With the race to incorporate AI, and now gen AI, into their business technology toolboxes, data leaders find themselves faced with new opportunities—and challenges. Some CDOs have embraced the added responsibility with new letters in their acronyms, becoming CDAIOs. With or without a new title, most have been tasked with driving AI innovation within their organizations while mitigating risks to reputation and revenues. Walking that tightrope is a tall order. Yet those on the vanguard of responsible AI adoption are creating competitive advantage, differentiation, and business value.
The effort and impact of these data leaders shouldn’t go unnoticed or unappreciated, and so Snowflake is thrilled to announce our “AI-Focused Data Leaders to Watch.” To help spotlight the expanding role of the Chief Data Officer and others with similar responsibilities, Snowflake has identified 50 individuals who we believe exemplify the qualities necessary to advance the data, analytics and AI agenda responsibly.
While it’s not a comprehensive list of CDOs that Snowflake believes are driving change within their organizations, we want to highlight a few who embody the qualities we consider critical to success. These leaders are progressive thinkers, have demonstrated the agility required to adapt to the fast-moving innovation around data and AI, and they are building robust, secure and scalable data foundations to drive innovation, foster collaboration, and prepare their organizations for the future.
The following individuals recognize how essential a solid data foundation is to keep pace with the accelerating AI innovation.
Here are 50 Data Leaders to watch in 2024:
Amin Venjara, CDO, ADP
Andrew Bonnici, Vice President – Product, Platforms, and Data, IGT PlayDigital
Andrew Curry, CDO, ExxonMobil
Aravind Jagannathan, VP and CDO, Freddie Mac
Arno Huhn, Managing Director Data and AI, Schwarz Group
Ashok Chennuru, Global Chief Data & Insights Officer, Elevance Health
Benoit Reid, Director of Data and Analytics, Altitude Sports
Beth Quinton, VP of Data, Air Canada
Bijoy Sagar, EVP and Chief Information Technology and Digital Transformation Officer, Bayer
Bradley Blyth, CIO, Kmart Australia Limited
Caitlin Halferty, Global CDO, Ericsson
Christopher Cook, CIO, Priority Health, division of Corewell Health
Christian Meyer, Head of Cloud Operations and Chief Technology Architect, Siemens
Danielle Schmelkin, CIO, J.Crew Group
David Bath,CIO, Eutelsat Group
David Dadoun, Head of Data and Analytics, Bombardier Recreational Products (BRP)
David Haney, VP of Data and AI, Cambia Health Solutions
Di Mayze, Global Head of Data and AI, WPP
Diana Hoskins Schildhouse, EVP, Chief Analytics and Insights Officer, Colgate-Palmolive
Diwakar Goel, Global Head of Aladdin Data, BlackRock
Grant Ries, SVP of Data and AI, T-Mobile
Guy Johnson, Global CDO, Belron
Jeff McMillan, Chief Analytics and Data Officer, Morgan Stanley
Jorge Balestra, Global Head Machine Learning Operations (MLOps) and Platforms, Kraft Heinz
Kenichi Sato, Director of Data Science and Engineering, Intage
Kim Macaulay, Chief Information & Data Officer, International Air Transport Association (IATA)
Lidia Fonseca, EVP, Chief Digital and Technology Officer, Pfizer
Malcolm Wanstall, VP Data, Cochlear
Mani Upadhyaya, VP of Data and Analytics, 3M
Martin Aylward, Head of Data and CRM, EDF UK
Micheline Casey, SVP and Chief Data & Analytics Officer, Siemens Energy
Mihir Shah, CIO & Enterprise Head of Data Architecture and Engineering, Fidelity Investment
Mike O’Reilly, Head of Global Data & Analytics, Ralph Lauren
Neema Raphael, Partner, Head of Data Engineering & Chief Data Officer, Goldman Sachs
Ogi Redzic, CDO and Head of Cat Digital, Caterpillar
Pawan Divakarla, IT Business Leader, Data, Architecture & Technology Enablement, Progressive Insurance
Perry Philipp, CDO, Entain
Pete Williams, Director of Data, Penguin Random House, UK
Pooyan Asgari, CDO, Domain
Rakesh Srinivasan, Chief Data and Analytics Officer and Head of Consumer Technology, Petco
Rene Grenier, Data & Digital Lead, Cargill Ocean Transport
Rob Smedley, VP of Data Technology, Disney Parks, Experiences and Products
Sheila Jordan, Chief Digital Technology Officer, Honeywell
Teresa Heitsenrether, Chief Data and Analytics Officer, JPMorgan Chase & Co.
Todd James, Chief Data & Technology Officer, 84.51˚
Varouj Chitilian, CTO, Instacart
Vijay Kotu, SVP of Analytics, ServiceNow
Vikrant Bhan, Group Head Analytics, Data, and Integration, Nestlé
Xinyu Huang, VP of Data, FreeWheel
Zachery Anderson, Chief Data & Analytics Officer & Head of Personalisation, Natwest Group
For more on both the potential and the risk of advanced AI, plus trends in cybersecurity and more, check out Snowflake Data + AI Predictions 2024.