Be a Successful CDO in Government

Government agencies are creating Chief Data Officer (CDO) positions. People hired into these new positions get to shape the role and the organization. While there is no lack of data, the operating structures, processes, and rules vary a lot.

I was hired as the first CDO in one of the state agencies with no counterparts in the state government. I was given a well-written, long position description, and management support to act, but no team or budget. In this session, I will share the strategies I used to grow data maturity and what lessons I learned along the way.

The session will offer a practical guide to those interested in government data careers on how to get a successful start as a CDO, build relationships with IT and business, and define data value for elected officials.

Attendees will learn about these topics:

• Defining the CDO’s executive sponsor
• Creating and navigating data governance councils
• Speeding up data use agreements
• Building a powerful relationship with the CIO
• Data management tools on a shoestring budget
• Data engineer, data architect, data analyst, communications person, data ethics mediator, yes you get to do all these jobs as a CDO.

Speaker: Milda Aksamitauskas

Milda is an experienced data and analytics strategist. As the first Chief Data Officer at the Wisconsin Department of Justice, she established the data governance and analytics infrastructure from the ground up, started a data governance group, and created the first data catalog. Milda’s professional brand is due to her strong commitment to public service, gained through 20 years of experience working in state and local government. Milda has served as an economist at the Department of Revenue, a senior policy analyst in the Medicaid program, and led a research scientist team at the Office of Health Informatics. She is an invited contributor of posts about government data, including a featured article, "Should a government form ask for your race?" Intrigued by the new possibilities during the pandemic, Milda self-arranged a data governance consulting project in an EU country where she provided expert guidance for a country-wide open data initiative.