As organizations accelerate toward AI-driven transformation, one truth remains constant: without high-quality, governed, and trusted data, even the most advanced technologies can fail. For global enterprises, this means building both the right data architecture and the right organizational culture to enable responsible AI adoption at scale.

To explore how leading companies are addressing these challenges, Amy Horowitz, Group Vice President at Informatica, sat down with Carla Eid, SVP, Data & AI Architecture & Governance at PepsiCo, and Jennifer Mezzio, Global Data Officer at First Citizens Bank. In this first part of a two-part interview, they reflect on their career journeys, evolving perspectives on data leadership, and the barriers organizations must overcome to scale AI responsibly.

Career pathways

Both leaders bring decades of experience in technology and data, but their career trajectories highlight different routes to leadership. Eid describes her nearly 30-year career at PepsiCo, where she transitioned from IT delivery roles into global data leadership.

“My journey began in IT, where I led solution delivery for go-to-market, SAP data, and BI systems. That hands-on experience gave me deep business process knowledge and firsthand insights into how high-quality data and governance are fundamental enablers for successful solutions.”

That foundation, Eid explains, evolved into a global focus on data and AI strategy. “Today, I focus on defining strategy, driving governed, high-quality data, responsible AI, and scalable data and AI architecture that enable innovation and transformation across the enterprise.”

For Mezzio, the path to becoming a Global Data Officer was equally shaped by a long view of technology’s evolution. “I started about 25 years ago as a business systems analyst in companies such as Travelers and The Hartford, and evolved into the Data Officer role at Silicon Valley Bank and now First Citizens Bank. It’s been exciting to see data evolve from COBOL screens and Cognos dashboards to today’s AI-driven world.”

Both leaders credit early experiences with shaping how they approach data strategy today.

For Mezzio, hands-on projects taught her to appreciate the complexity behind what might look simple. “One project at MetLife stands out, where I had to hand-calculate a long-term care policy and all the algorithms behind it before writing specifications. Doing something like that gives you an appreciation for complexity that data leaders often make look simpler than it is.”

Eid echoes the importance of early lessons. “We could have the best technology, but if the data feeding it were bad, the solution would fail. That experience cemented my belief that you must prioritize a strong data foundation and governance before you can truly innovate with technology.”

From tactical to strategic: How perspectives evolve

Over time, both leaders have seen data shift from being a tactical enabler to a strategic driver of transformation.

Eid notes how her view expanded as she moved into enterprise architecture roles. “Early on, I saw data as something you needed to make a system or report work. But I realized data is the key to unlock enterprise-wide transformation. It’s about building scalable, cohesive architecture that enables innovation across the business.”

Mezzio too underscores the importance of foundations in the age of AI. “When we look at something like AI, without a solid foundation, it becomes an unknown. My career has given me the appreciation that governance, scalability, and cleanliness are essential to make AI systems work effectively.”

When asked about barriers to advancing AI strategies, both leaders point to the fundamentals of data quality and organizational readiness.

Eid explains PepsiCo’s focus on building AI-ready data. “This isn’t just about having data. It’s about ensuring it’s high-quality, well-connected, and enriched with metadata. Without that, AI models can produce unreliable answers or hallucinate. We’re building a semantic knowledge layer to turn enterprise data into AI-ready knowledge, which significantly improves reliability.”

However, she adds that technology alone isn’t the challenge. “The effort needed to drive the right culture is often underestimated. We spend a lot of time educating stakeholders so they can see how responsible AI applies to them. This change doesn’t happen overnight.”

For Mezzio, the surprise has been how often companies underestimate data cleanup. “The challenge that surprises me the most is the lack of focus on cleaning data. For us, it’s second nature, but when we ask individuals across the business to engage with their data, it’s not always understood how critical that is to building AI models on governed, clean foundations.”

She also highlights change management as a recurring barrier. “Meeting people where they are is key. Few companies are knocking it out of the park with AI right now, and that tells me we still have foundational challenges to address.”

Building readiness for the future

Both Eid and Mezzio emphasize the need for embedding data quality and literacy across the organization.

Eid describes PepsiCo’s dual focus: “We assess data quality early in the project lifecycle to remediate at the source and drive sustainable process changes. At the same time, we’re building AI literacy across all levels of the organization to foster shared language and confidence in applying AI.”

Mezzio also highlights the importance of starting at the source. “Data quality has to start at the source. We must address issues where they begin to avoid broken lineage across the organization. Garbage in, garbage out. Equally important is data literacy, ensuring our enterprise understands what data is and why quality matters, so reporting, analytics, and AI run on clean, governed data.”

Looking ahead

The conversation makes clear that while AI may dominate headlines, trusted data remains the foundation. Leaders like Eid and Mezzio show that governance, culture, and literacy are just as critical as technology in driving transformation. This concludes the first installment of the two-part series. Stay tuned for Part Two.

CDO Magazine appreciates Carla Eid and Jennifer Mezzio for sharing their insights with our global community.