Chief data officer

A chief data officer (CDO) is a corporate officer responsible for enterprise wide governance and utilization of information as an asset, via data processing, analysis, data mining, information trading and other means. CDOs report mainly to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO). Depending on the area of expertise this can vary. CDO is a member of the executive management team and manager of enterprise-wide data processing & data mining.

Role Disambiguation

The Chief Data Officer title shares its acronym with the Chief Digital Officer but the two are not the same job. The Chief Data Officer has a significant measure of business responsibility for determining what kinds of information the enterprise will choose to capture, retain and exploit and for what purposes.^[1] However. the similar-sounding Chief Information Officer often does not bear that business responsibility, but rather is responsible for the information systems through which data is stored and processed.

History and evolution

The role of manager for data processing was not elevated to that of senior management prior to the 1980s. As organizations have recognized the importance of information technology as well as business intelligence, data integration, master data management and data processing to the fundamental functioning of everyday business, this role has become more visible and crucial. This role includes defining strategic priorities for the company in the area of data systems and opportunities, identifying new business opportunities pertaining to data, optimizing revenue generation through data, and generally representing data as a strategic business asset at the executive table.

With the rise in service-oriented architectures (SOA), large-scale system integration, and heterogeneous data storage/exchange mechanisms (databases, XML, EDI, etc.), it is necessary to have a high-level individual, who possesses a combination of business knowledge, technical skills, and people skills, guide data strategy. Besides the revenue opportunities, acquisition strategy, and customer data policies, the chief data officer is charged with explaining the strategic value of data and its important role as a business asset and revenue driver to executives, employees, and customers. This contrasts with the older view of data systems as mere back-end IT systems.

More recently, with the adoption of data science the Chief Data Officer is sometimes looked upon as the key strategy person either reporting to the Chief Strategy Officer or serving the role of CSO in lieu of one. This person has the responsibility of measurement along various business lines and consequently defining the strategy for the next growth opportunities, product offerings, markets to pursue, competitors to look at etc. We see this in organizations like Chartis, AllState and Fidelity

Early CDO Appointments

• Cathryne Clay Doss of Capital One was appointed chief data officer in 2002.
• Usama Fayyad, Chief Data Officer and Senior Vice President of Yahoo!, one of the first to officially hold this job title.^[2][3]
• Thomas Mueller, chief data officer at Allied Management Group.
• Mario Faria, a director of Boa Vista Serviços, a credit bureau information services company based in São Paulo, Brazil, is the first chief data officer of Latin America and was appointed for the position in 2011.

Notable example CDOs

• Usama Fayyad was the first CDO for Yahoo! in 2004-2009 and he is now CDO of Barclays in London since 2013—he showed how the role can generate value by creating a $500 million new revenue source based on behavioral Targeting of Ads for Yahoo! in 2008.
• John Bottega was CDO for CitiGroup's Corporate and Investment Banking (CIB) unit, and later for the New York Federal Reserve.
• Maria Villar was appointed CDO at Fannie Mae and Justin Magruder was appointed CDO at Freddie Mac in 2007, in the months leading up to the 2008 Credit Crisis to assist the GSE's in implementing new financial control frameworks for risk management. Beth Hyatt succeeded Maria and Diane Schmidt succeeded Justin in 2009.
• The major US cities of San Francisco, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Baltimore also have Chief Data Officers.
• The US Army has a Chief Data Officer
• The US Federal Communications Commission has several Chief Data Officers
• The Seattle Children's Hospital has, since 2007, a Chief Data Officer in charge of both a Lab (Bioinformatics and High-throughput Analysis) and Business analytics (strategic development and resource management of the hospital, economic modeling...).
• Henri Verdier has been appointed in September 2014 Administrateur Général des Données (CDO) of the French Administration, probably the first CDO of a Country.^[4]
• Geraint Lewis, FRCP FFPH is the Chief Data Officer of the National Health Service in England .
• Philip Bourne is associate director for data science at the National Institutes of Health
• Mike Bracken has been appointed CDO for the UK government in March 2015

