“It is rare to find a room of more than fifty executives where people are willing to drop the corporate script and just talk honestly,” says Namrata Shah, AWS Hero and Distinguished Thought Leader. That spirit defined CDO Magazine’s New York Roundtable Exchange on June 10 at Gallaghers Steakhouse. Shah adds, “We got straight into the real details of AI by debating the actual benefits, addressing the skepticism, and sharing what works versus what fails.” 

The region’s leading data, analytics, and AI executives explored “The Pressure to Evolve & Other Things Keeping Enterprise Leaders Up at Night” in an evening of peer networking and thought-provoking discussions. Participants engaged in open and collaborative conversations about the realities of enterprise transformation. Topics included the urgency to scale AI, the gap between expectations and organizational preparedness, the challenge of distinguishing hype from measurable value, evolving risk considerations, persistent operational constraints, and the difficult decisions leaders face when prioritizing resources and investments for long-term impact.

From his experience, Andrew Reiskind, Mastercard Chief Data Officer, says, “Once again CDO Magazine had an event that sparked great conversations regarding data and AI that allowed for sharing and learning with my peers regarding the challenges we all are facing in our implementing AI at scale, especially what people are thinking about ensuring ROI from both re-engineering processes to take advantage of agents and measuring outcomes to measure the cost/benefit of our implementations.”

Beyond all the AI hype, for Varun Gupta, Director, Data & Analytics at an Ivy League University, the real magic of the future is the people and the trusted community. “That’s why the NYC Roundtable was such a great evening; it was incredibly refreshing to skip the buzzwords and have some honest, real-talk conversations with the peer group. After all, why should ‘agents’ have all the fun?” Gupta says.

Cat Ihonvbere, JPMorganChase Executive Director & Head, Analytics Controls for Commerce Enablement, points out, “The NYC Roundtable Exchange was a powerful reminder that while our day-to-day operating models are proprietary, our leadership journeys don’t have to be isolated. When we step outside our corporate walls to connect as peers, we build a vital network of awareness around the macro-challenges facing our industry.

“Historically, breakthroughs happened when leaders gathered in true ‘knowledge quorums’ to revitalize their perspectives and challenge their own thinking. Cultivating that kind of professional community helps all of us navigate the broader landscape more effectively, without ever losing sight of our unique boundaries,” she explains.

“You don’t leave a dinner like this with a contract. You leave with relationships,” says Leo Rajapakse, Bimbo Bakeries USA Global Head, Platform Infrastructure, Digital, & Advanced Technologies. “And six months from now, when you’re facing a decision that has no obvious answer, you’ll pick up the phone and call someone you met at that table. That’s the return — and it doesn’t fit in a metrics dashboard. Rooms like this remind me why the best professional development isn’t a course — it’s a conversation with someone who’s already lived the experiences you’re about to make.”

According to Sung-Ho Ahn, DTCC MD, Deputy General Auditor, Clearing & Securities Svcs, Risk & Data, he was pleasantly surprised by the professional, educational and global diversity of the attendees. “It wasn’t just people with AI/ data in their titles but also plenty of professionals at all career stages caring deeply about the impact of AI/data on processes and people,” Ahn says.

Anusha Dandapani, United Nations International Computing Centre (UNICC) Chief, Data & AI says, “I would like to thank CDO Magazine for bringing together peers from across the industry. It was a valuable networking opportunity, and I learned a great deal from the discussions and shared experiences.”

Hardik Mehta, JPMorganChase Global Head, Risk & Regulatory Compliance, adds, “It was very engaging and the curation of questions invoked the importance of Data in the AI race.”

Gerri Caveness, CDO Magazine Community Director, highlights, “A big shoutout to the 50+ tech, data, analytics, and AI rockstars who joined us in New York! I knew we had a great guest list, they are all amazing!  What I didn’t expect was just how hard it would be to get people to leave. Even with the Knicks vs. the Spurs happening at MSG! The conversations were thoughtful, the connections were genuine, and the room was still buzzing long after dinner ended. That’s the magic of this community.”

Summing it up, Shanelle Gayle, Google Data Analytics Enterprise Account Executive Financial Services, Payments, says, “What truly resonated during the roundtable is that regardless of the industry, data leaders are universally focused on two goals: bringing consolidated analytics closer to the business, and leveraging conversational analytics to slice and diversify data without the burden of heavy static dashboards.”

Heather Kane, Google Enterprise Data & Analytics Sales Specialist – Financial Services & Insurance, adds, “I found it most interesting that the table I was moderating included several different industries facing similar challenges with Data & AI. Some of those gaps include data hallucinations, difficulty governing the creation of agents, and general data strategy deficiencies. This led to very authentic dynamic conversations with one another.”

Special thanks to BMC, Google Cloud, and Intercast for making this event a success.

