Ray’s journey to the C-Suite consists of successful enterprise and start-up experiences at JP Morgan, Time Warner, ConsumerNet, 24/7 Media, ORB, V12 Group, V12 Data, and True Influence. 

Ray Estevez is the Chief Data Officer at True Influence. Estevez provides data and technology leadership for the continued development of an innovative, robust, and secure data and information technology environment throughout the organization. The primary responsibilities for this office encompass a wide variety of strategic data and technology issues: governance and policy, information technology protocols, and the True Influence Information Technology organization. 

Previously Estevez was the co-founder and Chief Information Officer of V12 Group. Where he helped grow and develop the company until it was acquired by Datamentors in 2016. The combined company was rebranded V12 Data. He has 30 plus years of leadership experience in the fields of data management, information technology, and digital marketing. 

As the CTO of ConsumerNet Estevez was instrumental in the development of their Email database technology and revenue growth. This led to the company being acquired by 24/7 Media Inc., for $52 million dollars (http://tinyurl.com/qylqopj). After executing a smooth integration of technologies and personnel, he went on to lead the technology and operations of the 24/7 Mail division. He was appointed an executive member of the 24/7 Media mergers & acquisitions team. 

Estevez is a member of Forbes CIO Network, TECHLATINO, and serves on the Board of Advisors of Rebel Visions Corporation and NextVision Sales Institute. Ever an advocate for his team, he encourages education, open communication, and work-life balance. He is a mentor to several college students and prior colleagues that are now CEOs of their own companies.

[00:00:27] Ray Estevez: Hi, Jahn, thank you for inviting me for the podcast. My name is Ray Estevez and I am the chief data officer at true influence. They've been with the company for about two years now and I'm actually moving on to a chief information officer role. So my responsibilities are expanding, which is pretty, pretty cool.

[00:00:45] Jahn Karsybaev: [00:00:45] Awesome, Ray, thanks so much for finding time to join us on the podcast. Perfect timing right? With the change in the role and responsibility, congrats on the promotion or whatever that is or changing responsibilities. Tell us a little bit more about, by your background, where you come from in your career path and then the one to spend some time talking about your current role.

[00:01:07] Ray Estevez: [00:01:07] Sure. Well, I am a proud product of New York City's inner city school, public school systems. I went to public school, public university, and it just goes to show you that if you give an individual an opportunity, they really can Excel. I came from a very tough area in Manhattan, Harlem. I'm sure you've heard of Harlem New York and had a great upbringing. Tufts streets, but it made me tough, it made me want to succeed and achieve great things. So I stayed focused on school, got my degrees. And then just hustle my way through careers and promotions just by a lot of hard work.

[00:01:54] Jahn Karsybaev: [00:01:54] Oh, that's exciting. I can definitely relate to the upbringing and the kind of the big city life as well. So that's great. Thanks for sharing that. As far as your current role and responsibilities, or the company in general, tell us a little bit more about that. What falls under your purview? What are the problems that you currently saw solving? What are the most exciting projects you have underway?

[00:02:18] Ray Estevez: [00:02:18] Yeah. I started, like I said, about two years ago, I was brought in to help sort of expand the data practice within the organization. So I actually made a move, a pivot in my career at that time from a chief information officer, chief technology officer background, to more of