The Data Strategy Show

The Data Strategy Show has been voted in the top 10 data podcasts by onlydatajobs and voted in the top 40 strategy podcasts by Feedspot in 2022. So, I wanted to say a HUGE BIG thank you to all the listeners out there for your support and I’m hugely excited about where the show will go in the future.

My guest today is Malcolm Hawker. His opening gambit is about walking on the beach and right there was my connection with Malcolm. What a wonderful conversation and I love the fact that his biggest learning experience was “failure”! Half of the battle in life is showing up and that’s been a mantra of his for years.

Malcolm is currently Head of Data Strategy for Profisee, his mission is to raise awareness of the value of MDM and Data Governance among senior data leaders at companies across the globe.

He has a passion for many things, the environment, sustainability, and blockchain for data. He profoundly states he could chew your ear off waxing about blockchain all day! 😊 Don’t get him started on data literacy!

I hope you enjoy this episode please do like, share, and comment, and enjoy listening to Malcolm. Behind every data leader there is a person and here is Malcom unplugged.

The Data Strategy Show has been voted in the top 10 podcasts in 2022 by onlydatajobs and was voted in the top 40 strategy podcasts for 2022 by Feedspot. So, I wanted to say a HUGE BIG thank you to all the listeners out there for your support and I’m hugely excited about where the show will go in the future.

I was referred to James by Itoro Liney and I am super pleased that I took her advice and invited James on! Great to speak to him and apparently, he had the best legs in the 3rd year and no I didn’t ask to see his legs! He’s a kung fu fighter well more from a spiritual and meditative aspect and he showed off some of his Sinhalese which was incredible!

James is Head of Data at Principality Building Society leading on data & analytics strategy, architecture, governance, and privacy. He has extensive experience across a range of Data Capability areas, from Strategy & Architecture to Data Management, Governance, Engineering, and Insight Generation. He is super focused on working to embed data into the organisational culture and has a proven track record in delivering transformational and business-critical change.

A blues guitarist of 20 years, he enjoys life with his family, a creative at heart and wants to get back to his creative self, a person who loves to understand others and their cultures, and the first person I know to have done the Inca trail!

I hope you enjoy this episode please do like, share, and comment, and enjoy listening to James. Behind every data leader there is a person and here is James unplugged.

The Data Strategy Show has been voted in the top 10 podcasts in 2022 by onlydatajobs and was voted in at number 11 in the top 40 strategy podcasts for 2022 by Feedspot. So, I wanted to say a HUGE BIG thank you to all the listeners out there for your support and I’m hugely excited about where the show will go in the future.

On today's show I'm delighted to have Aaron Wilkerson with me. 

Aaron and I connected on LinkedIn approx. 3 years ago and what I loved about him was his curiosity. It’s something that has been with him for a long time ever since he was a child, he would take toys apart and then reassemble them with good and bad results. But what I found in our conversation was a man of faith and deep thinking.

Aaron is currently Sr. Manager Data Strategy & Governance at Carhartt the industrial clothing label that has now become quite the fashion in Europe! He enjoys collaborating with people to find out how he can best use his skills to help them be successful in what they are attempting to achieve. The common theme that is pervasive across his experiences is leveraging technology to drive value. Technology is such a powerful tool to bring about innovation and transform those who are able to interact with it.

He claims to be a professional nerd and lifelong learner and the mantra he believes in is this "If you want to increase your success rate, double your failure rate." A wordle fan and is fiercely competitive with his wife and Aaron I’m still waiting for those dashboards and analysis! Also a collector of T-shirts to remember his life from school, college, university and onwards!

I hope you enjoy this episode please do like, share, and comment, and enjoy listening to Aaron. Behind every data leader there is a person and here is Aaron unplugged.

The Data Strategy Show has been voted in the top 10 podcasts in 2022 by onlydatajobs and was voted in at number 11 in the top 40 strategy podcasts for 2022 by Feedspot. So, I wanted to say a HUGE BIG thank you to all the listeners out there for your support and I’m hugely excited about where the show will go in the future.

On today's episode, I'm delighted to have Piyush Malik with me. 

