Top 10 Influential Data Leaders to Follow in 2019

Ben Lorica is the current Chief Data Scientist and Program Chair for Strata Data, the AI conference, and TensorFlow world. He’s also the Chief Data Scientist for O’Reilly Media Inc, a company that helps teams, individuals, and enterprises alike to develop the skills they need to thrive in the modern world through data and digital transformation. 

Lorica is an expert in applying business intelligence and data mining strategies to a host of business settings. This spans across fields such as consumer and market research, direct marketing, targeted advertising, and even financial engineering. During his extensive career, Ben has spent time working in investment management companies, internet start-ups, and more. Today, he shares his latest updates, articles, and insights on Twitter, and connects with peers on LinkedIn. 

Donna Burbank is the sensational Managing Director for Global Data Strategy Ltd. She is also a recognised thought leader in the data industry. Donna has more than 20 years of experience in metadata management, enterprise architecture, and consulting. Within Global Data Strategy, she helps the business deliver growth opportunities to companies with intuitive consulting and state-of-the-art data insights. 

Burbank has served in product management and brand strategy roles with CA Technologies and Embarcadero technologies in the past. Today, she actively contributes to the data management community as President of the DAMA Rocky Mountain Chapter. She’s also a member of the Finalization Taskforce for Business Process Modelling Notation. Donna has a regularly updated LinkedIn account where you can learn more about her work. She’s also active on Twitter. 

An inspirational mind in IT and a self-professed “data whisperer,” Jen Stirrup is the Director of Data Relish. She is also an analyst, author, SQL Server MVP, and data strategist. Jen has two decades of experience working with big data, data visualisation, and business intelligence. She’s the founder of a consultancy company that offers advice and implementation opportunities in a host of advanced data technologies. 

Over the years, Jen has developed her skills as a Microsoft MVP, regional director, technical community advocate, and keynote speaker. She’s a published author of books on artificial intelligence, Tableau, and Power BI. As well as this, she is frequently listed as one of the top Big Data Experts in the world. Since 1997, Jen has been building her knowledge in all things data and development. Today, you can find her on LinkedIn and Twitter. We’ve also conducted our own interview with Jen Stirrup here at EM360.

Doug Laney is a Principal Data Strategist at Caserta today – a company committed to helping businesses evolve with innovative data and analytics solutions. However, before joining the Caserta team, Laney was already developing his position as a thought leader, writing posts for Forbes, teaching at the University of Illinois, and acting as a guest lecturer on Infonomics for prestigious business schools like MIT, Drexel University, and the University of Georgia. 

Laney has also been working as VP and Analyst with the Chief Data Officer advisory team at Gartner. He also co-founded the Deloitte Analytics Institute, which led the expansion efforts of Deloitte’s data and analytics strategy practice. 

You can find Doug sharing his thoughts on LinkedIn or providing excellent data guidance on Twitter. Laney also has a best-selling book on Amazon called “Infonomics: How to Monetize, Manage, and Measure Information for Competitive Advantage.” 

Ronald Van Loon is a dedicated data analyst and thought leader in the digital landscape. Over the years, he’s worked with numerous companies to help them rediscover business value through data science, digital transformation, and business intelligence. 

Today, Van Loon works with data-driven companies to help them unlock new business value and achieve their corporate goals. He also writes articles for various publications across the web and offers public webinars where interested people can learn how to make the most of IoT, analytics, and data science for themselves. 

When he’s not sharing his insights with more than 150,000 social media followers and fans, Ronald also has his own LinkedIn Group. You can find him on Twitter too.

Matt Aslett is the VP of Research for 451 Research, a company that delivers global insights and analytics for service and technology providers. 451 Research works with financial professionals, enterprise IT leaders, and technology vendors to help them capitalise on the changing landscape, with help from immersive data analytics. 

Matt is responsible for the AI and Analytics channel at 451 research, covering everything from data governance to stream processing, Hadoop, data management, data science, and machine learning. Today, he’s a regular speaker at industry events and has delivered keynotes at panels like the DataWorks Summit, NoSQL Roadshow, and Google Cloud Next. Aslett is also one of the top 200 thought leaders in the field of analytics and big data, according to AnalyticsWeek. 

Find Matt on LinkedIn, Twitter, and the 451 Research blog. 

Peter Jackson is a passionate data expert with years of experience in helping companies unlock the hidden value of their internal information. Before he started his career with Group Data Sciences, Peter was the Chief Data Officer at Southern Water. Here, he was responsible for developing and delivering an advanced data analytics and insights strategy for the organisation. During this time, he spoke with us about the importance of CDOs. Jackson also has a history with The Pensions Regulator group in the UK, which regulates pensions and automatic enrolment for the UK. 

Jackson’s commitment to data science inspired him to co-author The Chief Data Officer’s Playbook. Also, in 2019, he produced a new book named “Data-Driven Business Transformation”. Peter has been a keynote speaker for various leading conferences, discussing everything from smart cities to data leadership and governance. You can find him on LinkedIn here. 

With speciality skills in machine learning, Python, data science, and segmentation for analysis, Lillian Pierson has unique insight into the data world. She has also worked in digital marketing positions, helping businesses drive their brand awareness strategies forward with social media, landing pages, and email marketing content. As well as this, Lillian is an expert in developing data strategy plans. She helps assist business leaders in managing immersive big data initiatives. 

As a Data Strategist for Data-Mania, Lillian supports ambitious students in the data landscape, helping them discover how to use the latest tools for clustering, regression, classification, and network analysis. She also offers webinars on data science, building recommendation systems, and using Python for Data science training. You can find her on LinkedIn here. 

For years, Tom Pringle has been developing his skills as a subject matter expert in analytical technologies, information and data management, and the evolution of innovative enterprise applications. He has been responsible for research and consulting projects, supporting in-depth market research papers and reports, and uncovering the hidden secrets of the data market. For over five years, Tom was the Head of Technology Research at , specialising in AI, data, and analytics. 

Today, Pringle is the VP of Technology Research for the G2 brand. Also, he regularly posts intriguing articles on LinkedIn about the ethical use of artificial intelligence, digital transformation in a data-driven era, and how analytics are crucial to the future of business growth. 

Charles Ewen is a mastermind in technology and IT solutions, with a long-standing history in data analytics. Today, Ewen works as the CIO and Technology Director of the Met Office. He’s responsible for handling their various components of technology, as well as managing an engineering team of 350 people.

Previously, Charles Ewen spoke with us about the agile technology and data analytics strategies that go into keeping one of the world’s biggest climate and weather-related companies running. Charles also runs an active profile on LinkedIn.