(US and Canada) Gahl Berkooz, Global Chief Data Officer and President, Americas of Cognata, speaks with Mario Faria, VP, Research Board, Chief Data & Analytics, Gartner, about his experience of working with auto majors and his interest in startups. 

Berkooz has been in the data science and analytics space since before the term data science existed. He worked with major auto manufacturers like Ford Motor Company and General Motors before joining the vehicle simulation startup Cognata. 

He started a technology company in the area of simulation right after graduation. Next, he jumped into the thick of things joining Ford. Berkooz says that the highlight of working at Ford was creating a single vehicle systems and parts taxonomy for Ford Global as part of the organization’s globalization strategy.

While at General Motors, he focused on business problems around customer incentives and created the first big data set for customer 360 driving and customer data-driven incentives with ROI using advanced analytics.

At ZF Group, he worked on developing a data venture accelerator to bring new data-driven products to market and advance the enterprise with the appropriate business models. 

Berkooz mentions that he has always been involved in consulting with startups in the areas of building materials and FinTech. Now with Cognata, he believes it is on the cusp of a revolution in data for automated driving with the automated driver assist systems (ADAS) and autonomous driving.

Concluding, Berkooz says that he has always had a foot in both the major corporate and startup camps, and stresses that this approach is important for leaders who want to get new products based on data and AI to market faster.