Diana Schildhouse, Chief Analytics and Insights Officer at Colgate-Palmolive, discusses driving business value through analytics, ensuring executives are data fluent, innovating with AI, and her career path through iconic brands like Mattel and Disney.

Key Moments

• Listening Tours: How 100’s of one-on-one conversations helped to narrow in on which business problems could be solved with data and quickly lead to business value (4:50)
• Working to benchmark the company against its industry helped to establish the business impact and value of data (6:41)
• Transforming from pockets of excellence to uniform excellence. Spreading data excellence as a way to increase data transformation (8:00)
• Increasing data literacy via its own data education and recognition program, Data Literacy and Analytics Academy. (9:52)
• Because product development lifecycles are so long, data plays a massive role in understanding consumer trends and what consumers will want in the future (19:46)
• Use case driven innovation drives business value fastest.  (22:46)
• Data Clean rooms and partner collaboration is the key to generating useful 1st party data (25:06)
• How a center-led hybrid enabled global teams to improve data utilization at Colgate-Palmolive (31:21)
• Co-Creation helps create both nuance for specific teams and applicability for broader teams (33:21)

Key Quotes

• The approach of let's take five years and invest in data and get it to a perfect spot and then we can start doing analytics and showing that value is just not one that any company has patience for.
• That co-creation is so important to us, because..if the business doesn’t understand what a solution is supposed to help them do, it won't be adopted.
• We try to be laser focused on what we think will move the business versus starting with the data. We're not trying to boil the ocean. It's hard to show value and progress when you're not delivering tools that can actually help the business make a decision today or tomorrow.

Mentions

• DataIQ 100
• Boston Consulting Group
• Mattel
• CDOIQ
• DataCamp
• Credly
• Revenue Growth Management
• Clean Rooms

Bio

Diana Schildhouse is Chief Analytics and Insights Officer at Colgate-Palmolive. She previously held analytics leadership roles at Mattel and The Walt Disney Company. Diana has an undergraduate degree in Business and Finance from USC and an MBA from Harvard.

Personal Details

• Favorite activities outside of work: walking her golden doodle named Bagel, spending time with family, movies, reading
• Song that pumps her up: "Who Run the World (Girls)" by Beyonce
• Grateful for close friendships with "personal board of directors" from business school
• Seen the Barbie movie 3 times and loved it

Hear more from Cindi Howson here. Sponsored by ThoughtSpot.

Description

As the world’s seventh largest retailer, Carrefour is using advanced analytics to transform operations, better serve customers, and pioneer the future of retail. Chief Data & Analytics Officer Sebastien Rozanes explains how the company is leveraging data and generative AI to drive measurable business value across merchandising, supply chain, marketing and more.

Key Moments:

• How a strong data foundation and data monetization mindset accelerated data maturity at Carrefour (5:46)
• Selling data to CPGs to improve collaboration and justify data investments (20:57)
• The "data supermarket" analogy to get business leaders invested in data quality (30:39)
• Reducing friction by enabling suppliers and retailers to work from the same data facts (32:33)
• Starting with imagination not limitations to identify AI opportunities (42:08)
• Leveraging ChatGPT to transform the ecommerce shopping experience (45:10)

Key Quotes

• “It's okay to be 5% wrong, but 95% right…[with the time you free up] you will make up much more value than trying to optimize the last 5%.”
• “The role of Chief Data Analytics Officer goes way beyond the technology. It's 10 percent about technology, 20 percent about data, but actually 70 percent about transformation and adoption.”
• “Generative AI is a game changer for efficiency and helping us focus on human creativity.”

Mentions: 

• Paris
• Google Cloud
• MIT CDO Forum
• Wharton School
• Data Lakes
• Data Catalogs
• Carrefour Links
• Generative AI
• ChatGPT

Bio

Sebastien Roznes is the Chief Data and Analytics Officer at Carrefour, a top 10 global retailer serving 80 million customers across more than 40 countries, including 8 countries with direct operations. Prior to joining Carrefour, Sebastien served as a Principal and Associate Director with the Boston Consulting Group with a focus in Digital, AI, and Data-Driven Transformations for Multinational Consumer Goods and Industrial Goods businesses. His educational background focuses on both Computer Science and Business providing him with unique insights on how data can serve the business. 