Current US City and State CDO Appointments

City

• Baltimore ^[5]
  • Name: Heather Hudson
  • Organizational Location: Mayor’s Office of Information Technology
  • Responsibilities: Key tasks include creating and managing an open data portal and modernizing Baltimore’s CitiStat performance measurement program.
  • Sample Initiatives: In addition to Baltimore’s Citistat performance management program, the city created an application, Sheltr, which helps provide homeless services.
  • Website: http://moit.baltimorecity.gov
  • Open data site: http://data.baltimorecity.gov/
  • Performance measurement site: http://outcomestat.baltimorecity.gov/
• Boston
  • Name: N/A - Currently Hiring
  • Organizational Location: Department of Innovation and Technology (DoIT)
  • Responsibilities: Boston's CDO will be in charge of the Citywide Analytics Team. The CDO will be in charge of citywide data analytics efforts, working closely across the city to expand the use of analytics and visualization to improve city governance.
  • Sample Initiatives: The Knight Foundation-funded Open Data to Open Knowledge is a Boston DoIT partnership with the Public Library to turn Boston's open data collection into a resource that the public can more easily access.
  • Website: http://www.cityofboston.gov/DoIT/
  • Open data site: https://data.cityofboston.gov/
  • Performance measurement site: http://www.cityofboston.gov/cityscore/
• Chicago
  • Name: Tom Schenk, Jr.
  • Organizational Location: Department of Innovation and Technology
  • Responsibilities: Chicago’s CDO oversees the city’s open data portal, advanced analytics team, and data and business intelligence teams. The CDO also leads Chicago’s strategic use of data to improve operational efficiency and residents’ quality-of-life.
  • Sample Initiatives: Chicago has released a wide range of data, with more than 600 sets that range from crime to energy use by census block to red-light cameras. The city also has a robust predictive analytics program, which has been used to streamline food inspection processes and enhance rodent baiting efforts, and is currently building a platform that will take on a host of analytics-optimized use cases.
  • Website: http://www.cityofchicago.org/city/en/depts/doit.html
  • Open data site: https://data.cityofchicago.org/
  • Performance measurement site: http://www.cityofchicago.org/performance
• Kansas City
  • Name: Eric Roche
  • Organizational Location: Office of Performance Measurement
  • Sample Initiatives: OPM spearheaded a comprehensive rewrite of the quarterly Citizen Survey, better aligning questions with department activities and analyzing data to fully leverage the results.
  • Open data site: https://data.kcmo.org/
  • Performance measurement site: https://kcstat.kcmo.org/
• Los Angeles
  • Name: Lilian P. Coral
  • Organizational Location: Office of Budget and Innovation
  • Responsibilities: Los Angeles’s CDO works with city departments to collect and analyze data, and leads operations for the city's new open-data portal.
  • Sample Initiatives: The city has launched ‘Los Angeles Open Data,’ a one-stop-shop for residents and developers that includes open-source tools and guides in addition to a wide range of municipal data. Its Fire Department has recently launched PulsePoint, a mobile app designed to increase citizen awareness of cardiac events beyond a traditional “witnessed” area and engage them in potentially life-saving CPR.
  • Website: https://data.lacity.org/
  • Open data site: https://data.lacity.org/
  • Performance measurement site: https://performance.lacity.org/
• Philadelphia
  • Name: Tim Wisniewski
  • Organizational Location: Office of Innovation and Technology
  • Responsibilities: The top priority of Philadelphia’s CDO is to further efforts that put data online and make it more accessible, as part of the city’s goal of facilitating transparency and engagement.
  • Sample Initiatives: In 2015, Philadelphia’s Chief Data Officer built a Data Services team, acquired and implemented a key open data automation tool for the city, met with 43 local department heads to discuss releasing data, and launched data inventories within 12 of those departments. In addition to this progress, the city has recently launched the Philadelphia Property Search tool, which allows residents to search and compare property valuation data. It has also launched the AVI Calculator, which helps residents ensure their real estate tax is fair.
  • Website: www.phila.gov/it/Pages/default.aspx
  • Open data site: http://www.phila.gov/data/
• San Diego
  • Name: Maksim Pecherskiy
  • Organizational Location: Performance & Analytics Department
  • Responsibilities: The CDO is responsible for implementing the City's new open data initiative called for by the Mayor's One San Diego Transition Advisory Committee.
  • Sample Initiatives: The Performance & Analytics Department recently teamed up with the Financial Management Department to launch the OpenGov Budget Visualization Tool, a visual and navigable presentation of the City's Fiscal Year 2016 Proposed Budget.
  • Website: http://www.sandiego.gov/pad/about/index.shtml
  • Open data site: https://www.sandiego.gov/pad/programs/opendata
  • Performance measurement site: https://www.sandiego.gov/pad/programs/performancemanagement
• San Francisco
  • Name: Joy Bonaguro
  • Organizational Location: Mayor's Office
  • Responsibilities: The CDO is working to standardize the City’s data policies across City departments and make the data more user-friendly and accessible. The Chief Data Officer also manages the Data Coordinators in each City department to develop and monitor data efforts, and aims to foster a data enabled policy environment in the pursuit towards increased use of data in decision-making.
  • Sample Initiatives: San Francisco’s Stat Starter Kit enables other city departments to continuously improve services through establishing key performance metrics, data feeds and dashboards, and regular management and meeting processes. The project was led by the City Performance Unit of the Controller’s Office in collaboration with the CDO.
  • Website: http://datasf.org/
  • Open data site: https://data.sfgov.org/
  • Performance measurement site: http://sfcontroller.org/san-francisco-performance-program

