On Wednesday, March 28, 2018, the 3rd UK CDO Summit was held in the Tudor Room at the Sheraton Park Lane hotel in London, England.

Delegates networking at the 2018 UK CDO Summit

The event was sponsored by Microsoft UK Services, Collibra, and Sansan.

Videos of all keynotes and panels from every CDO Summit to date – including London – are available for CDO Club GOLD and PLATINUM members.

CDO Club membership benefits are here

The London summit was kicked off by David Mathison, Founder and CEO of the CDO Club and CDO Summit, who explored “100 CDOs Who Have Become CEO and/or President.” This number doubled from one year ago, when there were just 50 CDOs who became CEO.

The CDO Club is the only organization tracking this career path, and to date has identified over 100 CDO’s who have become CEO.

Considering that the CDO title is just over ten years old, and there are only a few thousand CDO’s globally, this is a startling statistic which speaks volumes about the importance of digital leadership in corporations and organizations today.

Susie Cummings: Founder and Chief Executive of Nurole

Mathison was followed by Susie Cummings, Founder and Chief Executive of Nurole, who covered “How to Become a Board Director/Non-Executive Director.”

Nurole is an exclusive, invitation-only online platform and marketplace that connects qualified candidates with open Board and Non-Executive Director positions. The platform’s 10,000+ members include Fortune 500, NASDAQ, FTSE and PE/VC Chairmen, CEOs, CFOs, CTOs, CDOs, Board Members, and other C-Suite executives.

Susie was followed by Simon Birkenhead, Managing Director, Europe at L2 Inc., who keynoted on “Digital’s Winners and Losers in Retail.” Simon shared insights from its recent Digital IQ Index report, which benchmarks the digital performance of 72 large format retailers in Europe, including all major supermarkets. Each retailer’s performance was assessed across L2’s four dimensions of digital: site and e-commerce, digital marketing, social media and mobile.

Simon’s retail data dovetailed nicely into the data sessions that dominated the rest of the morning’s agenda.

Peter Jackson: Chief Data Officer at Southern Water

The first data session was led by Peter Jackson, Chief Data Officer at Southern Water, keynoting on his new book, The Chief Data Officer’s Playbook. The book and his presentation offered key insights for Chief Data Officers looking to understand their position better, for aspiring CDOs and data officers looking at career progression, for those recruiting CDOs, and offers essential knowledge for anyone else operating in the current data environment.

After a brief morning break with plenty of networking and business cards being passed around, delegates enjoyed an informed keynote from Jacqueline Harrison of NFU Mutual on “Starting Data Conversations,” who shared recent experiences in developing approaches to address the ‘people’ and ‘metadata’ aspects of building a corporate data management capability.

Data leaders often discuss data management frameworks, the disciplines involved, and the roles and processes required. But they don’t often discuss how to take people on the journey with us, and the information necessary to support people in their “data conversations.” Jacqueline’s session explained why “data conversations” are important, what hinders those conversations, how to create an approach to grow people’s confidences and capabilities, and an approach to building an information base to support data conversations.

Jacqueline then joined the first panel of the day, on Leveraging Data for Competitive Advantage, along with the following panelists:

• David Mathison (moderator): Founder/CEO at CDO Club
• Amit Kama: CEO of Kamedia Digital
• Jacqueline Harrison: Information Architect at NFU Mutual
• Matthew Fryer: VP, Chief Data Science Officer at Hotels .com
• Patrick Hoffstetter: Founder eG10(FranceCDOclub), Jahia board member and CEO Newmedia360
• Roberto Maranca: Chief Data Officer at Lloyds Banking Group

Moderator David Mathison with panelists from left to right: Roberto Maranca, Patrick Hoffstetter, Matthew Fryer, Jacqueline Harrison, and Amit Kama

The panelists explored the challenges and opportunities organizations face when leveraging their data for competitive advantage. It was a wide ranging discussion that explored everything from Facebook’s data challenges with Cambridge Analytica, to AI systems such as IBM’s Watson potentially putting Chief Data and Chief Analytics Officers out of business.

Along with some great quotes from Lloyd’s Chief Data Officer Roberto Maranca, this panel is “must see TV” in the CDO Club video archive!

The delegates then took a lunch break, with lots more networking.

Delegates networking at the 2018 UK CDO Summit

The program included two “Lunch and Learn” keynote sessions, the first on “Continuing Education and Training for Digital and Data Leaders,” by Alex Clyne, co-founder of Jump Digital Ltd.

Alex discussed and explored the CDO Club’s partnerships with the University of Aberdeen, Jump Digital, and other academic institutions and organizations to assist Chief Digital and Data Officers in helping them get the tools they need to get their jobs done.

Rich Kramer: Managing Director at Arete Research

The final luncheon keynote, and based on an informal poll, the most well-received presentation, was by Rich Kramer, Managing Director at Arete Research, on the controversial topic, “Are Digital Advertising Markets Rigged?”

Mr. Kramer’s point is that a few Internet players have managed to control both the supply and demand side of the digital ad market in a way that would be unimaginable in financial markets. That Facebook and Google have absorbed nearly all the incremental spending on digital ads is conventional wisdom; but why, and how?

