(US and Canada) Sherman Cooper, Managing Director, Big Data and Data Science Platform Leader, Marsh, speaks with Mark Johnson, Regional Vice President for Data and Analytics, Fusion Alliance, and CDO Magazine Editorial Board Chair, about his career journey,  Marsh’s digital transformation approach, and essential digital transformation skills.

Marsh, a global brokerage leader for various industries, has been in business for 150 years. Cooper leads the firm’s international team of digital technologists, data science engineers, application developers, product specialists for insurance analytics, and big data strategy experts.

A quantitative economist focused on public policy, public finance, and data policy, Cooper has played a crucial role in helping technology understand business problems and vice versa. Cooper also pursued doctoral studies in public policy and taught at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia.

Next, he ran a not-for-profit financial intermediary helping banks open retail banking branches to serve low- to moderate-income constituents. Cooper then joined MasterCard, eventually moving to Marsh. 

He says Marsh’s digital transformation approach focuses on clients and helping them understand and manage risk to unlock better outcomes faster.

What are the top three skills for successful digital transformation? Cooper says the first is curiosity. Curiosity helps people solve problems and learn new ways to manipulate data in a secure, privacy-aware manner. The second is staying nimble to solve problems while solving other issues. The ability to mobilize other people behind a vision is the third skill.

Cooper elaborates that digital transformation is not always about fixing but enhancing things. Successful data programs have intelligent people at the table who others want to follow.