
Southern California CDAO Community
Executive Summit
May 22, 2025 | Marriott Long Beach Downtown
May 22, 2025
Marriott Long Beach Downtown
Collaborate with your peers
Get together with Southern California's top CDAOs to tackle shared business challenges and critical priorities facing your role today. Participate in this one-day, local program with peer-driven topics and interactive discussions with your true C-level peers.
Join your peers to discuss the most critical issues impacting CDAOs today:
Scaling Intelligence with AI and ML
Driving Measurable ROI with Strategic Data Insights
The New Era of Data Leadership
Southern California CDAO Governing Body
The Governing Body Co-Chairs shape the summit agenda, ensuring that all content is driven By CDAOs, For CDAOs™.
Governing Body Co-Chairs

Meetali Agarwal
Domino's
VP & Head of Global Data

Mike Burkes
Ultra Mobile
SVP, Enterprise Information Management (CDO)

Prachi Priya
HP Inc.
Global Head of Digital Products

Matt Smith
Microsoft Corporation
Chief Data Officer - West Enterprise Operating Unit
What to Expect
Agenda
8:00am - 8:30am Registration & Breakfast
8:30am - 9:15am Keynote
Disruption Proof — High-Performing Teams that Conquer Change

Vijay Pendakur, Ph.D.
Team Effectiveness Coach
Guest Speaker
In today’s fast-moving tech and security landscapes, disruption is inevitable — but it doesn’t have to derail your team’s performance. In this high-energy, 30-minute keynote, Dr. Vijay Pendakur will explore why disruption often leads teams to get stuck and how this stagnation threatens business success. Vijay will share his Alchemy of Talent model and explain how leaders can increase productivity and efficiency on their teams, even when it feels like we’re working in an endless earthquake!
Attendees will learn:
- Why disruption can lead to stuck teams and how to avoid it
- The critical impact of stuck teams on business performance and results
- How to make your teams more resilient, adaptable and willing to learn from failure
This keynote offers actionable strategies and real-world insights to help teams navigate change, unlock innovation and perform at their best when it matters most.
9:15am - 9:40am Networking Break
9:40am - 10:25am Breakout Session
The AI-Native MDM Journey — Lessons Learned
Hosted by Tamr

Anthony Deighton
CEO
Tamr

Sean Oldroyd
Manager - Software Engineering
CHG Healthcare Services
High-quality data is critical to business success, yet traditional MDM solutions are costly, slow to implement and often fail to deliver real value. AI-native MDM offers a different approach, enabling businesses to quickly and cost-effectively turn data into a dynamic, trusted asset. By leveraging AI, organizations gain greater speed, agility and results — but MDM still remains a journey requiring continuous refinement to unlock its full potential.
Join this session with Tamr’s CEO and CHG Healthcare’s head of MDM to hear real-world lessons about their MDM journey, including the need to:
- Assess data quality and align with clear business goals
- Leverage AI to unify, clean and enrich data, ensuring accuracy and consistency
- Integrate trusted data into key business systems in real time for maximum benefit
9:40am - 10:25am Executive Boardroom
Controlling Data Privacy, Security and Governance in Private or Hybrid Cloud AI
Hosted by Hewlett Packard Enterprise & NVIDIA

Monica Gille
Vice President, NA Industry Verticals
Hewlett Packard Enterprise

Christopher Paskins
Data and AI Governance Leader
McKesson
In the era of private or hybrid cloud-based AI applications, CDAOs play a pivotal role in safeguarding enterprise data privacy, security and governance. Maintaining a focus on compliance, risk management and ethical considerations ensures that AI deployments are both innovative and responsible. By maintaining control over data, organizations will enhance operational efficiency, trust and strategic decision making.
Join this session to discuss:
- Scaling data privacy and security strategies at the same pace as AI initiatives
- Evaluating ethical considerations in data privacy and governance
- Ensuring compliance with regulations
9:40am - 10:25am Executive Boardroom
Building a Modern Data Foundation for AI and Innovation
Hosted by Fivetran

