We are excited to announce the fourth annual Informatica CDO Awards, honoring exceptional data leaders who are redefining what’s possible from data and AI to accelerate new business value.

As organizations drive toward data and AI readiness, these leaders stand at the forefront — empowering their enterprises with trusted data, operationalizing AI at scale and building resilient, innovation-driven cultures.

This year’s CDO Awards continue to celebrate global nominee excellence across four categories that reflect the evolving priorities of today’s modern data leaders.

Data Strategy Gurus – leaders driving innovation within data analytics, data quality, efficiency/automation, timely data delivery, utilization, compliance and risk management.

• Laure de Montandon, CDO, Volkswagen Group France
• Rakesh Kalyankar, Head of Data Services, AustralianSuper
• Jo Ohazo, CDO, Advantage Solutions

AI Visionaries – leaders advancing organizational capabilities with trusted data to solve today’s AI adoption challenges.

• Alberto Marco, CDO, Seguros RGA
• Andy Ta, CDAO, Synapxe

Literacy Luminaries – leaders upskilling teams for the future of AI & ML, analytics and visualization, engineering, governance, architecture, and/or DataOps.

• Rakshit Kapoor, CDO, Chubb
• Edgar Nuñez, CDO, Coca-Cola FEMSA (KOF)
• Tul Roteseree, CDO, Bank of Ayudhya (Krungsri)

Performance Optimizer – leaders overcoming the challenges of managing increasing data consumers, volume and variety of data and risk with a full view of the data estate.

• Steven Sottana, Chief Data Strategist, CA Department of Health Care Access & Information
• Patrick Witasse, CDO, GERFLOR
• David Thomas, CDO, New Zealand Post

This year’s honorees embody the core themes identified in Informatica’s latest research. According to the 2025 CDO Insights report, the race to AI leadership is intensifying: 87% of organizations plan to increase generative AI (GenAI) investment in 2025, with a parallel surge in data management initiatives.

Yet, as the CDO Insights report highlights, true AI readiness demands more than investment — it requires disciplined data and AI governance, trusted data and a culture of learning and accountability.

Award winners are not just prototyping — they are operationalizing data and AI with a focus on measurable business outcomes, responsible governance and workforce enablement. They tackle persistent challenges: from bridging the gap between pilot and production, to navigating regulatory complexity, to driving ethical and explainable AI at scale.

Their work exemplifies today's shift from experimentation to enterprise-wide integration, leveraging unified data foundations and automated governance frameworks to deliver value and manage risk.

This year’s CDOs are setting the pace for the agentic AI era. They are integrating data and AI governance frameworks that enable autonomy at scale with accountability, investing in upskilling to democratize AI innovation and measuring success with KPIs.

Their leadership is transforming data and AI from siloed initiatives into durable, strategic capabilities fueling operational efficiency, customer experience, compliance readiness and new business models across the cloud, supply chains and more.

Today’s CDOs don’t just keep pace with technology, they define the future of the intelligent enterprise. We invite you to learn from these trailblazers and explore the insights shaping the future of data and AI strategy:

• Download the full CDO Insights 2025: Racing Ahead on GenAI and Data Investments While Navigating Potential Speed Bumps report
• Download CDO Strategies to Unlock Value in the Agentic AI Era.
• Read the CDO Magazine feature article this October, spotlighting this year’s award winners!