Paula Bobbett is Chief Data and Digital Officer at Boots, where she leads the organisation’s data, digital, and AI agenda, with a focus on omnichannel transformation and customer experience.
Her career spans commercial, digital, strategy, and data roles across multiple sectors. Paula began as an Operational Research Analyst at British Airways, developing strong analytical and problem-solving foundations before moving into consultancy at Atkins. She transitioned into retail at Debenhams as Commercial Insight Manager, where she built deep expertise in consumer behaviour and data-driven decision-making.
Paula went on to Avon, holding senior roles across strategy and category management. There, she led large, cross-functional teams and managed a $500 million portfolio across Western Europe, the Middle East and Africa, strengthening her commercial leadership and strategic capability. She later joined Dixons Carphone as Senior E-Commerce Insight Manager, where she established web analytics capability and formed strategic partnerships with Adobe to improve digital performance.
Her remit at Dixons Carphone expanded to Head of Online Trading, and she served as interim E-Commerce Director during the COVID-19 pandemic, leading critical digital operations through a period of intense change and growth.
At Boots, Paula sits at the intersection of data, digital and commercial strategy. She is responsible for driving AI-enabled innovation, enhancing omnichannel experiences and ensuring data and technology are used to deliver meaningful value for customers and the business. Across her career, she has maintained a consistent focus on using insight, data and technology as catalysts for transformation.
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?
“To be an effective leader in data and AI, I think there are three key qualities: curiosity, connection and commerciality.
“You must be curious about data and the ‘why’ is important. Sometimes you have the instinct that something doesn’t feel right about a data answer, you have to ask ‘why’ and not just accept what it tells you. This can lead to the best insights.
“Connection is all about understanding the context of a request from a stakeholder as data is nothing without context but also be able to connect with your stakeholders to explain something complex in a way that they will understand.
“Finally, commerciality. Data needs to be used to drive better financial or customer outcomes for the business. If I had to pick which is more important in my organisation, it would be driving a commercial outcome, as this leads to further investment and engagement in data as a strategic asset.”
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?
“It’s all about the soft-skills and relationship-building. You can be a brilliant data scientist or analyst, but if you can’t translate your data to insights and actions for non-data-specialists, you will struggle to be seen as anything more than a specialist.
“Get to know your stakeholders, understand their motivations, be curious about their business problems, and be proactive in finding data-driven solutions.”