Learn more from Sebastien and how data is transforming retail on The Data Chief.  

Hear more from Cindi Howson here. Sponsored by ThoughtSpot.

It’s that time of year again. On this episode of The Data Chief, Cindi dives into three of the hottest book recommendations for data and analytics leaders and sits down with Dr. Barb Wixom, author of Data is Everybody’s Business, Vin Vashishta, author of From Data to Profit, and Asha Saxena, author of The AI Factor.

Key Moments:

• Introducing Dr. Barb Wixom (2:10)
• Barb’s desire to continue helping people in the data industry (2:57) (Barb)
• The different types of organizational leaders (8:21) (Barb)
• Creating value from data (10:50) (Barb)
• The selling framework (16:42) (Barb)
• A financial services case study (21:56) (Barb)
• Introducing Vin Vashishta (27:18) (Vin)
• The importance of companies having a single playbook (28:08) (Vin)
• Benefits of a value-based approach (32:52) (Vin)
• Starting with a problem statement (34:58) (Vin)
• When a lack of data literacy becomes problematic (38:46) (Vin)
• Driving culture change (40:30) (Vin)
• Introducing Asha Saxena (46:12)
• What is Women Leaders in Data and AI? (48:27) (Asha)
• The four-quadrant framework for deploying AI (52:11) (Asha)
• Case Study: How an Animal Shelter leveraged AI (55:44) (Asha)
• How to use AI ethically and responsibly (59:32) (Asha)

Mentions:

• From Data to Profit
• Data is Everybody’s Business: The Fundamentals of Data Monetization
• The AI Factor: How to Apply Artificial Intelligence and Use Big Data to Grow Your Business Exponentially
• Rita McGrath, Professor at Columbia University
• Satya Nadal
• Google PaLM
• OpenAI
• Jack Rockart
• Capital One
• Bill Schmarzo (former guest on The Data Chief)
• Lyft
• BBVA

Get even more insights from data and analytics leaders like these on The Data Chief. 

Mission.org is a media studio producing content for world-class clients. Learn more at mission.org.

Hear more from Cindi Howson here. Sponsored by ThoughtSpot.

Not many CDOs get to enter a new role with a clean slate. But Geraldine Wong, CDO for GXS Bank in Singapore did just that. In this episode of The Data Chief, she explains how the bank has built a foundation of data literacy by providing employees the right tools, access, and knowledge to put data at the forefront of their workflow. This culture of education and understanding establishes trust, empowers departments to “self-serve” data for better productivity, and ultimately leads to stronger understanding of data for customers and employees alike.

Tune in to learn:

• Starting from a “clean slate” as a CDO (1:32)
• GXS’s role and purpose as a new bank (3:49)
• Data security and consumer privacy (9:47)
• The GXS Bank data strategy (14:46)
• Using generative AI to improve data fluency (20:27)
• Advantages and disadvantages of being fully in the cloud (26:48)
• How higher education can better prepare workers for digital transformation (29:32)
• Why Singapore is a global leader in data literacy (37:24)

Mentions:

• Data Protection Trustmark
• Syntel
• Grab
• Personal Data Protection Commission
• IMDA Certification Body
• Google PaLM 2

Get even more insights from data and analytics leaders like Geraldine on The Data Chief.  

Mission.org is a media studio producing content for world-class clients. Learn more at mission.org.

Hear more from Cindi Howson here. Sponsored by ThoughtSpot.

In this episode of The Data Chief, hosts Cindi Howson and Sonny Rivera interview Sumathi Thiyagarajan, the VP of Business Strategy and Analytics for the Milwaukee Bucks and Fiserv Forum. Sumathi discusses being a data leader in professional sports, building a data team from the ground up, and leveraging insights to continually provide the best fan experience. 

