Kristof Meganck is Chief Data Officer at BNP Paribas Fortis, where he leads the bank’s data and AI strategy with a strong emphasis on business value, alignment, and execution.
His approach is shaped by extensive business experience providing a practical understanding of the day-to-day challenges the business faces in accessing timely, accurate, and trusted data. Those pain points have directly informed the bank’s data strategy, including the decision to adopt a data mesh approach to improve ownership, accessibility, and reliability of data across the organisation.
Kristof places particular importance on executive sponsorship as a prerequisite for sustainable progress in AI. To that end, BNP Paribas Fortis has established an AI Board with full executive committee backing. The board provides close oversight of delivery, while guiding prioritisation across competing demands, ensuring that AI initiatives are driven by value.
As Chief Data Officer, Kristof positions the data office as a bridge between the business and IT. He believes that effective data and AI transformation depends on a shared view of both the data strategy and the broader business strategy it supports. Alignment across these communities is essential, not only for delivery, but for long-term adoption and impact.
Kristof’s focus remains on making data and AI usable, trusted, and relevant to the business, turning strategy into practical outcomes that address real operational and decision-making needs.
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?
“Inspiration and perseverance are two skills that I believe are very important for a (data) leader: It’s of the utmost importance that data colleagues get inspired by the story behind the data-strategy, their role in the story, and how to navigate the ship so as to arrive at our common goal.
“Perseverance is needed as it’s a journey with the usual pitfalls and hiccups. It’s important that you learn of these ‘mistakes’, get up, and take your journey further, keeping the same objective in mind.”
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?
“Focus on the underlying value of data, and make sure you liaise with your business partners to get them onboard of your story and strategy. Understand their challenges and make them your problem to solve.”