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. A transcript of this episode is here.

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