Piyush and I spoke on the day of Diwali which is for those who don’t know what it is, it’s the Hindu festival that celebrates good over evil and is often referred to as the festival of lights. Another cricket lover his mantra is “never give up” which has been his view since he was about 10 whether it was in the sports arena, in school and life in general.

Piyush is currently Chief Digital & Transformation Officer at Veridic Solutions. He specializes in harnessing the power of data-driven innovations driving adoption of cloud-first technologies and rapidly accelerating AI/ML and automation journeys in the enterprise. As an organizational transformation agent, he believes in combining the power of people, culture, and technology to generate outsized returns for the stakeholders.

I would describe him as a spiritual technologist, well at least that’s what I thought from our conversation. A keen artist who has now given up fine art and painting landscapes for doodling while in meetings! I’ve got to see some of those doodles! As well as this he loves banging his drum, no seriously, he’s a drummer of sorts and loves music!

I hope you enjoy this episode please do like, share, and comment, and enjoy listening to Piyush. Behind every data leader there is a person and here is Piyush unplugged.

The Data Strategy Show has been voted in the top 10 podcasts in 2022 by onlydatajobs and was voted in at number 11 in the top 40 strategy podcasts for 2022 by Feedspot. So, I wanted to say a HUGE BIG thank you to all the listeners out there for your support and I’m hugely excited about where the show will go in the future.

On today's episode, I'm delighted to have Mir Ali with me. Mir is super passionate about data and what the future holds and how organisations will evolve using this asset. A believer in continual learning in all that he does, and he also believes that nothing must be taken for granted. Deeply moved by his faith and continuously looking for mentors to guide him both through his faith and career.

Currently, Mir is Head of Platform Engineering at The Kraft Heinz Company. He has 20+ years of experience leading technology teams across industries. His role includes focusing on building a robust platform that supports KHC’s growth strategies, improves analytics-driven decision-making, and much more.

A HUGE cricket fanatic and player, he loves Indian food and attempts to cook when he gets the chance, although his wife doesn’t think he’s very good! Keep going Mir! He attempts to live his life with focus and purpose, doing his best at everything he does both at work and at home every day. He lives by the mantra of doing things with sincerity and bringing positivity to all those around him.

I hope you enjoy this episode please do like, share, and comment, and enjoy listening to Mir. Behind every data leader there is a person and here is Mir unplugged.

The data strategy Show has been voted in the top 10 podcasts in 2022 by onlydatajobs and was voted in at number 11 in the top 40 strategy podcasts for 2022 by Feedspot. So, I wanted to say a HUGE BIG thank you to all the listeners out there for your support and I’m hugely excited about where the show will go in the future.

Now on to today’s episode, I’m delighted to have the very determined and goal focused Ranil Boteju on as my guest!

Ranil is super passionate about all things people and looks at the world of data and analytics through the lens of diversity in skill, thought, background and not necessarily just from a tech perspective. He believes in being your authentic self in the workplace and not being a corporate automaton. His first aha moment in data was the moment he felt like a data detective and hunting down the insights made him feel at home.

Ranil is currently the Group Chief Data and Analytics Officer at Lloyds Banking Group. Helping Britain Prosper is our Bank’s Purpose and enabling this very inspiring mission with Data and A.I is his goal. He is the accountable Executive for delivering the Bank's Data Strategy.

I loved the conversation with Ranil and his spiritual side shone through, not only the fact he wants to go and spend a year in an ashram, but also would love to teach “how to be happy” at school to remind children that it’s not just about facts and figures, but true happiness. He’s never afraid to try new things and loves to have people around him who challenge him and keep him on his toes! I hope you enjoy this episode please do like, share, and comment, and enjoy listening to Ranil. Behind every data leader there is a person and here is Ranil unplugged.

The data strategy Show has been voted in the top 10 podcasts in 2022 by onlydatajobs and was voted in at number 11 out of 40 for the top strategy podcasts for 2022 by Feedspot. So, I wanted to say a HUGE BIG thank you to all the listeners out there for your support and I’m hugely excited about where the show will go in the future.

Now to today’s episode, I’m delighted to have the very focused Srini Ramaswamy on as my guest!