Mark Van de Wiel
Field CTO
Fivetran

Zefa Hakim
Head of Products, Data & AI
Yelp
In today's data-driven world, organizations must maximize the potential of their data — from building predictive analytics and ML models that power deeper insights into customer behavior, to building GenAI applications. Replicating data across all sources fuels innovation and drives better business outcomes, while modernizing data movement ensures secure and reliable access to centralized data. Join this boardroom to delve into this core topic and learn how technology leaders are modernizing their data platforms and automating processes to get the most value from their data.
During this boardroom, you will discuss:
- Establishing a framework to manage structured and unstructured data
- Improving data readiness for predictive analytics, GenAI applications and ML models
- Building an approach to data management that gives rise to reliable, accessible data
10:25am - 11:10am Networking Break
10:35am - 11:00am Peer-to-Peer Meetings
Peer-to-Peer Meetings
Connect with like-minded peers in a one-on-one setting through meetings. You will be matched with peers in your community based on your shared interests and priorities.
11:10am - 11:55am Breakout Session
Strengthening Your Data Foundation for AI Readiness
Hosted by IBM

Steven Eliuk
VP & CTO, Data, AI & Governance for Software Development
IBM
Organizations face exponential growth in data volume and complexity, with data in diverse locations, formats and quality levels. Its value depends on usability, requiring real-time decisions and insights. To scale accurate, performant generative AI, organizations must unify data access, management and preparation of high-quality unstructured and structured data.
Join this session to explore how to:
- Face the challenges presented by unstructured data in your AI initiatives
- Deliver continuous ROI through better AI governance
- Build on your hybrid and open data foundation to get to the next stage of AI
11:10am - 11:55am Executive Boardroom
Transforming Data from Privilege to Right

Jonathan Sepe
Deputy Chief Privacy Officer – U.S. RJF
Raymond James

Hovannes Daniels
VP, Data & Analytics IT
Kaiser Permanente

Sarath Ramaswami
Senior Vice President, Data
American Homes 4 Rent
Traditional gatekeeping of information is rapidly becoming an obsolete and counterproductive strategy that undermines organizational agility and collective intelligence. Despite significant technological advancements, most organizations still treat data as a privileged resource, creating significant barriers that limit innovation, restrict strategic insights and perpetuate hierarchical knowledge structures. To address these challenges, forward-thinking leaders must develop comprehensive strategies that democratize data access that balance accessibility with security and compliance. How can data leaders transform data gatekeeping from a fortress to a flexible, empowering ecosystem?
Join this roundtable discussion as peers discuss:
- Overcoming challenges in existing data access paradigms strategically
- Empowering teams through transparent, inclusive data practices
- Designing adaptive governance models balancing accessibility and security
11:10am - 11:55am Executive Boardroom
Making Analytics Work for Business Leaders

Trisha Mitra-Nedic
Chief Analytics Officer
LA County Dept of Health Service

Abhijeet Kumar
Head, Marketing Analytics
Providence

Daniel Pierce
Global Data & Business Intelligence
SAGE Publications
If analytics aren’t directly tied to business KPIs, you’re leaving strategic value on the table. Leaders must establish clear frameworks that translate technical insights into measurable business outcomes. By linking analytical findings to executive priorities, you’ll maximize ROI and empower decision makers with actionable intelligence. This alignment is the key to building a truly data-driven culture and making analytics investments count.
Join this roundtable discussion as peers discuss:
- Bridging the gap between analytics and KPIs
- Using AI to turn data into strategic insights
- Aligning analytics with business goals to maximize ROI
11:55am - 12:30pm Lunch Service
Apply to Participate
Apply to participate in the Southern California CDAO Community Executive Summit.
Gartner facilitates exclusive, C-level communities by personally qualifying and understanding the priorities, challenges and interests of each member.
Our selective approach maintains the high quality of the network and ensures top-level discussions with peers from the world’s leading organizations.
Each application will be reviewed, and once your participation is confirmed, you will have access to year-round community programs.
Location
Venue & Accommodation
Marriott Long Beach DowntownParking:
Parking Garage Onsite : Overnight: $30, Day Rate: $25
A block of rooms has been reserved at the Marriott Long Beach Downtown at a reduced conference rate. Reservations should be made online or by calling (562) 437-5900. Please mention Southern California Exeuctive Summit to ensure the appropriate room rate.
Deadline to book using the discounted room rate of $207 USD (plus tax) is April 28, 2025.
Community Program Manager
For inquiries related to this community, please reach out to your dedicated contact.