AI Elevates CDO Job From Gatekeeper to Data-Driven Change Agent
The chief data officer is being pushed out of the shadows and into the C-suite spotlight with the rise of artificial intelligence. While the role emerged as one rooted in compliance and risk management, it has evolved in recent years to be a business driver, holding the keys to value creation and human-centered transformation.
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“The chief data officer role really was established as a response to the financial services crisis in 2008-2009, because particularly in banking and financial services, they got the data wrong,” said Randy Bean, CEO and co-founder of NewVantage Partners, a data and AI strategy consulting firm. “It was a risk, compliance and regulatory role.”
As companies started to think about the data they held and how it could be used as a strategic asset for growth, serving customers and creating operational efficiencies, the role began to evolve, said Bean, author of “Fail Fast, Learn Faster: Lessons in Data-Driven Leadership.”
“The role of the chief data officer emerged from that more strategic mandate, so that the person in charge of data is not just somebody who is highly technical … but somebody who could really think strategically about how data and analytics and now AI play a critical role in helping an organization achieve their strategic business objectives or even transform the business,” said Rita Sallam, distinguished vice president analyst and fellow at Gartner.
The 2026 AI & Data Executive Leadership Benchmark Survey, conducted by Bean, shows that data leadership has moved from a back-office function into the limelight for organizations. In its inaugural report in 2012, only 12% of companies surveyed had CDOs. This year, 90% do and 99% of survey participants said that investments in data and AI lead organizational priorities.
“AI – love it or hate it – is going to be the most transformational technology of this generation,” Bean said, adding that the transformation relies on data.
“There is no AI without data. And so data plays a key role,” Sallam said. “The CDAO role will become more important – not less – as AI becomes more of an imperative.”
Therefore, having someone in the role of a chief data or chief data and analytics officer should be a strategic priority for companies that have bold AI ambitions.
Organizations with the highest maturity of AI-ready data and analytical capabilities see up to 26% greater business outcomes, including revenue growth and cost optimization, Sallam said. Yet, the lack of quality data is still a top barrier to AI, driving over 75% of organizations to prioritize AI-ready data investments over the next year.
For CDOs, the role is increasingly a blend of business strategy, technology execution and human-centered design.
“The role has evolved quite a bit from a pure technology role focused on data analytics and AI to a blend of business and technology as well,” said Fran Bell, chief data, AI and analytics officer at Ford Motor Company. “We see the application of AI into our business and alignment with business strategy as absolutely front and center.”
Ford has brought together multiple disciplines under one roof in data analytics and AI that go beyond the technical function, she said. Bell’s team has designers, product managers and software engineers who all work hand-in-hand with business teams to keep user experience and a human-centric approach top of mind as they jointly identify opportunities and co-develop business, AI and technology strategy.
“I’m a huge believer in human-AI teams, where humans are augmented by AI,” Bell said. “That means really rethinking the way that humans use technology, making sure it’s intuitive to use for individuals.”
The biggest barrier to the effective use of data and AI isn’t technology – it’s often human beings. Cultural challenges and change management were cited as the key challenges to data and AI adoption by 93% of survey respondents, Bean said. Meanwhile, only 7% blamed technology.
“There’s an abundance of technology, so it’s how do you get organizations and people to adopt in a way that is helpful, augments their activities and is seen as being beneficial as opposed to making them fearful,” Bean said. “People don’t like change.”
Today’s chief data officer wears many hats, and titles can vary from organization to organization. Many are CDOs, but some, like Bell, also oversee analytics or AI.
But managing a cross-functional team doesn’t mean a leader has to be an expert in each discipline. “They should be an expert in the business,” Bell said.
Bean’s 2026 survey found that 38% of companies reported having chief AI officers, but reporting lines vary. He recommends that AI officers report to chief data officers, but only 30% of those surveyed align their organizations that way. Other options included business leadership (27%), technology leadership (34%) or transformation leadership (9%).
“There’s no one size fits all. There’s no magic bullet,” Bean said. Companies will need to decide for themselves how they want to organize their leadership teams based on how they’re prioritizing data, AI and analytics.
Despite how teams are organized, the data leader’s mandate is clear. “The CDAO is responsible ultimately for delivering highly discoverable, high-quality, safe, reusable data – and converting that into intelligence for people and for AI,” Sallam said.
Collaboration across the C-suite is necessary for success. “Everyone has an important piece of the puzzle,” Bell said. “We work very closely with our chief strategy officer to think about the long-term deployment of AI … and with finance to quantify impact.”
Effective CDO’s in the AI-era are therefore those who lead with business outcomes, not those who implement technology for technology’s sake. They build human-centered, trustworthy AI capabilities across business units and make sure their teams are aligned. They are enterprise-wide collaborators and ultimately change agents.
“The most effective data and AI leaders are always asking: What business problem are we trying to solve?” Bean said. “It matters less what the role is called than the role it plays in helping the organization succeed.”