CDO Magazine’s second New York Leadership Summit, held November 20 at the Westin New York at Times Square, attracted the region’s leading data, analytics, AI, and security executives under the marquee theme: “The Empire State of Intelligence — Where Data, AI, Cybersecurity, and Analytics Power the City.” More than 230 senior leaders and 70 speakers from financial services, healthcare, biotech, government, insurance, telecom, higher education, and other key sectors participated in a full day of high-value content.

Across keynotes, panel breakout sessions, and focus groups, participants engaged deeply — sharing insights, asking sharp questions, and exchanging practical strategies for scaling AI responsibly and effectively. The result was a high-impact, collaborative forum that pushed the conversation beyond technology, emphasizing the leadership mindset required to turn data and AI into lasting enterprise value.

The three keynote sessions stood out:

• Mission Impossible: Scaling AI Agents for Business Impact: Ash Dhupar, Analog Devices Chief Data & Analytics Officer
• A Tale of Two CDOs: Andrew Reiskind, Mastercard Chief Data Officer, and André Michel Vargas, Creative Artists Agency Chief Data Officer
• Securing AI Requires Security of the Entire AI System: Jack Berkowitz, Securiti Chief Data Officer

CDO Magazine thanks the host city Co-Chairs of the New York Leadership Summit for their leadership:

• Arvind Balasundaram, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Executive Director, Commercial Insights & Analytics
• Vanessa Jones-Nyoni, Commerzbank AG Chief Data Officer North America
• Hardik Mehta, JPMorganChase Global Head, Risk, Regulatory & AI Innovation
• Andrew Reiskind, Mastercard Chief Data Officer
• Tali Rosenblum, New York Life VP, Head, Enterprise Strategic Insights

Sharing from his keynote, speaker Dhupar says, “Scaling agentic AI is no longer ‘mission impossible’ — it’s the new engine of enterprise value — and the leaders who learn to scale it responsibly will win the decade. In today’s fast-evolving digital landscape, CDOs/CDAIOs must harness AI not just as a tool, but as a strategic partner to unlock unprecedented insights and drive transformative business outcomes.”

According to keynote speaker and Co-chair Reiskind, “The Summit was more than a chance to connect with peers and share insights on making data usable and valuable in a rapidly evolving AI landscape. It offered a broader perspective on what we define as ‘data.’ You may think of data as numbers, transactions, or structured information. 

“But as AI systems increasingly generate insights, create content, and make decisions, human creativity — ideas, designs, narratives, and even artistic expression — becomes a critical input. My fireside chat with Vargas underscored the point: if we miss the opportunity to see creativity as data, we miss the opportunity to make AI more relevant, inclusive, and innovative for people.”

For keynote speaker Vargas, what stood out most was the openness with which leaders shared real world challenges and how they address them from very different industries. He says, “The Summit reinforced my belief that the role of the CDO is increasingly human centric and deeply tied to AI literacy and organizational readiness, real business value vs. AI hype. It was both validating and inspiring.”

Panel speaker Sujatha Krishnan, LG Electronics North America Head, Analytics, Insights & Data Science, says, “The CDO Magazine Summit was exceptionally informative – practical, cross-industry lessons on what it really takes to operationalize agentic AI. Agentic AI is finally moving enterprises from dashboards to decisions. The leaders winning aren’t chasing flashier models. They are pairing autonomy with accountability: clean data, explainability, and a tight human loop. AI can act fast, and our job is to ensure it acts right.”

Co-chair Jones-Nyoni echoes that sentiment, stressing leadership beyond technology. She reflects, “The CDO Magazine New York Leadership Summit was an invaluable experience that reminded her that while AI is accelerating, meaningful progress still depends on human-centered leadership, intentional strategy and strong governance. Agentic AI is reshaping work faster than expected, but trust, ethics and oversight remain true differentiators. The real breakthroughs came from the conversations – cross-industry, candid and creative – that pushed us to think differently,” she adds.

