Chief Data & AI Officers from Big Tech companies

One oft-cited trend is the supposed decline of the Chief Digital Officer. Yet at Uman Partners, we see no evidence of this among our clients. What we do see emerging is a different phenomenon: the CEO, fed up and impatient, looking to upend the status quo.

They observe that their organization remains poorly versed in digital and data—often, they themselves are uncertain—and they think: “I’ll hire a Chief Digital Officer and a Chief Data & AI Officer, both with pure digital and data backgrounds, straight from the tech giants!” At the very least, these “new” CDOs will bring the long-sought DNA.

And indeed, it seems like a brilliant idea. These CDOs will have firsthand experience of natively digital and data-driven organizations. They’ll bring the right instincts, agile management practices, and a strong product culture.

That said, CDOs from non-tech backgrounds—provided they have strong leadership—are likely just as capable of success. We’ll return to this point.

But how does this play out in practice?

For starters, these profiles are often headhunted internationally, with global careers and salaries two to three times higher than those of the CDOs they replace. Expectations, needless to say, are sky-high. Fortunately, the decision to hire them usually follows a deliberate shake-up by the executive committee, which unlocks significant resources—more than before. They’re given a strong mandate, more authority than their predecessors ever had. And the message is clear: they arrive with immense credibility, both with their teams and the business units. The latter, even if their expectations around data and AI were previously modest, now hope they’ll finally be met. Though in truth, the business units didn’t always have such high expectations to begin with.

So there may be a few shadows on the horizon.

First, what happens when you arrive from the outside with such an aura? Almost inevitably, you risk making your predecessor—and perhaps their entire team—seem outdated. Some will rally behind the new leader; others will disengage. The cost is substantial: rebuilding teams, with departures delaying projects.

Second, as I mentioned, the business units didn’t always have such lofty expectations—precisely because their data and AI transformations were struggling to gain traction. Do these next-gen CDOs hold the key to finally bringing them on board? Not necessarily. The sweeping mandate they’re given can sometimes make them overlook the fact that the company they’re joining has its own culture—with strengths, of course, but also inertia, even resistance to digital and data. And that’s when the disconnect happens: these new CDOs, for whom all of this is second nature, risk losing their audience even faster.

So what are the tangible ways to make these transformations actually work?

It’s all about balance. Hiring CDOs from big tech? Why not—we’ve said it before: they bring a DNA that traditional businesses lack. But their integration must be managed with more finesse and less fanfare.

We should also listen to what current CDOs are asking for: business leaders who are more attuned to data and AI. Maybe they’re the ones we should be recruiting from tech, even more than the CDOs themselves. A CMO from Google, a supply chain director who cut their teeth at Amazon, an HR director from Microsoft… wouldn’t that be the real El Dorado for CDOs—and the secret to their success?

Patrick Schmitz