Indhira Mani is Chief Data Officer for Intact Insurance UK & Ireland, where she leads the organisation’s data and AI strategy to drive value, performance, and competitive advantage.
Her career has been defined by a consistent focus on placing data at the heart of organisations and translating strategy into measurable outcomes. Indhira has led large-scale data transformations across global enterprises, including shaping signature initiatives for the Chief Data Office at Danske Bank, turning data fabric from concept into operational reality at Anglo American, and delivering strategic data programmes at Barclays and RSA. Her work has been recognised externally, including being named to the DataIQ Future Leader list in 2024.
At Intact, Indhira has spearheaded a major transformation of the organisation’s data foundations. She led the establishment of an Enterprise Data Platform as a single source of truth, enabling advanced underwriting, pricing and decisioning capabilities. These initiatives are projected to deliver more than £30 million in value, improve profitability, and strengthen Intact’s market position. Alongside this, she has scaled the Chief Data Office from a small team into a function of more than 100 professionals, embedding robust governance, best practices and a data-first culture across the business.
Indhira is known for combining strategic clarity with delivery at pace, as well as for championing inclusive leadership. She actively mentors through UK data communities and is a member of the Gartner CDO network, contributing to thought leadership on data and AI. Across her roles, her focus remains on unlocking sustainable business value through trusted data, responsible AI, and empowered teams.
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?
“A good foundation in data and AI management, engineering, domain and decision-making acumen are the most effective skills and traits which will help influence every level of roles within the organisation. Tools will change, but critical thinking, ethical AI deployment, and the ability to connect data to business outcomes will be the skills that compound for decades.
“Learn the tools but marry them to critical thinking and business outcomes. In AI curiosity compounds tools expire and questions change everything.”
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?
“Stop trying to be the smartest data person in the room. Make others look smart and turn chaos into priorities.
“Know the politics but stay out of it. Learn to map power, incentives, and ego as you do schemas as data is all about adoption.”