Chief Data Officer

A chief data officer (CDO) is a corporate officer who is the manager for enterprise-wide data processing and data mining. The CDO typically reports to the chief technology officer (CTO) or the chief executive officer (CEO) or the Chief Strategy Officer (CSO).

The role of manager for data processing was not elevated to that of senior management prior to the 1980s. As organizations have recognized the importance of information technology as well as business intelligence, data integration and data processing to the fundamental functioning of everyday business, this role has become more visible and crucial. This role includes defining strategic priorities for the company in the area of data systems and opportunities, identifying new business opportunities pertaining to data, optimizing revenue generation through data, and generally representing data as a strategic business asset at the executive table.

With the rise in service-oriented architectures (SOA), large-scale system integration, and heterogeneous data storage/exchange mechanisms (databases, XML, EDI, etc.), it is necessary to have a high-level individual, who possesses a combination of business knowledge, technical skills, and people skills, guide data strategy. Besides the revenue opportunities, acquisition strategy, and customer data policies, the chief data officer is charged with explaining the strategic value of data and its important role as a business asset and revenue driver to executives, employees, and customers. This contrasts with the older view of data systems as mere back-end IT systems.

Cathryne Clay Doss of Capital One was appointed chief data officer in 2003. Usama Fayyad, Chief Data Officer and Senior Vice President of Yahoo!, was also one of the first individuals known to officially hold this job title. Another person who held this title is Thomas Mueller, chief data officer at Allied Management Group. Most Capital Markets and Insurance companies, subsequent to the credit crisis of 2008, created the CDO role to ensure quality data for regulatory and risk management as well as analytic reporting. John Bottega became the chief data officer of CitiGroup's Corporate and Investment Banking (CIB) unit. He is currently the CDO of the New York Federal Reserve and Chairman of the EDM Council. Major cities like San Francisco, Chicago, and New York also added the Chief Data Officer to office.

Mario Faria, a director of Boa Vista Serviços, a credit bureau information services company based in São Paulo, Brazil, is the first chief data officer of Latin America and was appointed for the position in September 2011.

More recently, with the adoption of Data_Science the Chief Data Officer is sometimes looked upon as the key strategy person either reporting to the Chief Strategy Officer or serving the role of CSO in lieu of one. He has responsibility of measurement along various business lines and consequently defining the strategy for the next growth opportunities, product offerings, markets to pursue, competitors to look at etc. We see this in organizations like Chartis, AllState and Fidelity