Co-chair and moderator Rosenblum continues the emphasis on purposeful design and human impact. She points out, “The event sparked powerful conversations, with real connections. The future of AI leadership is multidimensional — where humanity becomes the ultimate differentiator. Leaders who guide AI from smart to truly useful will create lasting advantage. Purposeful design is transforming innovations into clear, human-centered value.”

Panel speaker Richard Martin, PepsiCo Senior Director, Strategy & Transformation – Data, Analytics & AI, comments, “I attended my first CDO Magazine conference this week in NYC and it surely won’t be my last. The team did an awesome job curating NYC’s best Data & AI thought leadership and put it all under one very entertaining roof. We had everything – Agentic AI to AI Bias to Data Governance and so much more. Two thumbs up!”

Sharing her experience, Natalia Kuklova, former Webster Bank Chief Enterprise Data Science Officer, notes: “The CDO Magazine team did a fantastic job and set a new bar for what a leadership summit should be. The energy was high — you could tell it was an event no one wanted to leave, with a large crowd still there late into the day. The panels, the high-quality content, and the overall atmosphere were outstanding, and I met people I look forward to building long-term relationships with.”

Gerri Caveness, CDO Magazine Global Events Manager, highlights, “Lights, Camera, Data! The New York community didn’t just show up, it stole the show! The CDO Magazine Leadership Summit operated like a movie premiere. The rooms were packed, the ideas were sharp, and the fun was a real thing! If you weren’t in the room, you already know… this is the one you wish you hadn’t missed.”

Summing it up, keynote speaker Berkowitz, says, “It was a great day to learn about real-world experiences deploying AI and Agents with direct conversations about the challenges of getting to business value while balancing data security and governance. It’s wonderful to see the profession growing through the connections made and ideas shared.”

Special thanks to Securiti, Burtch Works, Coretek, Flexor, HPE, NVIDIA, MathCo, Profisee, Starburst, ThoughtSpot, Tiger Analytics, TigerGraph, TrustLogix, CodeSignal, HumanSignal, Immuta, NTT Data, Data Society, Fivetran, Lumi AI, The Data Lodge, and Zenlytic for making this event a success.

*Arvind Balasundaram, Ash Dhupar, Sujatha Krishnan, and Andrew Reiskind are members of the CDO Magazine Global Board.

Executives speaking at the CDO Magazine New York Leadership Summit included:

