The CDO Club held its 2nd annual U.K. CDO Summit, presented by Accenture Strategy, on Wednesday, October 7th, 2015 at 30 Euston Square, London.
The CDO Summit addressed the challenges and opportunities arising from big data, the cloud, digital disruption, and social and mobile media, with an emphasis on the ascendant role of the Chief Digital and Chief Data Officer.
According to new data from the CDO Club, the number of Chief Digital Officers (CDOs) is on track to double again in 2015, to 2,000 CDOs globally, with hundreds of those based in the U.K.
The data was presented during CDO Club founder and CEO David Mathison’s keynote presentation, “Hall of Fame: CDOs Who Have Become CEO and Board Directors.”
Mathison revealed that to date, in 2015 alone, 10 Chief Digital Officers have become CEO/President, while four have become Non-Executive Board Directors.
Incredibly, that’s already double as many as in all of 2014, when five CDOs became CEO and two became Board Directors/NED.
The CDO Club is the sole organization tracking the CDO to CEO and Director/NED career trajectory. (See here and here.)
CDO Club Names Guardian News and Media’s Tanya Cordrey U.K. Chief Digital Officer of the Year 2015
During Mathison’s presentation, the CDO Club named Tanya Cordrey, Guardian News and Media’s Chief Digital Officer, U.K. Chief Digital Officer of the Year 2015.
Under her leadership, the Guardian has developed an unparalleled run of award-winning, innovative digital products and grown its global audience to 84 million unique browsers per month. In August 2013, she led the Guardian’s successful global domain change, unifying all its digital assets at http://www.theguardian.com — one of the world’s largest-ever domain changes.
“Tanya’s willingness to assist her peers and colleagues is exemplary. She is a role model every CDO should follow, and we’re proud to select her as U.K. CDO of the Year 2015,” Mathison said.
The first-ever U.K. CDO of the Year was awarded to Mike Bracken, the former Executive Director of Government Digital Services, in October 2014 during the inaugural U.K. CDO Summit
The featured speaker at this year’s summit was Sir Clive Woodward OBE, the head coach who led England’s rugby team in their 2003 World Cup victory in Australia.
Sir Clive Woodward OBE, Featured Speaker at the 2015 U.K. CDO Summit
In his keynote “The DNA of a Champion – Talent Alone is Not Enough,” Woodward revealed four criteria which he believes characterize a champion individual or team in both business and sport. He also explained how he integrated digital technologies and data collection during his time as Head Coach of England’s rugby team.
At the time such initiatives were mostly unheard of, and certain players even detested being forced to bring a laptop to training. But the results speak for themselves: during his tenure as Head Coach from 1997-2004, England moved from 6th in the world to being the number one ranked team.
Joris Merks-Benjaminsen, Head of Digital Transformation at Google, also caused a stir with his keynote “Online Brand Identity: Getting And Keeping Your Brand Future Ready.” Copies of his book Online Brand Identity quickly disappeared during a signing held at the event.
Accenture Strategy was Presenting Sponsor of the U.K. CDO Summit.
Online engagement in the CDO Summit was spurred by a tech-savvy audience and an expansive social media operation, which reported on the event live on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.
For the second year in a row, the summit trended on twitter in the London, U.K. area. The audience was especially motivated and energized to participate online after Thomas Power’s presentation “Social Media Tips for Busy CDOs.”
Engagement was then tracked, analyzed, and presented on a social monitoring platform provided by MutualMind and powered by IBM Watson. Participants competed for their place on a live leaderboard displaying the analysis of Watson’s “adaptive listening” technology.
In addition to Accenture Strategy, the U.K. CDO Summit was sponsored by ForgeRock and Odgers Berndtson. Many thanks to them.
Mike Ellis, CEO of ForgeRock gives keynote at the 2015 U.K. CDO Summit
The CDO Club also partnered with ForgeRock to help present the ForgeRock Identity Summit the next day, Thursday October 8th, 2015. Attendees learned how identity is the key to creating the secure, personalized digital experiences that customers and citizens expect.
Notable speakers included Forrester’s Frank Gillett and digital identity thought leader David Birch. CDO Club founder and CEO David Mathison also spoke on a panel discussion on digital transformation.
ForgeRock CEO Mike Ellis keynoted at both events.
To read or view insights from the summit, simply join the CDO Club. CDO Club members can watch and read about panels and keynotes not only from this event, but from every single CDO Summit since its inception.
The next CDO Summit will be held on November 4th, 2015, in Amsterdam at the Conservatorium Hotel. Attendees will receive two free passes for the next ForgeRock Identity Summit the next day.
Joris Merks-Benjaminsen and Sean Cornwell, Chief Digital Officer at Travelex, will both return to present keynotes at the Amsterdam event.
Missed the London summit? Register for CDO Summit Amsterdam now and gain access to Europe’s top digital and data practitioners and strategists.
Join us at the next CDO Summit on November 4th, 2015, in Amsterdam at the Conservatorium Hotel
If you are tasked with understanding what digital leaders must do in order to succeed in almost any industry, the best place to learn more is at the CDO Summit.
Register today for the Sydney CDO Summit on 01 March, 2016, presented by Accenture Digital.
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The CDO Summit is the “must-attend” digital event of the year. The 2013, 2014 and 2015 CDO Summits received stellar endorsements from dozens of speakers and attendees alike:
“Thank you for an intense and inspiring U.K. CDO Summit. The content and networking were well worth the trip and investment.”
"The NYC CDO Summit was an awesome day - content - speakers - learnings. Everything."
“The opportunity to keynote at the inaugural U.K. CDO Summit in London was once in a lifetime experience. As the world’s youngest CDO, I learned valuable lessons from other digital leaders and gained a greater sense of confidence and energy leaving the event.
"Great experience at the CDO Summit in NYC. Hats off to David Mathison (@BeTheMedia) and the organizers for getting so many incredible digital leaders in one room, year after year."
