Continuing the themes of our Keynote presentation, how do you help build a data-driven culture and "become the change" yourself?

1. Part of “being the change,” involves recognizing that we have customers and reaching out to them to better understand their needs. What are some things you’ve personally done to recognize and engage your customers?
2. How do you overcome fear in the face of budget pressures, reorganizations, and other constraints? How can you build your personal courage and the courage of those around you?
3. One of the key tenets of change management is “actionable first steps.” What are some things you can do immediately to “be the change?”

Speaker: Thomas Redman

Founder and President, Data Quality Solutions

Dr. Thomas C. Redman, “the Data Doc,” President of Data Quality Solutions, helps companies of all sizes, chart their courses to data-driven futures, with special emphasis on quality and analytics.  Tom’s recent book, People and Data: Uniting to Transform Your Business (Kogan Page Publications, July 2023) makes the transformational advice that companies must get everyone involved in their data programs.   He has a Ph.D. in Statistics and two patents.

Speaker: C. Lwanga Yonke

Founder and President, Padouk Consulting, LLC

C. Lwanga Yonke is the Founder and President of Padouk Consulting, LLC. In that capacity, he helps organizations boost their business results by improving the quality of their most important data. During a distinguished career as an information leader, Lwanga has successfully designed and implemented projects in multiple areas, including information quality, data governance, business intelligence, data warehousing, data architecture, and building a data culture. His initial experience is in petroleum engineering and operations.

An established information quality expert, Lwanga holds an MBA from California State University, Bakersfield, and a BS degree in petroleum engineering from the University of California at Berkeley. A strong believer in process improvement, he also held the ASQ Certified Quality Engineer credential. Lwanga is actively engaged in various volunteer projects and community service activities.

Speaker: Carol Kim

Executive Director, IBM Enterprise Data, IBM Corporation

Carol Kim is an Executive Director at IBM, a world leader in information technology headquartered in Armonk, New York, with more than 260,000 employees operating in over 170 countries. IBM Enterprise Data’s mission is to empower all employees to perform at their best by providing one trusted source of secure, data-driven business insights.

Ms. Kim brings more than 20 years of experience in IBM leadership roles spanning various finance and operations disciplines (Chief Data Office, Finance and Planning, Pricing, Treasury), geographies (Americas, Asia), and business models (Services, Hardware, Software). She is a finance, data, and business transformation expert. She has consistently and successfully scaled operations, driven growth, and improved profitability by effectively leading teams to adopt new business models rapidly and effectively at key inflection points in the company’s lifecycle. Examples of key transitions include the creation and scaling of the Global Chief Data Office and Data and AI Platform for IBM, leading IBM’s data strategy, internal and external data management, data governance, technology architecture, tools, modeling, and transforming data into business value.

Ms. Kim is a leader who successfully builds high-trust relationships with both Internal and external partners, her business degree and ability in technology supply a unique knowledge and skill set that helps the organization across all sides of finance and technology. She has received numerous recognitions for her ability, most recently the 2023 Most Influential People in Data by dataiq100, 2023 & 2022 Global Data Power Women by CDO Magazine, and the 2022 Top 25 Data Strategy Influencer by Databand.ai. She is passionate about lifelong learning and making a difference in the world. Carol is an Advisory Board Member to the College Board, a sponsor to various DE&I groups, a US Certified Public Accountant, a Harvard Business School and Korea University alum, and currently resides in Westchester, New York.

Speaker: Marilu Lopez

Founder and Data Management Consultant, SEGDA

Marilu is CEO of SEGDA, a firm focused on Data Management education and on helping organizations define their Data Strategies and implement their Data Management Operating Models. Marilu's recent book "Data Strategies For Data Governance" describes a comprehensive and pragmatic method that involves people from all the organization. She´s a founder and past president of the DAMA (Data Management Association) Mexico Chapter; former DAMA Regional Coordinator for Latin America; former DAMA International Presidents' Council Chairperson, and currently DAMA International VP of Chapter Services. She worked for more than 30 years in the financial sector in one of the leading banks in Mexico, dedicating more than 15 years to data management practices. Marilu holds a CDMP (Certified Data Management Professional) Master, issued by DAMA International, and a CIMP (Certified Information Management Professional)  in Data Governance, Data Quality, and Information Management issued by eLearning Curve. She is also a TOGAF-certified professional, certified by The Open Group.