State

• Colorado
  • Organizational Location: Governor’s Office of Information Technology
  • Responsibilities: Colorado’s CDO champions the development, adoption, and maintenance of enterprise-wide information architecture across state and local agencies. The CDO also leads and facilitates the creation of data governance principles and best practices, Master Data Management (MDM), data analytics, data quality, data integration, metadata management, and Business Intelligence strategies and policies.
  • Sample Initiatives: The Colorado Information Marketplace (CIM), a statewide central repository for open data, was built to enhance public consumption of information.
  • Website: http://oit.state.co.us/
• Connecticut
  • Organizational Location: Office of Policy and Management
  • Responsibilities: The CDO directs, manages, and oversees staff and activities related to the collection, analysis, and dissemination of the State’s enterprise information assets. The CDO is also responsible for overseeing and implementing the state’s new open data portal.
  • Sample Initiatives: Connecticut’s open data portal, which offers a wide range of data from health to public safety to housing and development, currently has more than 50 datasets.
  • Website: http://www.ct.gov/opm/site/default.asp
• Maryland
  • Organizational Location: Office of the Secretary, Department of Business and Economic Development
  • Responsibilities: Set organization-wide data standards, develop policies and practices to guide data information collection and management, and develop and administer CRM, Communities, and back office applications in Salesforce.com
  • Sample Initiatives: Maryland DBED Data Explorer Web Portal
• New York
  • Organizational Location: State Office of IT Services
  • Responsibilities: Oversee the development and operations of New York State’s Open Data initiative and portal, data.ny.gov. Act as principal information management advisor to the State CIO on matters related to data analytics and data exchange. Responsible for maximizing the derivative value of data and defining strategic priorities for the State including
  • Website: https://www.its.ny.gov/

Industry and geographic trends in CDOs

Many major Banks and Insurance companies, subsequent to the credit crisis of 2008, created the CDO role to ensure data quality and transparency for regulatory and risk management as well as analytic reporting.

Various branches of US Government have CDOs.

The CDO role is far more common in the United States than elsewhere. However several European banks have a CDO.

References

1. http://www.bigdataparis.com/presentation/mercredi/PDelort.pdf?PHPSESSID=tv7k70pcr3egpi2r6fi3qbjtj6#page=11
2. Piatetsky-Shapiro, Gregory (24 October 2005). "Interview with Usama Fayyad". KDnuggets Newsletter (no. 20) (KDnuggets). KDnuggets. Retrieved 25 December 2010.
3. Grey, Dan; Dataconomy, News Publication (14 October 2015). "The Power of Data to Know the World, to Improve the World, and to Change the World". Dataconomy (web) (Dataconomy Media GmbH). Dataconomy. Retrieved 21 December 2015.
4. ANDSI - The association of French CIOs http://www.andsi.fr/tag/henri-verdier/
5. http://datasmart.ash.harvard.edu/news/article/data-leadership-at-the-executive-level-761]

• Yahoo Media Relations Accessed on August 22, 2005.
• "Citigroup Names Bottega CDO" Wall Street & Technology
• "The Role of the Chief Data Officer" by Jane Griffin
• A New Corporate Position: Chief Data Officer by Mingbo Gong Accessed on November 2, 2012.
• "The War for Data Talent" - Heidrick & Struggles
• "The role of the Chief Data Officer in Financial Services" - Deloitte
• "Chief Data Officer - new in the C-Suite" Analytics magazine
• "Chief Data Officers Are Foresight, Not Fad" - Gartner Research
• "Your C-Suite Needs a Chief Data Officer" - Harvard Business Review Blog
• "The Chief Data Officer, from CIO to CDO, in Big Data 2013, turning the data deluge into decisions
• "The Case for the Chief Data Officer - Recasting the C-Suite to Leverage your Most Valuable Asset" - Peter Aiken

External links

• EDM Council
• MIT Chief Data Officer Forum