On Tuesday, December 6, 2022, the CDO/CTO Summit sponsored by IBM was held in the Plaza Ballroom at the Seaport Boston Hotel in Boston, Massachussetts.

The CDO/CTO Summit was kicked off by Liliana Horne, PhD, Director of AI Accelerator, Global Chief Data Office at IBM, who welcomed the delegates and discussed the results of the MIT-IBM AI Lab Study: Economic Attractiveness of AI.

Liliana Horne, PhD, Director of AI Accelerator, Global Chief Data Office, IBM

The first set of opening keynote discussions was delivered by Jesus Mantas, Global Managing Partner, Consulting, IBM, and Inderpal Bhandari, PhD, Global Chief Data Officer at IBM on “Data, AI, & Automation: How they are used together to transform the enterprise.”

Inderpal Bhandari, PhD, Global Chief Data Officer, IBM & Jesus Mantas, Global Managing Partner, Consulting, IBM

The second set of opening keynote discussions entitled “Quantum Safe: Addressing data encryption in a post-quantum world” was delivered by Inderpal Bhandari and Ray Harishankar, PhD, IBM Fellow, Quantum Safe, IBM.

Inderpal Bhandari, PhD, Global Chief Data Officer, IBM & Ray Harishankar, PhD, IBM Fellow, Quantum Safe, IBM

The first panel of the day explored “Data Literacy: First there was computer literacy, now it’s data literacy” and was moderated by Tim Davis, Executive Director, Data and AI Architecture, IBM.

The panelists explored how data literacy is the next evolution of computer literacy, and the four foundations of a data literate organization that facilitate adoption of your data strategy.

Panelists included:

• Diane Schmidt, Head, Enterprise Data Governance, London Stock Exchange Group
• Krishna Cheriath, VP, Head of Digital, Data, Analytics, Zoetis
• Lalit Thakur, SVP & Chief Data Officer, American Tire Distributors
• Paul Evangelista, Chief Data Officer, United States Military Academy at West Point

Data Literacy Panel

Following that, Inderpal Bhandari was joined by Suzanne Livingston, Sustainability Software, Vice President Development and Support, IBM, and Nicole Jackson, ESG Data Office Leader, Global Chief Data Office, IBM, to discuss “Data and technology challenges that companies are going to encounter when implementing ESG.”

Inderpal Bhandari, PhD, Suzanne Livingston, and Nicole Jackson

Delegates then took a break for lunch and networking.

Following lunch, the panelists for “Data Fabric and Data Mesh: A modern data architecture isn’t either a data fabric or a data mesh, it covers both” took to the stage.

Panelists spoke about the value that can be delivered with the right architectural approach, why they believe data fabric is the foundation for a data-driven organization, and how data mesh fits into the conversation.

Panelists included:

• Tim Davis, Executive Director, Data and AI Architecture, IBM  (Moderator)
• Anthony Scriffignano, SVP, Chief Data Scientist, Dun & Bradstreet
• Barbara Forth, Chief Data Officer, William & Mary
• Krishna Cheriath, VP, Head of Digital, Data and Analytics, Zoetis
• Phanii Pydimarri, Head of Commercial Products, AI & Advanced Analytics, Stanley Black & Decker, Inc. (former)

Data Fabric and Data Mesh Panel

Next up was the panel on “Data Governance, Privacy, Trustworthy AI: How data and AI governance streamlines regulatory compliance and data protection—and paves the way for innovation,” moderated by Betsy Greytok, Vice President, Ethics & Policy at IBM.

Panelists did a deep dive into the business value data governance delivers as it expands to address privacy, security, and many aspects of AI—from regulatory compliance to workflow innovations.

Panelists included:

• Anjali Gupta Reddi, Chief Data Officer, Dow Jones
• Anthony Scriffignano, SVP, Chief Data Scientist, Dun & Bradstreet
• David Barnes, Senior Responsible AI Advisor, US Army Artificial Intelligence Integration Center (Current); BG US Army (Ret.)
• Jerry Gupta, Senior Vice President, P&C R&D, Swiss Re

Data Governance, Privacy, Trustworthy AI Panel

After a mid-afternoon break, delegates returned to the main conference room for the Emerging Technology and Trends series.

First Inderpal Bhandari, PhD, Global Chief Data Officer at IBM and Independent Director for Walgreens Boots Alliance; Jesus Mantas, Global Managing Partner, Consulting, IBM, and Independent Director for Biogen; and David Mathison, CEO, CDO Club took on “The Role of the CDO/CTO in Public Company Boards.”

David Mathison, Inderpal Bhandari, Jesus Mantas

The final panel of the day, titled “Building the CDO Organization: Build and run a data office that delivers cross-organizational business value,” covered what it takes to create a CDO office that sets your organization up for success—and the KPIs to prove it.

Panelists included:

• Timothy Humphrey, Vice President, Global Chief Data Office, IBM (Moderator)
• Linda Powell, Enterprise Deputy Chief Data Officer, BNY Mellon
• Haile Owusu, SVP Data Science and Machine Learning Engineering, Warner Bros. Discovery
• Eileen Vidrine, Senior Strategic Advisor for Data to the Federal CIO, Office of Management and Budget
• Satyam Priyadarshy, Chief Data Scientist, Managing Director – IC and Technology Fellow, Halliburton

Building the CDO Organization

The event was wrapped up by  Liliana Horne, PhD before everyone headed towards the networking reception.

Liliana Horne, PhD

Thank you to everyone for making this event a success, including all delegates, speakers, the organizing teams, and especially our sponsor IBM!

Liliana Horne, PhD, and Inderpal Bhandari, PhD