wealth Management; Gaurav Deshpande, Aerospike Chief Marketing Officer; Cassandra Gulia, Aerospike Sr. Field Marketing Manager; Peyton Harwell, Aerospike Database Consultant, Enterprise BDR; Srinivasan Seshadri, Aerospike Chief Evangelist; Srini Srinivasan, Aerospike Founder & Chief Technology Officer; Brent Zaal, Aerospike Regional VP, Enterprise Sales, Americas; Jenna George, CDO Magazine Program Director; and Anthony Losanno, CDO Magazine SVP, Sales.