CDO Magazine Federal & Enterprise CDO Forum Unveils Insights into GenAI Adoption

The CDO Magazine Federal & Enterprise CDO Forum ignited a dynamic idea exchange on the adoption of Generative AI (GenAI) among Washington, DC, area public and private sector data, analytics, AI and security leaders on May 15. The event featured an engaging panel discussion around highlights from the research conducted by CDO Magazine with leading consultancy Guidehouse on “The State of GenAI Today: The Early Stages of a Revolution," exploring the current state and future potential of the technology.

The panel of experts were:

• Randy Soper, Internal Revenue Service Chief of AI

• Dr. Subha Madhavan, Pfizer Vice President and Head of AI/ML, Quantitative & Digital Sciences, Global Biometrics & Data Management

• Alissa "Dr. Jay" Abdullah, Mastercard Deputy Chief Security Officer

The session was moderated by Bassel Haidar, Guidehouse Director, Digital Data.

"The only AI is responsible AI,” states speaker Abdullah, sharing her take on the topic. She elaborates that to ensure a great outcome, AI use cases need to “go through a robust governance program that is aligned with data and acceptable use principles.”

According to panel expert Soper, “GenAI is disruptive to traditional artificial intelligence and machine learning infrastructure and governance in a number of ways. It has huge new capabilities but comes along with significant supply chain risk and new classes or presentations of AI risk, all packaged in, effectively, a black box.”

He explains that while organizations can see a lot of potential for all kinds of use cases, it is hard to distill these to specific return on investment and risk mitigation approaches upfront to build business cases or to deploy with assurance. “At the IRS, we are working on our infrastructure and ability to experiment, because this seems to be a key, and potentially persistent, enabler for adopting GenAI,” Soper adds.

Sharing her experience at the event, Kirsten Dalboe, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Chief Data Officer and Federal CDO Council Chair, says, “We had a fantastic evening discussing the current state of GenAI, the importance of managing a strong, tagged and classified data infrastructure to support the exciting opportunities of GenAI, and thinking about what the future of GenAI will look like. It’s always great to connect with industry and federal peers to collaborate, share ideas, and learn from each other.”

McKesson Vice President of Enterprise Advanced Analytics Shivanku Misra emphasizes the impact of data leadership on GenAI adoption: "As data leaders, we will play a critical role in harnessing the transformative power of GenAI and other advanced technologies, which will rapidly evolve the future of work, driven by increased compute capacity and advanced technical talent.” Misra adds that “CDO Magazine, with its global network of experts, will play a pivotal role by bringing this group together like they did at the very well planned and organized Washington, DC, event.”

Similarly, reflecting on the event, Tiffany Perkins-Munn, JPMorgan Chase & Co. Managing Director, Head of Data and Analytics for JPMC Marketing, shares, “CDO Magazine is at the forefront of the revolution – leading the charge in all topics related to data and analytics, AI and machine learning – and bringing together key senior thought leaders in the space to really dig into what's happening, what we should be doing, how we do it the best, and how we keep our safe ourselves and our public safe.”

Providing her perspective on the discussion, Cindy Tu, Discover Financial Services Director of IT & Data Audit, says: “I definitely got a lot of valuable insight in terms of how we make AI governance work, the type of guardrails that we're looking for especially in the financial services industry given the risk and also the benefit that we're seeing. And since I'm in audit, I see the unique partnership position we can form with the CDAO organization also to make sure that we have a robust and effective AI governance structure in place for the company to manage risk, but also reap the benefit of having a competitive advantage in this race for GenAI.”

Steve Wanamaker, CDO Magazine Founder & Publisher: “I am excited to witness the convergence of top executives at our first Federal & Enterprise CDO Forum Event in DC. This event addresses the critical need for collaboration and knowledge exchange in navigating the complexities of GenAI adoption. Together, we are charting the course for a future where data-driven innovation drives progress and transformation across sectors."

Bob Audet, Guidehouse Partner, Digital Data, sums it up saying, “This afternoon, we had an amazing event with acclaimed data leaders across different industries. CDO Magazine is really talking about how GenAI is no longer at the periphery. It’s here. It's evolving fast. Chief Data Officers and Chief Data and Analytics Officers need to get ahead of this – to realize the value of GenAI for their organizations.”

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

*Randy Soper, Dr. Subha Madhavan, Kirsten Dalboe, Shivanku Misra, and Tiffany Perkins-Munn are members of CDO Magazine Global Editorial Board. Alissa "Dr. Jay" Abdullah is a member of the CDO Magazine Global Security Board

Executives attending the CDO Magazine DC Guidehouse Federal & Enterprise CDO Forum Event included:

Alissa "Dr. Jay" Abdullah, Mastercard Deputy Chief Security Officer & SVP, Emerging Corporate Security Solutions; Ryan Blaney, Jones Day Partner; Kirsten Dalboe, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Chief Data Officer, Federal CDO Council Chair; Brian Erickson, U.S. Coast Guard Chief Data & Artificial Intelligence Officer; Tamera Fine, U.S. Department of Justice AUSA/Chief; Juan Gorricho, TD Bank Head, Business Intelligence & Data Transformation; Aravind Jagannathan, Freddie Mac VP, Chief Data Officer; Rachel Jupp, BBC Editorial Executive, GenAI; Maja Lapcevic, MasterCard SVP, New Product Development; Madeline Li, U.S. Patent & Trademark Office Lead Software Developer; Subha Madhavan, Pfizer VP & Head of AI/ML, Quantitative & Digital Sciences, Global Biometrics & Data Management; Shivanku Misra, McKesson VP, Enterprise Advanced Analytics; Sameer Mungur, Fintech Chief Data Officer; Geoffrey Nieboer, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Chief Data Officer; Tiffany Perkins-Munn, JPMorgan Chase & Co. Managing Director, Head of Data & Analytics for JPMC Marketing; John Pilotte, U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Center for Medicare Director, Performance-based Payment Policy Group; Rahul Saddy, Capital One Data Management & Governance; Randy Soper, Internal Revenue Service Chief of AI; Trang Tran, U.S. Customs & Border Protection Deputy Chief Data Officer; Cindy Tu, Discover Director, IT & Data Audit; Michelle Zebrowski, U.S. Customs & Border Protection Chief Data Officer, Bob Audet, Guidehouse Partner, Digital Data; Dr. Anthony Cristillo, Guidehouse Partner, SVP Digital Health; Bassel Haidar, Guidehouse Director, Digital Data; Tess Korpon, Guidehouse Director, ESI Transportation; Linda Laffan, Guidehouse Lead, Digital Marketing; Arjun Reddy, Guidehouse Partner, Financial Services; Kathryn Rock, Guidehouse Partner, Financial Services; Donna Roy, Guidehouse Strategic Advisor, Defense & Security; Leigh Sheldon, Guidehouse Partner, ESI Solutions; Caroline Tan, Guidehouse Director, Digital Marketing; Steve Wanamaker, CDO Magazine Founder & Publisher; Camille Prado, CDO Magazine Global Editor.