Executive Summit

Unlocking enterprise value from data and AI has emerged as a key measure of success for CDAOs. Demonstrating tangible outcomes from pilot projects and data hygiene investments - once a primary focus of data teams - has now shifted towards an expectation of immediate results. However, could the emphasis on speed and benchmarking against other organisations actually constrain your potential and that of your business? How do you find your own path to value, and build the strength of influence to action it?

Join this keynote session from Sarah James, Sr Director Analyst, Gartner, to hear insights on:

• How to identify the unique value path for your organisation instead of benchmarking your ambitions against industry averages and competitor use cases
• Practical approaches to balancing short-term demands for AI results with the long-term investments required to create sustainable business advantage
• Actions the most influential CDAOs are taking today to establish themselves as indispensable transformation leaders in an increasingly AI-driven enterprise

Organisations have spent years building their AI strategies, yet only a fraction are achieving scalable impact. The next frontier isn’t more strategy, it’s strategic execution powered by governance and automation. As human-centric workflows shift to ecosystems where AI agents and people are constantly interacting, strategy sets the direction, but agents will define who leads in the next decade.

Join this session to discuss::

• What it takes to shift pilots and experimentation to enterprise wide value creation
• How to create clean, connected, machine-readable data to enable autonomous systems
• What the future of a hybrid workforce, humans and AI Agents, looks like

As AI leadership becomes an increasingly important topic across the enterprise, the role of the Chief Data & Analytics Officer continues to evolve. CDAOs are aiming to redefine ownership of AI, data, and transformation — but one question remains at the centre of the discussion: what gives a leader the mandate to shape business change? In this interactive workshop, you will reflect on the themes, challenges, and opportunities raised throughout the Summit. Rather than presenting a single viewpoint, the session is designed to encourage open discussion, challenge assumptions, and explore how data leaders can expand their influence beyond governance into enterprise-wide transformation.

Join to discuss:

• Why some organisations have expanded the CDAO remit into AI leadership while others have not
• Whether data leaders are still too closely associated with governance and control rather than growth and innovation
• What capabilities, relationships, and outcomes give a data leader the right to lead enterprise AI initiatives
• How the CDAO role must evolve to remain strategically indispensable in an AI-driven organisation
• Whether the biggest challenge is organisational ownership, or earning the trust and credibility needed to lead business transformation