Jide Adeoye, goeasy Ltd Director, Business Intelligence; Roota Almeida, Kyowa Kirin Global CISO; Hunter Almgren, Hewlett Packard Enterprise Distinguished Technologist; Christopher Armao, JPMorganChase Firmwide Head, Data Strategy; Sashi Arumugam, Steve Madden Director, WMS; Rachel Batykefer, former Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals VP, CIA & Compliance Operations; Alain Biem, former New York Life Chief Data Science Officer; Natalie Buda Smith, Library of Congress Director, Digital Strategy (Artificial Intelligence); Ipshita Chakraborty, HelloFresh Director, Data Science & AI, Product Strategy Ops; Sherman Cooper, QBE Head, Data; Anusha Dandapani, United Nations International Computing Center Chief Data & AI Services Officer; Ash Dhupar, Analog Devices Chief Data & Analytics Officer; Christopher Di Gioia, PGIM VP, Head, Product Data Governance; Mark DiMaggio, Wells Fargo Managing Director; Ken Fishkin, Lowenstein Sandler Associate Director, Information Security; Aadesh Gandhre, DTCC Chief Audit Executive; Girish Gajwani, Barclays VP, Architect Securitized Products Technology; Bijit Ghosh, Wells Fargo Managing Director AI/ML Data & Cloud; Alex Golbin, CFA, Hudson Bay Capital Chief Technology Officer & Chief Data Officer; Michael Golub, Merck Sr. Director, AI Ethics & Compliance; Samvel Grigoryan, Amgen Sr. Director, Global Customer Capabilities; Buka Gurgenidze-Steinau, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center Head, Centralized Intelligence & Automation For Enterprise; Glenn Hofmann, MetLife CDAO U.S.; Kodjo Hogan, TD Bank BISO; Dr. Gaurav Jaggi, Bayer Lead, Strategic Insights Oncology Portfolio; David Johnson, Forbes Chief Data Officer; Akhil Khunger, Barclays VP, Quantitative Analytics; Terry Kim, former New York Life Insurance VP, AI & Data Product Leader; Sujatha Krishnan, LG Electronics USA Head, Analytics, Insights & Data Science; Raj Madan, Arcutis Biotherapeutics SVP & Chief Digital & Information Technology Officer; Richard Martin, PepsiCo Sr. Director, Strategy & Transformation, Data, Analytics & AI; Srini Masanam, Citi Global Head, Surveillance Data & Quality; James Massa, JPMorganChase Sr. Executive Director; Arun Maheshwari, Morgan Stanley Executive Director, Global Head, Model Risk Control; Hardik Mehta, JPMorganChase Global Head, Risk, Regulatory & AI Innovation; Abhishek Mittal, AML Right Source EVP, Chief Product & AI Officer; Emma O’Brian, Dow Jones General Manager, Factiva; Qahir Rajwani, CIBC Mellon VP, Client Experience & Analytics; Andrew Reiskind, Mastercard Chief Data Officer; Kevin Richards, AstraZeneca Sr. Director, Clinical Quality; Wilmarie Rios, Synchrony Financial VP & Data & Analytics Leader; Tali Rosenblum, New York Life VP & Head, Enterprise Strategic Insights & Analytics; Alex Rosenzweig, American Express Enterprise Technology, Data Risk & AI; Eddie Rustandi, Merck Head, Commercial AI; Anthony Scriffignano, The Stimson Center Distinguished Fellow, Alfred Lee Loomis Innovation Council; Gopika Shah, Falcon Risk Services Technology Officer; Jyoti Kunal Shah, ADP Director, Application Development; Namrata Shah, Nuveen MD, Head, Enterprise Finance Technology; Mike Shaw, Dow Jones SVP, Engineering, Data & AI; Harveer Singh, Rizz Wireless CIO & Co-Founder; Swetha Subramanian, former Loblaw AI & Data Strategy Leader; André Michel Vargas, Creative Artists Agency Chief Data Officer; Suman Veeramalla, Consumer Reports Chief Data Officer; James Villarrubia, NASA Head, Innovation & AI; Derek Waldron, JPMorganChase Chief Analytics Officer; Nan Xiao, Greenland Capital Management Chief Technology Officer & Chief Data Officer; Vijay Yadav, PreciseDx VP, AI & Technology; Stephanie Zhang, JPMorganChase Managing Director & Head, AI & Data Governance Products; Casey Bain, Immuta Sr. Solutions Architect; Jack Berkowitz, Securiti Chief Data Officer; Michael Butts, Burtch Works CEO; Debo De, NTT DATA Managing Director,  BFS AI Leader; Stephanie Durand, CodeSignal VP, Strategic Partnerships; Clyde Gillard, Hewlett Packard Enterprise AI GTM Leader; Malcolm Hawker, Profisee Chief Data Officer; Mitch Howell, Coretek Principal, Client Strategy & Solutions; Cindi Howson, ThoughtSpot Chief Data & AI Strategy Officer; Deepak Khetpal, Tiger Analytics Head, BU & Strategic Growth Initiatives; Anuj Krishna, MathCo Co-Founder & President, Technology & Growth; Ron Longo, TrustLogix CEO; Brian Luisi, Starburst VP, Tech Solutions; Lauren Partin, HumanSignal Head, User Success; Rajeev Shrivastava, TigerGraph CEO; Or Zabludowski, Flexor CEO; Gerri Caveness, CDO Magazine Global Event Manager; and Anthony Losanno, CDO Magazine SVP, Sales.