Tune in to learn:

• Making the transition to a professional sports team (2:42)
• The evolution of Sumathi’s role and team (4:58)
• The growing importance of data across the NBA (10:02)
• Unique challenges Sumathi faces in her role with the Bucks (12:01)
• Creating personalized fan experiences (14:38)
• Using data to increase the team’s visibility in the marketplace (18:12)
• Finding (and keeping) strong data team talent (22:31)
• Building a talent pool through a successful hackathon (26:20)
• Coaching and developing a diverse data team (29:07)
• Addressing the challenges of fragmented data (33:50)
• Driving innovation for the Bucks (and across the NBA) (37:35)

Mentions:

• Fiserv
• Marquette University
• Randy Bean
• Giannis Antetokounmpo
• Medical College of Wisconsin
• Deer District
• HBR podcasts
• Rakuten

Get even more insights from data and analytics leaders like Sumathi on The Data Chief.  

Mission.org is a media studio producing content for world-class clients. Learn more at mission.org.

Hear more from Cindi Howson here. Sponsored by ThoughtSpot.

Alex Viana, VP of Data at Vercel, has had a truly unique career. Starting with a role at the Hubble Space Telescope, Alex found his way into the data space by way of data security and searching for leaked data assets. Today, he leads the data organization at Vercel, where he views building – teams, technology processes, and metrics – as his primary responsibility. In this episode Alex shares his thoughts on leading data teams at different (but fast-growing) tech companies, the importance of building scalable data platforms, delivering value through stakeholder engagement, and balancing long-term vision with short-term action as a key to success.

Tune in to learn:

• The origins of Alex’s data journey with the Hubble Space Telescope (4:29)
• Alex’s unique approach to data leadership (6:12)
• About Vercel (8:25)
• Transitioning from growth-stage to more mature companies (10:38)
• The biggest challenges Alex faces at Vercel (14:12)
• Creating synchronicity across departments (16:59)
• Having vision as a data executive (21:54)
• The role of the data team in scaling a company (24:45)
• Determining your value as an executive (27:31)
• Building a positive data culture (33:10)
• The growth of generative AI in data (39:20)

Mentions: 

• Space Telescope Science Institute
• Hubble Space Telescope
• Next.js React
• Postgres
• Anderson Horowitz
• Richard Hamming
• HealthJoy
• Camille Fournier - The Manager's Path

Bio: 

Alex Viana is the VP of Data at Vercel. Alex has over 15 years of experience in data management and analysis, and has led teams of data scientists, engineers, and analysts in their previous positions. Alex is an expert in Python and SQL, and has used these skills to develop software platforms for managing and analyzing large datasets. Alex has also created databases of astronomical observations and predicted moon positions. In their current role, they are responsible for providing accurate data and insights to the organization and promoting data-driven decision making.

Get even more insights from data and analytics leaders like Alex on The Data Chief.  

Hear more from Cindi Howson here. Sponsored by ThoughtSpot.

Each day, valuable patient data collected by healthcare systems. When used properly as part of healthcare analytics, this can help drive better outcomes for both patients and providers. However, when data management is not effectively implemented, organizations lose out on these benefits. Terry Myerson, CEO of Truveta, saw the need to unlock data’s potential while still ensuring privacy and security. In this episode, he discusses his company’s unique approach,  the urgent need for better data insights for treatment protocols, and how AI is creating both efficiencies and concerns when making sense of data.

Tune in to learn:

• The origin of Truveta [6:28]
• Pulling data from the provider, not the patient [9:47]
• Fragmentation, privacy, and unstructured data [11:58]
• Healthcare data trends [15:50]
• Population-level data [17:49]
• Bringing in data from multiple systems [23:08]
• Why transparency earns trust [26:10]
• Language models and generative AI [28:10]
• Terry’s career journey [35:29]

Mentions: 

• Providence Healthcare
• CNN
• Rogaine
• Ozempic
• Boston Scientific
• National Library of Medicine
• Bloomberg
• Microsoft
• World Health Organization
• Common Spirit
• Trinity Health
• The Emperor of All Maladies
• Macklemore

Get even more insights from data and analytics leaders like Terry on The Data Chief.  

