When AI moves beyond answering questions and begins taking action, the quality of the data guiding its decisions becomes even more consequential.

That challenge was at the center of CDO Magazine’s Chicago Executive Boardroom Dinner on October 14 at Chicago Cut Steakhouse, where data, AI and technology leaders gathered to discuss AI-Ready Data.

The evening brought together executives from financial services, healthcare, technology and other industries to examine agentic AI, how organizations determine whether their data is ready to support it, and what it takes to manage risk when autonomous agents enter production.

The conversation also explored the opportunities that better-prepared data could unlock, including use cases that remain difficult to pursue today.

When AI Starts Making Decisions

Moving beyond chatbots was one of the evening’s discussion topics.

Executives considered the growing distinction between AI that generates responses and AI agents capable of taking action, including where organizations are already putting those capabilities to work.

That shift places greater importance on the information an agent uses to determine its next step. Data quality, access and reliability become especially significant when AI is expected to do more than provide an answer.

What Does AI-Ready Data Actually Mean?

The Chicago conversation also addressed a question that becomes increasingly important as organizations expand their use of AI: How do leaders know when their data is ready?

The discussion explored what organizations measure when evaluating data readiness and how they distinguish information that can reliably support AI applications from data that requires additional attention.

Lee Ann Hoover, BRG Managing Director, described the evening as featuring lively discussions about agentic AI, the data quality required to support AI, risk containment for deployed agents and use cases.

“I enjoyed the event discussing AI-Ready Data, with lively discussions on Agentic AI, data quality required to support AI, containing risk for deployed agents, and use cases. Thank you to CDO Magazine and Informatica for a unique forum of structured discussions and networking with industry leaders in Chicago.”

Her observations capture the range of issues considered during the dinner, from the quality of the data itself to the responsibilities organizations assume when deploying agents.

The Cost, Value and Risk of Autonomous Agents

Data readiness was closely connected to another subject raised during the evening: what organizations must consider when deploying AI agents into production.

The leaders discussed how they approach the cost of operating agents relative to the value they deliver, how they think about containing risk, and how they ensure an agent is using appropriate information when making decisions.

These questions extended the conversation beyond technical capability. An agent may be able to perform a task, but deploying it responsibly requires organizations to consider the quality of its inputs and the consequences of its actions.

The relationship between ⁠AI governance and data governance is particularly relevant to those considerations, especially as enterprises determine how existing data controls apply to increasingly autonomous systems.

The Use Cases Waiting on Better Data

The executives also looked at what organizations could accomplish if their data were fully prepared to support AI systems capable of taking independent action.

Rather than focusing only on current deployments, they considered the use cases they would prioritize if data readiness were no longer an obstacle.

That question brought the dinner’s central themes together: the possibilities of agentic AI, the importance of dependable data, and the practical considerations involved in turning autonomous capabilities into useful enterprise applications.

Data, AI and Technology Leaders Who Joined the Chicago Conversation:

• Patrick Chew*, Burtch Works Fractional Chief Data and AI Officer
• Kathryn Chrismer, Cooley LLP Senior Business Data Manager, Innovation
• Michael Cravens, Heitman Vice President, Senior Product Manager
• Anish Gupta, CVS Health Lead Data Scientist
• Jay Hakim, Beyond Finance VP of Data Engineering, Business Intelligence, Data Operations
• Lee Ann Hoover, BRG Managing Director
• Karl Jackson, CDW VP, AI Accelerated Software Engineering
• Sabrykrishnan Loganathan, Peloton Sr. Director Head of Enterprise AI
• Shuen Mei, Harbor Capital Advisors VP, Director of Software and Data Engineering
• Gokula Mishra*, Former Direct Supply VP, Data Science
• Suma Nair*, JPMorganChase Executive Director – Strategy, Data & AI
• Rahul Pandey, Prosper Marketplace Senior Director
• Mark Pemberton, iFIT Senior Director, Information Technology
• Brad Rosenberg, Hightower Advisors Manager of Enterprise Data Governance and Stewardship
• Frank Sung, Loop Capital Markets VP, Data Management
• Susan Thomas, Cooley LLP Business Data Analyst
• Shawn Tumanov*, Alight Solutions Head of AI Governance and Enablement
• George Wang, FinTank CIO
• Matthew (Matt) De Troia, MuleSoft EVP, AMER Sales
• Nick Dobbins, Informatica SVP, Solution Engineering
• Amy Horowitz, Informatica AVP, AMER Solution Sales
• Kaiser Larsen, Informatica Chief Marketing Officer
• Karuna Mukherjea, MuleSoft CMO
• Maura Tallent, Informatica Senior Director, Field Marketing
• Anthony Losanno, CDO Magazine Managing Director

*Patrick Chew, Gokula Mishra, Suma Nair, and Shawn Tumanov are a members of the CDO Magazine Global Board.

CDO Magazine thanks Informatica and Mulesoft from Salesforce for supporting the Chicago Executive Boardroom Dinner and helping bring the executive community together.