The CDO Magazine Israel CDO Forum gathered virtually on November 23. Members of the Israel CDO Forum include Israeli enterprises’ Chief Data Officers, Chief Data and Analytics Officers, and other data and analytics leaders from various industries including financial services, government, telecommunications, retail, education, among others. 

Israel CDO Forum Chair Ido Biger, Delek US Holdings EVP and Chief Technology and Data Officer, and Co-Chair Einat Shimoni, STKI EVP, welcomed the 25 participants, and CDO Magazine CEO Steve Wanamaker talked about their partnership. During the virtual session, Ram Kumar, Cigna Chief Data & Analytics Officer in Singapore, was interviewed by Effie Kilmer, Microsoft CDO Engagement Lead in New York. 

In their conversation, Kumar shared many valuable insights with the Israel CDO Forum about the different ways data can be used to provide value to organizations. He touched upon the most challenging issues CDOs face today: cultural barriers, prioritization of use cases, promoting data governance, which he calls data enablement, data literacy, engaging with business executives, and motivating data professionals and employees. Kumar emphasized the need to be laser focused on value and impact. The interview was followed by a Q&A session for further discussion.

"Such a gathering allows the growing Israeli Chief Data Officers’ community to learn from their global peers about trends and challenges that they face. With a few dozen already officially titled Chief Data Officers in Israel, I’m very proud of the progress and the data-driven journey we’re having. We appreciate the collaboration and support with CDO Magazine led by Steve Wanamaker. It makes us far better and globally blended," says Biger.

Shimoni adds, “We are thrilled to be a part of this amazing network of data leaders and CDOs. I look forward to more networking and sharing of valuable content to come. We thank CDO Magazine for their commitment to bring the CDO community together and allow this valuable knowledge sharing.”

Israel CDO Forum participants included Barak Shukrun, Israel Ministry of Health CDO, Head of Data, AI and Analytics; Nir Yanovsky Dagan, National Digital Israel Initiative Head of Data and Analytics; Adi Aklimi, WiX Data Accessibility Manager; Oded Naftaly, Noga CDO; Claudia Gendler, Partner Israel CDAO; Rami Inbar, The Open University of Israel CDO; Carmit Mor-Zadok, Maccabi Healthcare Services Head of Digital & Data, CDO; Ronen Tal, Maccabi Healthcare Services Director of Data; Ilan Avisar, Dan Company for Public Transportation CDO; Oren Mizrachi, Menora Mivtachim Insurance CDAO; Alon Goldman, Maytronics Head of IT Enterprise Solution & Data Architecture; Reuven Shnaps, Earnix Chief Analytics Officer; Shlomo Shamay, former Ayalon Insurance CIO; Ittay Hazan, Oracle Strategic Clients Director; Nir Shahar, Clalit Health Services Head of Data & Analytics; Guy Kaufman, Paz Oils Head of Data & Analytics; Ehud Gobi, Assuta Medical Centers; Shahaf Levin, Mimun Yashir CDO; Rachel Elad-Certner, MAX Head of Data; Uri Vikinski, Actiview BI and Analytics Manager; and Genadi Shenhav, Leumit Health Services.