Are you leading a data program in your organization? Do you feel like you’re being pulled in numerous directions - selling your ideas, fighting for resources, developing new processes, and so on?

The challenges you’re facing, while frustrating, are the same ones faced by entrepreneurs! There are key entrepreneurial skills that can help you with your data program, whether you’re a pioneer and just starting out for the first time, fighting for survival, or whether you’ve found great success and are determining your next steps. Join this session to fill the gap on what you may have missed in business school! 

Speaker: Danette McGilvray

President and Principal, Granite Falls

An internationally respected expert, Danette McGilvray is known for her Ten Steps™ approach, used by multiple industries as a proven method for increasing the value of data through quality and governance. It applies to operational processes and focused initiatives such as security, analytics, digital transformation, artificial intelligence, data science, and compliance. Danette guides leaders and staff as they connect business strategy to practical steps for implementation. As president and principal of Granite Falls Consulting, Inc., Danette is committed to the appropriate and effective use of technology and addressing the human aspect of data management through communication, change management, and engaging with people. Danette is the author of Executing Data Quality Projects: Ten Steps to Quality Data and Trusted Information™, 2nd Ed. (Elsevier/Academic Press, 2021), often described as a “classic” or noted as one of the “top ten” data management books.

Speaker: Aakriti Agrawal

Manager, Data Governance, American Express

Aakriti Agrawal, MBA, CDMP Practitioner, is a Manager of Data Governance at American Express. Prior to this, she helped build a data governance program at Ameritas. She has a Master's degree with a focus in organizational and nonprofit change. On the side, she enjoys philanthropy and social entrepreneurship. She co-founded a nonprofit, Girls Code Lincoln, and is in the process of starting her second nonprofit, The Nonprofiting Org. Through her professional and philanthropic experiences, Aakriti has been able to practice effective change leadership by generating buy-in, developing processes, and creating robust programs that grow and thrive. She has been recognized with the Inspire Founders Award and the Emerging Young Leaders Award, has been nominated to the Forbes 30 Under 30 List, and serves on numerous boards of national and international nonprofits.