Chief Data and AI Officers to Watch: Data & AI Leaders Driving Enterprise Transformation
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The role of data and AI leaders has never been more critical. Today’s most innovative executives are proving that bridging core data reliability and governance with AI initiatives isn’t just good practice—it’s essential to driving ROI, delivering business impact, and showing measurable value to the bottom line.
Once viewed as technical enablers, data and AI leadership has now become a boardroom priority, fueling growth, resilience, and competitive advantage.
This year, we’re spotlighting a group of Data & AI leaders who were personally nominated by their peers for setting the pace for the industry. From modernizing global data platforms at scale to embedding AI into everyday customer and business decisions, these CDAIOs exemplify what it means to build reliable data and trusted AI across global enterprises.
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Meet the CDAIOs to Watch
Mahim Gite
Senior Director, Data, AI & Architecture, Honeywell
Mahim Gite spearheaded Honeywell’s global data modernization program, migrating their enterprise data warehouse to Snowflake, building a metrics-driven data quality framework, and scaling an AI portfolio of 25+ production use cases—from revenue-optimized pricing to predictive maintenance and customer-service copilots. His ability to orchestrate this end-to-end transformation—at startup speed and enterprise scale—has elevated data to a board-level asset, fueling reliable AI initiatives across the organization.
Meetali Agarwal
Former VP & Head of Global Data, Domino’s
At Domino’s, Meetali Agarwal reshaped how data drives the business. In just two years, she unified dozens of fragmented silos into a single lakehouse, built a composable customer data platform, and launched a data product marketplace fueling hyper-personalized offers and optimized store operations. Her work embedded data literacy across the business and laid the groundwork for trusted, AI-powered decisions in everything from delivery routes to marketing campaigns—transforming data into Domino’s strategic advantage.
Steve Doscher
Chief Data & Analytics Officer, Rockland Trust
Steve Doscher turned Rockland Trust’s data function into an engine for insight and innovation. He led the bank’s migration to Snowflake, designed a medallion-style lakehouse architecture, and built a rigorous data-governance framework pairing cataloging with federated stewardship. His human-in-the-loop approach and data-quality SLAs positioned the bank for responsible AI, enabling fraud detection and customer segmentation models while meeting strict regulatory standards—and driving measurable business outcomes.
Gordon Strodel
Director of Data Strategy & Architecture, Takeda
At Takeda’s Plasma-Derived Therapies business, Gordon Strodel championed systematic data cleanup and led cross-functional workshops to map data product domains. His AI-readiness strategy centers on transparent, “human-in-the-loop” governance, ensuring every model remains reliable and compliant. Gordon’s work has elevated Takeda’s data maturity and established a new benchmark for AI programs in pharma—where reliability and compliance are paramount.
Brian Wilson
Global Data Architect, DraftKings
Brian Wilson has been the driving force behind DraftKings’ modern data platform. He led the migration to Snowflake, consolidated siloed pipelines, championed data observability, and built a governance layer that powers real-time odds, risk modeling, and personalized fan experiences. Today, he’s pushing the frontier further—integrating data lakes and “monitors-as-code” into CI/CD pipelines with reliability baked in. Brian’s vision of unified lineage, self-serve ownership, and AI-ready data at scale is setting the standard for data excellence in sports betting.
Want to hear from more CDAIOs?
At our upcoming Impact Virtual Conference, you’ll have the opportunity to hear from more visionaries from leading Fortune 500 companies—leaders who are turning strategy into measurable outcomes. They have guided their organizations through the high-stakes transition from fragmented data estates to AI-ready platforms, laying down the architectures, systems, and practices that ensure trust at every level: data, pipelines, models, and beyond.
Register for IMPACT on November 6, 2025. Connect and hear from other leaders at Cyera, Roche, M&T Bank, Pilot, Warners and more. Click here to register →
