CDAO UK schedule

During this 10-minute networking session, the aim of the game is to go and meet two people you don't already know.  Have fun! 

CDAOs are expected to stay fast, compliant, and strategic: all at once. This panel explores how to lead through constant change. 
 

• Adapting strategy when regulations evolve faster than your roadmap 

• Building credibility in the boardroom through risk-aware storytelling 

• Staying agile without weakening governance or trust 

• Leading teams through automation shifts without losing clarity or control 

We talk a lot about compliance, but real trust comes when people feel ownership. This session explores how governance becomes a tool for empowerment, not just control. 

• Making transparency real, turning policies into something users and employees can act on 

• Co-creating governance frameworks with the people who are directly impacted 

• Shifting from “tick-the-box” compliance to long-term trust and loyalty 

• Designing for agency, giving users real choices instead of just legal disclaimers 

TBC: Vladimir Bendikow, Chief Data Officer - FIRSTBANK UK LIMITED 

An informal, interactive session where you can ask your burning questions directly to a GenAI risk and data governance expert. 
Expect practical, on-the-spot answers about managing AI risk, navigating murky IP ownership, and ensuring human oversight in automated systems. Bring your questions: big or small.  

Privacy isn’t just a compliance box — it’s a foundation for credibility. Here’s how to use sensitive data responsibly, without eroding trust. 

• How to apply concepts like federated learning and differential privacy 

• Ways to stay compliant as global data laws evolve 

• How to balance innovation with user expectations on privacy 

• Communicating trust clearly, and what your data policy really tells users

If you can’t trace it, you can’t trust it. This session dives into what it takes to build transparency from source to decision. 
 

• How to map your data supply chain from raw input to insight 

• Best practices for validating external data and models 

• Managing risk from third-party APIs and embedded services 

• How to build transparency without adding operational drag 

• How to implement policy-as-code inside platforms and workflows 

• Making compliance adaptive to real-world business needs 

• Empowering data teams to move fast while staying within the lines 

• What effective, "quiet" governance looks like in 2026 

In moments of upheaval, culture is what holds. This session looks at how data leaders keep teams aligned, even when everything else shifts. 

• How to build and protect a data culture through change 

• Lessons from teams navigating mergers, layoffs, or pivots 

• What gets people to use data, not just talk about it 

• Creating resilience through fluency, not just frameworks 

Anwar Mirza, Data Strategy and Governance - Ex TNT/FedEx 

• What "data product" really means beyond the buzz 

• Who owns what, aligning roles, delivery, and accountability 

• How to embed product thinking into data roadmaps 

• Common pitfalls in execution, and how to avoid them 

• How to get business teams to act on insight, not just view it 

• Embedding data into real workflows, not PowerPoint 

• The tools and habits that close the "last mile" gap 

• Why relationships—not reports—drive outcomes 

What We'll Explore: 
 

• Where governance and ethics collide with real-world business demands 

• How to align responsible data use with stakeholder pressure for speed 

• Cross-border challenges: What happens when global rules conflict? 

• What ethical operations actually look like under pressure 
   

Participation: Come ready to engage in a dialogue about current challenges and opportunities in real-time data processing. Even if you don’t have a specific plan, you’ll contribute by brainstorming with other senior leaders on practical solutions. 

 What We'll Explore: 
 

• How to make federated or hybrid data teams work in real life 

• Aligning pods or domains to shared goals and metrics 

• Managing data consistency without re-centralizing everything 

• Avoiding fragmentation across tools, talent, and vision 

Participation: No preparation is necessary—just bring your experience with data privacy challenges and collaborate with others to develop workable solutions for navigating regulatory landscapes. 

Good insights aren't enough — the real challenge is getting them used. This session focuses on making data operational, not just visible. 
 

• Why insights often stall after delivery, and how to design for adoption from the start 

• Embedding data into daily decision-making — integrating it directly into tools, processes and frontline workflows 

• Building stronger collaboration between analysts, business leads and product teams to close the “last mile” gap 

• Choosing the right tools, rhythms and architecture to turn insight into timely, trusted, and actionable outcomes 

TBC:  Kate Sargent, Chief Data Officer- Financial Times 

• What skills and roles define the modern data team in 2026?  

• Moving from data scientists and analysts to product managers, UX designers, and prompt engineers.  

• How to build fluid teams that evolve with tech and business strategy.  

• Leveraging low-code, GenAI, and automation without shrinking the talent vision.  

• Ensuring diversity of thought and domain expertise drives innovation.  

During this 5-minute networking session, the aim of the game is to go and meet two people you don't already know.  Have fun! 

Some of the most powerful insights come from minds that work differently. This session explores how to make space for them. 

• Building teams that embrace cognitive diversity, not just background or skillset 

• Designing tools and workflows that adapt to different ways of processing information 

• Making inclusion measurable — beyond recruitment, into retention and growth 

• Creating cultures where neurodiverse professionals thrive, contribute, and lead 

When everything can be automated, the real skill is knowing when not to. This session challenges leaders to make smarter, sharper calls on automation. 
 

