Short bio:

David Mathison is the world’s leading authority on Chief AI Officers (CAIOs), Chief Data & Analytics Officers (CDAOs), and Chief Digital Officers (CDOs). He’s been quoted by CNBC, Financial Times, Forbes, McKinsey, MIT Sloan, WSJ & more.

He is the founder/CEO of InnovationExchange.ai, parent of the CAIO Summit, CDO/CDAO Summits, and the CDO Club — the world’s first/largest network of CAIOs, CDAOs & CDOs. A $1B+ influence engine, the CDO Club connects 100K+ global AI/Data/Digital leaders who control billions in hiring, investment & strategic spend.

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Extended bio:

David Mathison is the world’s leading authority on Chief AI Officers (CAIOs), Chief Data and Analytics Officers (CDAOs), and Chief Digital Officers (CDOs), having been quoted by CNBC, Financial Times, Forbes, MIT Sloan Management Review, McKinsey, WSJ, and more.

He is the CEO and founder of InnovationExchange.ai, the holding company behind the Chief AI Officer Summit, the CDO/CDAO Summits, and the CDO Club, the world’s first and largest network of CAIOs, CDOs, and CDAOs.

A $1B+ influence engine, the CDO Club offers trusted access to 100,000 global C-suite AI/Data/Digital leaders who control billions in hiring, investment, and strategic spend.

Over the last decade, Mathison has consistently anticipated and defined the most important executive roles and market shifts in enterprise AI, data, and digital transformation.

Pioneering Firsts in AI, Data, and Digital Leadership:

• 2025: Launched the world’s first Talent-as-a-Service (TaaS) platform for fractional/on-demand Chief AI Officers and CDAOs.
• 2024: Created the world’s first executive search practice dedicated to CAIO and GenAI talent.
• 2023: Produced the world’s first-ever Chief AI Officer Summit.
• 2020: Produced a Chief AI Officer/CDAO webinar series for IBM’s Global Chief Data Officer office and AI Client Accelerator team — years before CAIOs went mainstream.
• 2019: First to identify and track the emerging Chief AI Officer title — when only ~200 existed worldwide — building on a decade of pioneering work defining the CDO role.
• 2014: Published the world’s first-ever Chief Digital Officer Talent Map.
• 2013: Delivered the world’s first-ever Chief Digital Officer (CDO) Summit.
• 2012: Founded the CDO Club, providing trusted access to 100,000+ C-suite AI/Data/Digital leaders across the Fortune 500, venture-backed startups, VC and PE firms, government, military, and the national security and intelligence communities.
• 2011–2013: MD, Digital Media at Chadick Ellig, named by Bloomberg BusinessWeek one of “The World’s Most Influential Headhunters,” where he incubated the CDO Club.
• 2008: Published Be The Media, and was featured by the AP in the NY Times after he pre-sold over 5,000 copies in 11 days via his web site, Twitter, and Facebook. The book was a prescient call to the passion economy that helped creators connect directly with their audiences.
• 2000: Mathison was a seed investor in Revere Data, which was acquired by Factset Research for $15 million in 2000.
• 1999–2002: Founder/CEO of Kinecta, raised $30M from Adobe, Canaan, Fidelity & Reuters. Exceeded $1M+ revenue in year one; acquired via Stellent → Oracle ($440M).
• 1994–1999: VP at Reuters; pioneered online content syndication, years before RSS existed.
• 1989-1993: Mathison was the 7th person hired at Ovid, which provided natural language interfaces to medical databases such as MEDLINE. Ovid went public and in 1998 was acquired by Wolters Kluwer for $200 million.

Since 2012, Mathison has bootstrapped three verticals — executive search, events, and community — to independent 7-figure ARR with zero CAC, validating their “minicorn” status. He previously built multiple 7-figure products and businesses at Reuters and Kinecta within one year.

Mathison has executed multi-million-dollar GTM and leadership campaigns for the world’s most demanding clients: Accenture, Bain Capital, IBM, Insight Partners, McKinsey, Microsoft, and more.

Trusted by U.S. Government, Federal Agencies, Military, Intelligence, and Security communities, including C-level speakers from the Army, Air Force, CIA, CFPB, Coast Guard, DHS, DNI, DoD, DoT, HUD, NASA, National Guard, Navy, OPM, SEC, Treasury, and the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, and The White House.

He has led executive AI and digital strategy programs at Columbia, Oxford, Northeastern, UTS, and hosted summits on five continents.

He has delivered keynotes on five continents — from Columbia University and the United Nations (three times in 2010) to cities spanning Austin to Zagreb — a literal A-to-Z of global digital leadership.

Recognized as the leading authority on Chief AI, Analytics, Data, and Digital Officers, Mathison has been quoted by American Banker, Axios, CIO.com, CIO Journal, CIO-UK, CMS Wire, CNBC, Computer Weekly, Computerworld, Deloitte, Diginomica, Dow Jones MarketWatch, EdTech Magazine, eMarketer, FedTech Magazine, FierceCIO, Financial Times, Forbes, GovCIO, Guardian, Huffington Post, HR Executive, I-CIO, LinkedIn News, McKinsey & Company, Media Post, MIT Sloan Management Review, VentureBeat, Wall Street Journal, and ZDNet, among others.

Mathison received his master’s degree from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs in 1995.

Board of Directors
• Pace University Lubin School of Business (2020–2021)
• HomeAid America (2010–2013)
• Webhood.org, Cambridge, MA (2002–2011)
• Media Freedom Foundation (2008–2011)
• Mountain Play Association, Mill Valley, CA (2008)

Board of Conveners
 • Marin Community Media Center, San Rafael, CA (2007)