Srini is a matter of fact, down to earth no nonsense kind of guy! I don’t think I’ve met anyone as focused and to the point on delivery and success. He doesn’t even listen to music as he doesn’t have time for it! A professor turned industry expert, he decided to go into industry after being reaching the ripe old age of 40 in professordom, and wanted to take his knowledge of strategy and implementation into the big wide world! Nothing bothers him and he tends not to take things seriously! A man after my own heart!

Srini is currently VP Cloud and Emerging Technologies at iWorks Corporation and he has a passion for setting up cross-functional teams delivering innovation through successful project delivery and product development.

A HUGE cricket fan, and traveler and is an educator at heart, mentoring students and making sure they reach their potentials.

I loved the conversation with Srini and he reminded me that you can get through anything if you don’t take life or yourself too seriously! I hope you enjoy this episode please do like, share, and comment, and enjoy listening to Srini. Behind every data leader there is a person and here is Srini unplugged.

It was amazing to speak with Melissa and finding out many wonderful insights about her one of which is that she loves writing and has the knack of devouring information, understanding it and then being able to craft and convey the information to people in simple ways! She has a book coming out soon so looking forward to reading that!

Melissa is an Associate Partner at IBM, is the Founding member and Committee Chair of Women Leaders in Data & AI and Board Member at Blended. She’s super passionate about Data & AI and hosts her very own podcast called The Impact of Data & AI, where she speaks to women in the field to gain their insights about their career and their wider impact on the data industry.

She wants to live forever and loves the idea of knowing what the future holds! She invests her time in thinking about how to up the game in education, inclusion and diversity at the executive level and passionate about reducing bias and driving positive organizational change.

I loved the conversation with Melissa and I’m sure you can tell that as we meander through her life and experiences. I hope you enjoy this episode please do like, share, and comment, and enjoy listening to Mellisa. Behind every data leader there is a person and here is Melissa unplugged.

It was an absolute pleasure to speak to Joti and I really loved her human-first approach, of getting to know people and understanding their motivations.  She's a singer and is currently being coached by a child prodigy. She also loves the song "Jalebi Baby" - for those who don't know a "jalebi" is the name for an Indian sweet dish made of sugar and flour, then fried into circular form and it results in an orange color. Yummy!  She doesn't interview people she understands their background and their purpose.  That's cool and you tend to get more out of people instead of canned responses.

Joti is the Founder & Managing Director, Freshriver.ai - Creative Architects designing and delivering complex enterprise grade transformations with AI, Data and Social Sciences.

What I loved about our discussion was her openness about the education system that she currently believes is broken and there should be more of an "apprentice style" system in the US.  Her passion is to own a cafe by the beach and get to know all of those people who pass by, buy a coffee and something to eat and get to know their stories.  A powerful story teller Joti looking at data in the same way we look at the blood in our bodies and how it can affect us when diseased, just like the data if it's bad, it's going to give you a bad output.

As you can tell I had a lot of fun with Joti and she loves to be in flow. I hope you enjoy this episode please do like, share, and comment, and enjoy listening to Joti. Behind every data leader there is a person and here is Joti unplugged.

Our preamble before the interview was really insightful for me. We talked about our families, our cultures, and our values and it seemed that Ivan and I have had similar experiences in life. He’s super focused and lives with a form of discipline around him that is fantastic, a triathlon athlete and now training for the big Iron Man which he hopes to complete soon!

Here is a little more about Ivan. He’s currently Vice President of Operational Excellence and Business Analytics at KSI Auto Parts.

I loved our discussion for many reasons, Ivan’s passion for the climate and his small way of doing things to help the climate, his huge positivity almost rubs off on you, and his balance between discipline and creativity! Plus his tenacious and almost infectious passion for data and analytics, his lifelong application of learning with his daughters, and his love of Python. What resonated for me is simply this: in the world of data and analytics with all the trends that are amassing, the one piece of advice that he gave which equally supports my values is this: if you are thinking about or are already in a data career – make it your objective to sit, study, and learn everything about what your business does.

As you can tell I had a lot of fun with Ivan and loved his thoughtful, fun, and focus on life. I hope you enjoy this episode please do like, share, and comment, and enjoy listening to Ivan. Behind every data leader there is a person and here is Ivan unplugged.