• How to identify the business areas where automation delivers real, measurable value 

• Recognising the processes that should stay human-led — and spotting early warning signs 

• Balancing speed and oversight in decisions that affect customers, risk, and reputation 

• Moving from “AI-first” hype to selective, high-impact deployment across the organisation 

•  

  • Identifying hidden governance and compliance gaps when teams adopt GenAI tools outside approved channels — and what data leaders often miss 
  • Balancing the need for model customisation with the risks of using unverified datasets, breaching regulatory requirements, or exposing sensitive business information 
  • Creating clear data policies that define acceptable LLM use while enabling innovation and measurable business impact 
  • Educating teams on how LLMs really work — limitations, biases, data quality issues, and their impact on business decision-making 

If data is the new oil, where’s the balance-sheet line for it? This session looks at how to turn enterprise data into something financial leaders can track, value, and manage like any other strategic asset. 
 

• How to quantify data as an asset — from classification and valuation models to real-world accounting methods 

• Building frameworks that connect risk, quality, and usage to financial value, enabling more informed investment decisions 

• Working with finance leaders to define data ROI in terms they trust — not just dashboards, but economic impact 

• Shifting the CDAO role from enabler to asset manager, with accountability over data’s tangible contribution to the business 

Great governance doesn’t get in the way — it guides without being seen. This session explores how to embed compliance and ethics directly into systems, without slowing teams down. 

• Building policy-as-code directly into platforms, data pipelines and AI models, so guardrails run silently in the background 

• Designing governance frameworks that respond in real-time to business events, not static rulebooks 

• Giving developers and data scientists built-in tools, defaults and nudges to support responsible choices without added friction 

• Moving from reactive compliance to proactive design — where trust and flexibility can scale together 

• Hands-on techniques for framing prompts that lead to strategic insight, not surface-level answers 

• Understanding the limits of natural language interfaces — ambiguity, bias, and loss of nuance 

• Training leaders to be AI-literate, able to question and refine model outputs with confidence 

• Knowing when to rely on GenAI and when a decision needs real human judgment 

•  Encouraging a leadership culture that challenges automation rather than defaulting to it 

• Navigating federated vs centralised governance models and knowing when each works best 

• Aligning cross-functional pods to shared metrics, business outcomes, and data accountability 

• Avoiding fragmentation in tools, platforms, and decision-making culture across teams 

• Building lightweight coordination mechanisms that preserve speed without losing cohesion 

• Structuring roles and ownership so that autonomy doesn’t become chaos 

• Embedding traceability into your data and AI workflows. 

• Real-time consent and provenance in data supply chains. 

• What a “trust layer” looks like in practice—tech, process, and culture.
  
  Participation:  

What You’ll Learn: 

• Modernising Governance for Today’s Realities: 

Discover how traditional governance models are evolving to support faster innovation, self-service analytics, and decentralized teams—without sacrificing control. 

• Balancing Control with Flexibility: 

Explore the challenges of enabling agile data access in complex environments while maintaining compliance, auditability, and trust across all functions. 

• Governance in the Age of Mesh, AI, and Autonomy: 

Learn how to structure policies and ownership models that work in distributed architectures, AI-enhanced workflows, and high-velocity decision-making contexts. 
 

Workshop Outline: 

1️ Introduction: Rethinking Data Governance for Modern Enterprises 

An overview of how data governance is shifting from gatekeeping to enablement and orchestration. 

2️ Core Challenges: Agility vs. Accountability 

A collaborative discussion on how to avoid the extremes of over-regulation and under-management, especially in self-service and AI-driven environments. 

3️ Governance at Scale: Frameworks that Flex 

Learn from real-world use cases on implementing modular, adaptive governance strategies that scale across geographies and business units. 

4️ The Future State: Autonomous & Embedded Governance 

Explore emerging trends in AI-led compliance, embedded policy-as-code, and governance that runs invisibly in the background of everyday workflows.  
 

How You Can Participate: 

✅ No preparation needed! 

✅ Share how your organization uses data or brainstorm potential opportunities. 

✅ Engage in discussions, ask questions, and exchange insights. 

✅ If you don’t have direct experience, think about how data-driven strategies could benefit your industry. 

A sharp, audience-driven debate on where data ends — and decision-making begins. 

• Live audience poll to kick things off and see where the room stands — then again at the end to track any mindset shifts.  

• Debate on a big question: Should AI be trusted to act on its own during a cyber threat in FS?  

• Audience gets involved — ask questions, share views, and see how your take compares to the room.  

 TBC:  Calum Conejo-Watt, Head of Data Governance & Quality – Lombard Odier Investment 

• Forget dashboards that no one reads. Today’s CDAO must translate complexity into clarity — framing insights in ways that resonate with CFOs, COOs, and the Board. Learn how to bridge the gap between data science and business strategy and become the storyteller who drives action at the top. 
   

  • Craft narratives that align data insights with executive priorities 
  • Move from reporting metrics to influencing business decisions 
  • Translate technical outputs into compelling business value stories