Executives attending the CDO Magazine New York Roundtable Exchange included: 

Neha Agarwal, former DTCC Director, Data Services, Product Management; Sung-Ho Ahn, DTCC MD, Deputy General Auditor, Clearing & Securities Svcs, Risk & Data; Mariana Almeida, ING Americas Head, Non-Financial Risk Management Americas, MD; Alexander Aronov, Citi AI Compliance & Data Intelligence; Sashidar Arumugam, Steve Madden Director, Warehouse Management System; Hoda Atut, JPMorganChase Director, CIB IT Governance Risk & Execution; Pratik Badi, JPMorganChase Quant Analytics Manager; Pooja Batra, Bloomberg Head, Technical Product Management, Fixed Income Pricing; Sol Benjamin, JPMorgan Chase VP, Product Semantic Intelligence & Data Agent Platforms; Sangeeta Bharath, The Associated Press Head, AI, Intelligence & Growth Strategy; Carlos Calegari, JPMorgan Chase Managing Director & Head, Data, Operations; Tushar Chahal, Numisma Bank Chief Technology Officer; Ipshita Chakraboty, Hello Fresh Director, Data Science & Applied AI, Global Product Strategy & Ops; Sabrina Chen, AML RightSource North America Head, Financial Crimes Analytics; Xu Cheng, Ascot Group Group Head, Data Strategy & Insights; Lisa Cheng, JPMorganChase Product Manager, Payment; Frances Ciolek, Crunchbase Director, Worldwide Data; Anusha Dandapani, United Nations International Computing Centre (UNICC) Chief, Data & AI; Christopher DiGioia, PGIM Investments VP, Head, Product Data Governance; Aleksandr Drel, Moody’s Manager, Engineering; Jennifer Fleming, JPMorganChase Executive Director, Data Management Director; Dominick Gaglio, PGIM Head, Personalization; Stephanie Garland, State of Maryland Director, Data Literacy; Sean Gilbert, JPMorgan Chase Lead VP, Data Science; Varun Gupta, Director, Data & Analytics at an Ivy League University; Cat Ihonvbere, JPMorganChase Executive Director & Head, Analytics Controls for Commerce Enablement; Rajendar Koltur, PGIM Investments Head, Product & Architecture, Technology; Alma Kondili, UNJSPF Data & AI Governance; Lily Li, Franklin Templeton Head, AI Adoption & Solutions; Richard Martin, PepsiCo Sr. Director, Strategy & Transformation, Data, Analytics & AI; Srini Masanam, Citi Global Head, Surveillance Data Quality; Hardik Mehta, JPMorganChase Global Head, Risk & Regulatory Compliance; Anthony Montufar, Equitable Head, Digital & Client Experience; Arup Nanda, AIG SVP & Global Head, Data; Lena Ngo, Hunter College Data Scientist, People Inc; Dr. Fadia Nordtveit, New York University Professor, Founder, Author, Consultant, Producer; Nicolas Paleokrassas, Webster Bank Sr. Managing Director; Alessandro Petroni, The Clearing House Head, Quality Engineering, Fraud Payment Service; Ciprian Porutiu, Marsh McLennan SVP, Strategic Initiatives, Change Management, Business Transformation; Leo Rajapakse, Bimbo Bakeries USA Global Head, Platform Infrastructure, Digital, & Advanced Technologies; Robert Rappa, Cerberus Capital Management Head, Analytic Solutions; Kerri Rauschenbach, General Atlantic VP; Andrew Reiskind, Mastercard Chief Data Officer; Lia Rogers, MSCI Head, Client Insights & Analytics; Alexander Rosenzweig, American Express Director, Data Risk Management & Privacy; Craig Rowe, Barclays Investment Bank Director, Securitized Products Technology; Toacca Rutherford, JPMorganChase Managing Director; Laure Salomon, CVS Health VP, Consumer Analytics, Data Science; Namratha Shah, AWS Hero & Distinguished Thought Leader; Varun Sood, American Express Director, Product; David Tobias, BMC Software Global Account Manager; Loucas Tsiartas, Broadridge Financial Solutions VP, Sustainability Data, Strategy & PMO; Cord Schuck, BMC Software Product Account Manager;Alissa Verhaaren, JPMorganChase Executive Director, Head, Product Strategy & Execution for CCB Data, Analytics & AI Product; Shanelle Gayle, Google Data Analytics Enterprise Account Executive, Financial Services, Payments; Heather Kane, Google Enterprise Data & Analytics Sales Specialist, Financial Services & Insurance; David Machlis, Intercast Account Manager; Eric Pronio, Intercast Account Manager; Cord Schuck, BMC Software Product Account Manager; & David Tobias, BMC Software Global Account Manager; Gerri Caveness, CDO Magazine Community Director; Bianca Frederick, CDO Magazine Events Specialist; Anthony Losanno, CDO Magazine Managing Director.