With approximately $10 billion in annual revenue, Quest Diagnostics stands as one of the world’s largest providers of diagnostic information services, serving half of the physicians and hospitals in the U.S. The company operates thousands of patient service centers and laboratories, empowering better health decisions through trusted data and insights.

In this second installment of CDO Magazine’s three-part series, Mark Clare, Chief Data Officer at Quest Diagnostics, sits down with Jim Kruger, Chief Marketing Officer at Informatica, to discuss how CDOs can engage business teams, track measurable outcomes, and build governance frameworks that truly drive enterprise value.

Part 1 explored how the CDO role is changing, what AI means for the enterprise, and why governance must evolve. This part dives deeper into value realization, cross-functional alignment, and the evolution of governance from compliance to enablement.

Rethinking the hub-and-spoke model

Clare begins by challenging traditional notions of how data organizations are structured. “I find hub and spokes very traditional. Most of us still follow it to some degree, but in the world of data mesh and data products, the spokes become a little blurry,” he explains.

He notes that the modern CDO must view governance not as a static structure but as a dynamic system where ownership and accountability are distributed across business lines.

“Whether it’s the foundational core of data products, a risk control framework, or AI — what is that activity enabling? A CDO may be only one of several areas enabling value, but partnering with business stakeholders to measure and report that value is part of the equation.”

For Clare, data governance is only meaningful when it leads to measurable business outcomes. He shares how his team designed governance around four progressive pillars: data management, insights, actions, and measurements.

Initially, the team focused on data and insights, but quickly realized that without consensus on actions, progress stalled.

“By the second year, we were good at agreeing on actions from a governance standpoint, but we had no idea how to measure the results. By the third year, we were surgically precise at all four levels.”

This evolution transformed governance from an oversight function into a value-enabling engine — one that was eventually chaired by the CEO and integrated into the company’s quarterly performance reviews.

“I’d encourage every CDO to think that way, but realize it takes time to build that — almost like a pseudo P&L organization measuring the value you’re enabling across the enterprise.”

Solving the “number one data quality issue”

Clare recalls one pivotal experience early in his career where regulatory fines created the opportunity to demonstrate the tangible impact of data quality. “The company was paying regulatory fines directly attributable to data quality,” he says. “We didn’t set out to, but by the time we were done, we ended up with a Six Sigma-based data quality framework.”

With clear financial stakes — quantifiable penalties from compliance issues — his team could frame a compelling business case for investment.

“We knew exactly what the annual penalties had been over three years. It became a significant investment case because data doesn’t stand on its own — it’s an input and output to a process. Improve the data, improve the process.”

This disciplined, root-cause-driven approach to data quality not only reduced compliance costs but also created a repeatable model for aligning data programs with business outcomes.

“Not every company has those penalties, so you have to dig into what the impact is and then prioritize work,” Clare advises. “Believe it or not, the number one data quality issue I’ve seen in my career is sourcing the wrong data — that’s not a technology issue, it’s a process issue.”

From insights to measurable impact

Clare’s approach reframes the CDO’s mandate: it’s not about building data for data’s sake, but about enabling business performance that can be quantified.

“We’re good at talking about foundational capability, but not always good at talking about the value being generated,” he reflects. “That’s where tight collaboration with business units comes in — to connect priorities, actions, and measurable outcomes.”

By turning governance into a measurable, value-linked framework, Clare underscores the CDO’s evolution from data custodian to business enabler — a transformation that is critical for any organization striving to scale AI and data-driven decision-making responsibly.

CDO Magazine appreciates Mark Clare for sharing his insights with our global community.