Lori Schafer in Forbes Tech Council: Why Today's CEO Must Also Be The Chief Data Evangelist

Read the original article in Forbes Technology Council here.

If data is the lifeblood of an organization, shouldn’t the CEO be the chief of medicine, so to speak? Inside data-driven enterprises, it makes sense for the leading data evangelist to be the head of the company.

Too often, data ownership or stewardship falls to individual users, which can lead to data misuse, silos or inconsistencies. Some companies might designate a data officer to shepherd the flow of data, but ownership should sit higher.

Ultimately, a company’s business performance rests with the CEO—and so should responsibility and accountability for data and insights, and the processes that bring them to life.

Why Data Leadership Starts At The Top

Research shows that companies with data and AI officers in place more soundly invest in data and analytics; however, those chief data officers (CDOs) often leave within two years. One reason for this high turnover could be a lack of executive buy-in from the CEO, leaving CDOs feeling frustrated and unsupported. Others may struggle with disrupted data streams caused by poor governance or decentralized ownership.

Whatever the reason, there’s seemingly a disconnect happening at the CDO level, adding one more reason why CEOs should take total ownership of the data process. If companies are going to lean more on AI and data analytics, CEOs need to be the data champions, treating data as a strategic asset, aligning teams around it and shaping a unified vision for AI-powered performance.

What It Takes To Be A Chief Data Evangelist

Data and AI are no longer just IT responsibilities; they’re core business. While data scientists and engineers may sit under a CDO, a CEO who acts as chief data evangelist needs to influence how teams are structured, how data is shared and how processes are standardized, all while fostering innovation to scale insights across the enterprise.

This may sound like a tall order, but being a data evangelist is about evolving alongside the organization’s growing reliance on data. A recent Deloitte report found that roughly half of surveyed senior executives believe the greatest benefit of analytics is improved decision-making, yet many acknowledge that companies still lack the resources to fully capitalize on their data.

Under a CEO's leadership, organizations can make a stronger push to harness, enrich and put data into action, saving time and money across the organization and accelerating workflows. Acting as chief data evangelist means leading pivotal efforts, including:

• Unifying Data: Ensuring all sources feed into one trusted system of record

• Cleaning Data With AI: Deploying solutions that automatically cleanse and enrich data as it enters the ecosystem

• Automating Processing: Streamlining availability so insights flow faster to the teams who need them

• Governing Effectively: Setting clear guardrails on how teams access and use data

• Driving End-To-End Visibility: Guaranteeing real-time access across the enterprise

The actions above are not back-office tasks—they’re cultural imperatives. And culture starts at the top.

Key Tasks And Characteristics Of A Data Evangelist

Being a chief data evangelist requires as much emphasis on leadership and culture as on technology. A CEO must:

• Set the tone for a data-driven culture.

• Align data strategy with business goals.

• Drive accountability for data ownership.

• Foster innovation through data.

• Break down data silos.

• Establish governance.

• Build trust through transparency.

CEOs have always been tasked with setting a vision for the company. Today, that also means building a culture where data is trusted, shared and used to power growth. This evolution could lead to seeing more CDOs rising to CEO roles, rather than companies defaulting to traditional finance-driven minds to head an organization.

How The Role Of The CEO Has Changed

As analytics, AI and data become inseparable from performance, CEOs will be expected to lead on data culture and usage. Gartner predicts that "by 2027, more than half of chief data and analytics officers (CDAOs) will secure funding for data literacy and artificial intelligence (AI) literacy programs," reflecting how critical it is to build a workforce fluent in data.

Creating alignment around a single source of truth and accelerating decisions with confidence requires a leader who sees data not just as a tool, but as the lifeblood of enterprise growth. That leader is, and must be, the CEO.