For the largest manufacturer of furniture and the #1 furniture store brand in North America, a trusted data foundation was key to accelerating Ashley’s retail customer experience. Like many rapidly growing companies, data silos, and decentralized functions created complex challenges, but by implementing a holistic Master Data Management program, Ashley was able to rapidly increase the accessibility, quality, and operability of their data assets globally. Data practitioners and business leaders can join this session to hear a real-life use case that allowed for improved customer insights, governance, scalability, and growth.

Speaker: Louise Crooks

Louise is a collaborative technology leader, data architect, and data engineer with over 20 years of diverse experience across data warehousing and application development, building trust by prioritizing quality and accessibility and delivering bulletproof, scalable, long-lasting data solutions recognized as business assets. Microsoft, Data Management, and Agile certified, Louise knows how to transform enterprise data architecture to take advantage of cloud platforms, is an expert at mentoring and coaching team talent, retail industry domain expertise. Louise is innovative, strategic, articulate, and future-oriented.

Speaker: Michael Overholt

Mike Overholt is an Enterprise Data Architect at Ashley Furniture. In his 24-year career at Ashley Mike has also been a leader in integration architecture and development. He has spearheaded numerous initiatives, from developing enterprise integration strategies to leading the implementation of sophisticated API management systems. Mike's expertise extends across various domains, including application architecture, EDI management, and web development. His contributions have been instrumental in driving Ashley Furniture Industries' technological advancements and operational efficiency.