(US and Canada) Accounting firm CLA announced that Spencer Lourens has advanced to the newly created Chief Data Officer (CDO) role.

As CDO, Lourens will oversee data management, quality, utilization, and governance, while developing comprehensive data strategies as part of CLA’s $500 million investment in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and technology. He joined the firm in 2019 to accelerate CLA’s digital solutions and previously served as the Managing Principal of Data Science and Artificial Intelligence.

Lourens brings a wealth of experience to this role including a Ph.D. in biostatistics from the University of Iowa, and an extensive background in Artificial Intelligence and data science. Previously, he was an Assistant Professor and directed the undergraduate Health Data Science program at Indiana University School of Medicine and the Indiana University Fairbanks School of Public Health.