Kramer left the stage on a hopeful note. Several developments – blockchain-based solutions, new entrants into digital ad space like Amazon, and greater regulatory scrutiny – offer the chance for publishers and brands to get more diversity and competition among those competing for their audience and ad budgets.

The next session was on “CDO Survey Results,” a joint research effort by the University of Oxford’s Saïd Business School, General Assembly, and the CDO Club.

The keynote was jointly presented by Andrew Stephen, L’Oréal Professor of Marketing & Associate Dean of Research at Saïd Business School, University of Oxford, and Anand Chopra-McGowan, Global Head of Consumer Practice at General Assembly.

This session and the results of the survey are another “must-see” video for CDO Club members in the CDO Club video archive.

Tamer Ozmen: Managing Director of Microsoft Digital and Enterprise Services at Microsoft UK Services

The afternoon keynote, on “Creating a Culture of Digital Transformation,” was delivered by Tamer Ozmen, Managing Director of Microsoft Digital and Enterprise Services at Microsoft UK Services.

Mr. Ozmen discussed how his organisation helps businesses digitally transform through data insights, machine learning, and artificial intelligence. Tamer shared examples on how businesses are adapting to survive and thrive despite today’s constant digital disruption, and how people and culture must be at the centre of such change to ensure a sustainable and successful transformation.

Tamer’s session segued nicely into the final panel of the day, on “Digital Transformation: Best Practices Across Sectors,” which explored best practices for successful digital transformation across sectors. Panelists identified similarities and differences in dealing with the challenges and opportunities posed by digital disruption.

Panelists included:

• David Mathison (moderator): Founder/CEO at CDO Club
• Bonnie Cheuk: Director, Global Head of Digital, Knowledge & Collaboration at Euroclear
• Chris Hulse: Chief Digital Officer at BlueLine Rental
• Christian Pezzin: Chief Digital Officer at Sapio Group
• Tanya Cordrey: Founder of GRANARY SQUARE
• Múirne Laffan: Non Executive Board Member of Digital Repository of Ireland

Digital Transformation panelists Múirne Laffan, Tanya Cordrey, Christian Pezzin, Chris Hulse, and Bonnie Cheuk

After the mid-afternoon break, the penultimate keynote was delivered by Lauren Sager Weinstein, the Chief Data Officer at Transport for London (TfL), on “Delivering Better Transport with Big Data.”

Lauren delivered an inspired session on how the purpose at TfL is to keep London working and growing and make life better. Millions of public transport and road journeys are made every day offering vast quantities of information. Lauren explained how they transform this data into analytic tools to provide services to TfL customers, and to run and plan their extensive network.

At the end of her keynote, CDO Club founder David Mathison presented Lauren with the first-ever U.K. Chief Data Officer of the Year 2017 award.  Chief Data Officer of the Year award winners from other regions can be found here.

The final keynote of the day was delivered by Sarah Wilkinson, CEO of NHS Digital, on “Digitising the National Health Service.” At the conclusion of Sarah’s keynote, Ms. Wilkinson was presented with the U.K. Chief Digital Officer of the Year 2017 award.

UK Chief Digital Officer of the Year 2017 Sarah Wilkinson, David Mathison, and UK Chief Data Officer of the Year 2017 Lauren Sager Weinstein

Previous Chief Digital Officer of the Year award-winners can be found here.

The event closed with a lively networking cocktail reception, and celebrations for the award-winners.

Thanks to all our sponsors and partners on the UK CDO Summit for a great event – Microsoft, Collibra, and Sansan.

Delegates networking at the 2018 UK CDO Summit

The next CDO Summits will be held in NYC on May 30, 2018 (our 6th year), and our inaugural CDO Summit in San Francisco on June 27, 2018.

If you are tasked with understanding what digital and data leaders must do in order to succeed in almost any industry, the best place to learn more is at the CDO Summit.

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:

“Sometimes a conference comes along that hits the trifecta – hot topic, high-caliber attendees, and stellar location. The first Chief Digital Officer Summit reached that mark with ease, and I look forward to attending the next one.”

“Congratulations and thanks to David Mathison for spotting the need for community and collaboration in the growing Chief Digital Officer space, and for having the wherewithal, network, and organizational talent to put together such a top-notch event in its inaugural year. Next year’s summit should be even more of a must-do for anyone working digital at senior levels in all kinds of businesses.”

“David, here’s a handy C^3 test for conference value: Did I learn at least three new perspectives? Check. Did I meet at least three interesting people? Check. Did I take back at least three relevant pieces of news I can use? Check. Flying colors for the Chief Digital Officer Summit 2013! Thank you so much, and yes, I’d be very pleased to participate next year!”

“Congratulations to David Mathison and his team on the simply amazing job they did on the inaugural Chief Digital Officer Summit. Probably the most informative, insightful, on target, entertaining, collaborative, thought provoking, and inspiring conferences I have ever attended. I learned more about my business and what I do in the past 12 hours than I have from any research white paper, articles or blogs over the past 12 months. The range of topics and speakers assembled were incredibly diverse, informative, collaborative, and most of all, inspiring. It has invigorated me to be the best possible professional CDO I can be. David Mathison’s skills as a moderator were impeccable, bringing out the best of the speakers and keeping the conversation flowing. His intimate and insightful knowledge of this space is only out-shined by his humility and graciousness. Kudos to David and his organizing team.”

More Endorsements