CDO Magazine gathered senior data, analytics, and AI executives at Quality Italian in New York on August 18 for an Executive Boardroom Dinner on “From Real-Time Data to Trusted Action in the Age of AI.”

Leaders explored how AI is raising expectations for data quality, speed, and governance, while shifting priorities from building data infrastructure to proving business value at scale. The open discussion, moderated by Tim Richer, IBM Director, Product Marketing, Data, AI & Z, and Viktor Gamov, Confluent Principal Developer Advocate, also examined how organizations can enable faster action without sacrificing trust and control.

For Cat Ihonvbere, JPMorganChase Executive Director & Head, Analytics Controls for Commerce Enablement, the discussion reflected how data leadership itself is changing.

“Two years ago, the conversation was about building the infrastructure for data; last night’s dinner was great discussions around the wins and challenges of proving its value,” Ihonvbere notes. “True analytics leadership is no longer about managing scale, but about navigating shift—translating raw potential into meaningful, strategic impact amid constant evolution.”

That shift is also changing how leaders approach governance. David Krauza, Comcast VP, Data Strategy, Products & Governance, says, “Great dinner and even better peers. What I heard last night was that we’ve stopped selling governance as protection and started selling it as speed, and once governance is what lets AI ship faster, the funding conversation changes.”

Bryce Macher, FanDuel VP, AI Engineering, offers another perspective: “The most pointed thread of the night was what happens when AI reconfigures how humans make decisions, and governance quietly becomes overhead we carry out of habit. We’re applying data governance built for scarcity to an information domain defined by abundance, then treating the drag as discipline.”

The exchange of perspectives across organizations was another recurring thread. “As AI continues to transform industries at an unprecedented pace, forums like this play a critical role in bringing together leaders to exchange ideas, share lessons learned, and explore emerging opportunities,” emphasizes Zulfiqar Ahmed, Wells Fargo Executive Director, Enterprise AI Product & Strategy. “The evening provided a meaningful and thought-provoking dialogue, reinforcing the value of community, collaboration, and collective learning in translating AI innovation into tangible business outcomes and executing AI strategies effectively at scale.”

“Being in a room full of data and AI leaders at the CDO Magazine dinner is one of the best ways to cut through the noise,” adds Christopher Di Gioia, PGIM Investments VP & Head, Product Data Governance. “These conversations help frame the real stories and perspectives shaping how technology is transforming our industries and the world around us.”

For Gerri Caveness, CDO Magazine Community Director, something else stood out: “Last night had that thing you can’t put on an agenda. The right people, the right energy, and conversations about AI and data kept going. Over 30 brilliant tech rockstars walked into a room in New York, pulled up a chair, and something just clicked. Ideas got challenged. Connections got made. And the room took on a life of its own! You can plan an event. You can curate a guest list. But you can’t manufacture chemistry. Last night, we didn’t have to. Some rooms carry more weight than others.This was one of them!”

Tim Richer, IBM Director, Product Marketing, Data, AI & Z, concludes, “The role of the data leader has never been more essential as organizations look to access and provide real-time, context-rich and governed data to advance enterprise AI initiatives. The discussions highlighted great best practice sharing across industry leaders.”

Special thanks to IBM for making this event such a resounding success. 

Executives attending the CDO Magazine New York Executive Boardroom Dinner included: 

Neha Agarwal, IEX Group Equities Project Management Lead; Zulfiqar Ahmed, Wells Fargo Executive Director, Enterprise AI Product & Strategy; Sung Ho Ahn, DTCC Managing Director, Deputy General Auditor, Clearing & Securities Services, Risk & Data; Sol Benjamin, JPMorganChase VP, Product Semantic Intelligence & Data Agent Platforms; Tushar Chahal, Numisma Bank Chief Technology Officer; Christopher Di Gioia, PGIM Investments VP & Head, Product Data Governance; Brandon Dombroski, MUFG Managing Director & Head, Data Quality & Data Platform Business Ownership; Uday Gulvadi, Stout Managing Director; Cat Ihonvbere, JPMorganChase Executive Director & Head, Analytics Controls for Commerce Enablement; Nina Kalidas, Colgate-Palmolive Director, Data Governance & Privacy Enablement; David Krauza, Comcast VP, Data Strategy, Products & Governance; Lily Li, Franklin Templeton Head, AI Adoption & Solutions; Bryce Macher, Fan Duel VP, AI Engineering; James Massa, JPMorganChase Sr. Executive Director, Software Engineering & Architecture; Ophelia Mendoza, JPMorganChase Product Manager; Omar Saleem Mohammed, JPMorganChase VP, AI Solutions; Arup Nanda, AIG SVP & Global Head of Data; Aylin Nazlim, Estee Lauder Director, Program Management; Shantanu Pal, Blankfein Scholes Capital Chief Information Security Officer; Dhru Patel, JPMorganChase VP, Digital Wallets; Wilmarie Rios, Synchrony VP & Head, Internal Consumer & Partner Data Solutions; Lia Rogers, MSCI Head, Client Insights & Analytics; Toacca Rutherford, (Former) JPMorganChase Managing Director; Laure Salomon, CVS Health VP, Consumer Analytics & Data Science; Loucas Tsiartas, Broadridge Financial Solutions VP, Sustainability Data, Strategy & PMO; Julia Barnett, IBM Field Marketing Manager; Viktor Gamov, Confluent Principal Developer Advocate; Dave Mitchell, IBM VP, Data Platform Sales; Tim Richer, IBM Director, Product Marketing, Data, AI & Z; Gerri Caveness, CDO Magazine Community Director; Camille Prado, CDO Magazine Global Editor.