Mission.org is a media studio producing content for world-class clients. Learn more at mission.org.

Hear more from Cindi Howson here. Sponsored by ThoughtSpot.

It’s one thing for a company to invest in new technology. It’s another for a company to become invested in technology. In this episode, Yao Morin, CTO of JLL explains how she isn’t just adding data to the company workflow, but is instead fostering a culture of innovation and data-driven mindsets across the 240-year-old company through education, and by demonstrating data’s business value across departments. 

Key Moments: 

•  Yao’s rapid rise at JLL [4:01]
•  Energy efficiency data in commercial real estate [13:26]
•  Fostering creativity and imagination in data teams [16:29]
•  Better understanding of B2B customer pain points [21:24]
•  Yao’s approach to startup investment [23:45]
•  Generative AI and the data/analytics workflow [28:58]
•  Delegating to better manage large data teams [32:27]
•  The underrepresentation of women in data and tech leadership roles [36:02]

Mentions: 

• Intuit
• StubHub
• Jira / Confluence
• Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men by Caroline Criado Perez
• Tom Davenport
• Diablo IV (video game)
• “Bohemian Rhapsody” by Queen

Get even more insights from data and analytics leaders like Yao on The Data Chief.  

Mission.org is a media studio producing content for world-class clients. Learn more at mission.org.

Hear more from Cindi Howson here. Sponsored by ThoughtSpot.

The role of data teams continues to evolve across industries. But in mission-driven fields such as healthcare, data creates efficiencies that could potentially save lives. In this episode of The Data Chief, Cindi is joined by Jeremy Forman of Seagen to discuss the pivotal role his data team plays in driving insights-informed decision-making, and how they successfully collaborate with other departments to improve patient outcomes.  

Key Moments: 

• The key challenges for data leaders in healthcare [3:50]
• How Jeremy’s team supports company-wide initiatives [9:16]
• Fostering cross-team communication and collaboration [12:08]
• An ideal data organizational structure [14:39]
• Driving organizational change [17:09]
• Building an entrepreneurial culture [20:59]
• Setting competing priorities [29:01]
• FAIR data principles [36:34]
• Jeremy’s career path [41:19]

Mentions:

• Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
• Geronimo Restaurant in Santa Fe, New Mexico
• ChatGPT
• Bard
• Amazon Titan
• Los Alamos National Laboratory
• Oracle

Get even more insights from data and analytics leaders like Jeremy on The Data Chief.  

Mission.org is a media studio producing content for world-class clients. Learn more at mission.org.

Hear more from Cindi Howson here. Sponsored by ThoughtSpot.

When it comes to investing, it’s been said that the biggest risk of all is not taking one. But for many of us, the prospect of figuring out how and where to smartly invest our money is overwhelming if not flat-out confusing. TIFIN is a FinTech company focused on democratizing this process by matching investors to potential investments with AI. In this episode, Raja Musunuru, the Chief Product Officer of financial tech leader TIFIN, covers a wide range of topics, from the importance of understanding customer needs to promoting data fluency across an organization. 

Tune in to learn:

• About TIFIN [00:55]
• Raja’s unique perspective on technology, data, and products [12:01]
• The costs of cloud computing [16:04]
• Cloud governance and oversight [20:02]
• Views on FinOps [21:22]
• Optimizing the costs of multi-cloud operations [29:23]
• Promoting data fluency [36:19]

Mentions: 

• TIFIN
• Amicus.io
• Dr. Vinay Nair
• KPMG
• Amazon Web Services (AWS)
• Google Cloud
• Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance
• The Mindset

Get even more insights from data and analytics leaders like Raja on The Data Chief.  

Mission.org is a media studio producing content for world-class clients. Learn more at mission.org.

Hear more from Cindi Howson here. Sponsored by ThoughtSpot.