E54 | Chief Data Concerns with Heidi Lanford | Pondering AI

Heidi Lanford connects data to cocktails and campaigns while considering the nature of data disruption, getting from analytics to AI, and using data with confidence.
Heidi studied mathematics and statistics and never looked back. Reflecting on analytics then and now, she confirms the appetite for data has never been higher. Yet adoption, momentum and focus remain evergreen barriers. Heidi issues a cocktail party challenge while discussing the core competencies of effective data leaders.
Heidi believes data and CDOs are disruptive by nature. But this only matters if your business incentives are properly aligned. She revels in agile experimentation while counseling that speed is not enough. We discuss how good old-fashioned analytics put the right pressure on the foundational data needed for AI.
Heidi then campaigns for endemic data literacy. Along the way she pans JIT holiday training and promotes confident decision making as the metric that matters. Never saying never, Heidi celebrates human experts and the spotlight AI is shining on data.
Heidi Lanford is a Global Chief Data & Analytics Officer who has served as Chief Data Officer (CDO) at the Fitch Group and VP of Enterprise Data & Analytics at Red Hat (IBM). In 2023, Heidi co-founded two AI startups LiveFire AI and AIQScore. Heidi serves as a Board Member at the University of Virginia School of Data Science, is a Founding Board Member of the Data Leadership Collaborative, and an Advisor to Domino Data Labs and Linea.
View the transcript of this episode here: pondering-ai.transistor.fm/ep...
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Episode highlights
00:00 - Welcome
03:50 - Making the Case for Data (at Cocktail Parties)
12:34 - Bridging Expectations and Reality
17:20 - Good Old-Fashioned Analytics vs. AI
27:41 - Data Disruption and Aligned Incentives
34:53 - Data Literacy Looks Like…
43:46 - Expertise Isn’t Going Extinct
More about Heidi Lanford
◉ Heidi Lanford - / heidilanford
◉ LiveFire AI - livefire.ai/
◉ Data Leadership Collaborative - www.dataleadershipcollaborati...
Additional resources
◉ SAS Responsible Innovation - www.sas.com/responsible-innov...
◉ SAS AI Solutions - www.sas.com/ai
◉ SAS Viya - Data and AI Platform - www.sas.com/viya
* Disclaimer: All presentations represent the opinions of the presenter and do not represent the position or the opinion of SAS.
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