Chas Murphy is Senior Vice President of Data & Analytics at The Walt Disney Company, where he leads data strategy across its streaming portfolio. A seasoned analytics executive, he has built a career leveraging data science, analytics, strategy, and research to deliver measurable business impact across media, entertainment, and automotive sectors.
Over the course of his career, Chas has led three major data-driven turnarounds, generating millions in revenue and profit growth. His expertise in ML and experimentation has produced high-performing propensity models, content recommendation engines, and forecasting systems that have outperformed leading firms. His work has delivered nine-figure net profit impact and, earlier in his career, even influenced automotive design decisions that drove increased vehicle sales.
Prior to Disney, Chas served as SVP of Data Science, Analytics, and Research at SiriusXM, including Pandora. There, he executed a comprehensive analytics transformation roadmap that delivered significant cost savings, automation, personalized marketing capabilities, and enterprise-wide data democratization.
At Disney, Chas focuses on the consumer subscription business, uncovering insights into the product, content, brand, and marketing levers that most directly influence growth and retention. His teams have launched AI-driven solutions that automate decision-making, enhance measurement, and directly improve business performance.
As a data and AI leader, which traits and skills do you think matter most, and which of those have been most influential for you in your current position?
“Culture eats strategy for breakfast. And, as I teach in academia to aspiring CDOs and CDAIOs, it’s our role as leaders to drive a culture of change and impact, not just one of a support organization.
“I summarize this culture with my first principles, or ‘the four I’s’:
“Impact: Align to stakeholder priorities, then prioritize all D&A projects by business impact to drive those results.
“Integrity: Even a small improvement in precision can make an outsized business impact, but so can a small error. We have a great deal of responsibility and accountability to our stakeholders, so using triangulation, multiple methods, sources, and minds against a problem wins.
“Intellectual Tenacity: The concept of no best, only better. Of not settling on an answer but striving for the best answer. This is the secret sauce that I’ve seen separates mediocre D&A orgs and extraordinary teams.
“Innovation: Ever-evolve. If you’re not innovating to be better, smarter, and faster all the time, your competition is.”
Reflecting on your career, what is one non-traditional piece of advice (outside of technical skills) you would give to an aspiring data or AI leader aiming for the C-suite?
“I’m humbled to have been called a great speaker throughout my career. But the greatest speaker I ever knew was my previous CEO and mentor. I asked him once how he does what he does. He would draw in the audience, make the hair stand up on the back of your neck from inspiration, and leave with everyone charged up and passionate about the call to action.
“His answer was simple: ‘I just speak on what I absolutely, emphatically, believe deep in my heart.’
“Telling stories is hard. Telling compelling stories from data is almost impossible for all audiences. Whenever you have the opportunity to be in the spotlight, stop, relook at your presentation, and ask yourself what really matters here, and what do I absolutely, emphatically believe? Then talk about that. Your career will thank you for it.”