Headline Partner

Hema Yalamanchi, Global Chief Data Officer, The Kraft Heinz Company

Describe your career to date

My interest in business, making an impact professionally, and driving value have steered me towards a career in data and analytics. Having strong fundamentals in science and technology and a passion for business allowed me to problem solve and innovate with a holistic approach. Data and analytics is a very exciting field to be in, where we can make a huge difference by creating connected enterprises and a connected world.

How are you developing the data literacy of your organization, including the skills of your data teams and of your business stakeholders?

I have taken an approach to data literacy that prioritizes enabling the business. Education, training, and change management are very important components to drive success. I have worked with various partners to develop literacy programs that allowed for data democratization, to harness the power of data. The approaches I used previously had to address literacy for the technical data teams and business stakeholders.

What role do you play in building and delivering conventional AI solutions, including machine learning models? Are you involved in your organization’s adoptions of generative AI?

Part of my role as Chief Data Officer is to ideate with the business, to define use cases and products that we can build; and help with prioritization. We leverage artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, and generative AI and other capabilities for developing our products. I am responsible for the solutioning and delivery of these products and work closely with the business on the adoption.

Have you been able to fix the data foundations of your organization, particularly with regard to data quality?

Data foundation and quality is the major area of focus for the organization as we embark on our AI journey. I am leveraging my past experiences where I delivered a strong, trustworthy data management solution.

Data governance is key in the journey to secure foundations. We need to view data as an asset and assets need to be owned, governed, developed, and maintained. I am building out the governance, architecture, stewardship, and quality teams from the ground up for my current organization while maturing the other existing capabilities in the data and analytics space further.

Hema Yalamanchi
has been included in:

100 Brands 2024 (USA)

Enabling data and AI leaders to drive impact

Enabling the success of Data and AI leaders and their teams.

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