Data Strategy
& Insights

The Executive Leadership Exchange (ELE) is an executive program for up to 75 qualified senior data executives. The program will create a private senior executive network supporting leaders’ priorities, demonstrate Forrester’s thought leadership tailored to qualified c-suite executives​, and offer rich, facilitated networking sessions and peer case studies targeting best practices aligned to executive priorities.​

ELE is an invite-only program. To be considered, those interested must be the CDO, CAO, CMO, CTO or equivalent title or be the senior-most data leader from their organization, not reporting into any higher executive with direct data leadership responsibility. Applicants cannot be representatives from direct data service provider organizations that sell data products or services. Attendees who may meet these qualifications will be invited to join the ELE experience.

Please contact events@forrester.com with any questions. 

Recommended Executive Agenda

Take Forrester’s guidance on which sessions from the entire conference to attend as a c-level data leader.

Private Executive Sessions

Attend private sessions featuring exclusive case studies, networking sessions and private presentations from Forrester analysts.

Detailed agenda coming soon.

Priority Analyst 1:1 Booking

Receive priority booking for 1:1 networking and guidance meetings with our best-in-class analysts & experts.

Exclusive Analyst Networking Sessions

Identify challenges and solve problems in small group collaborations with Forrester Experts.

Private Executive Roundtable

Facilitated by Forrester team members who specialise in leading C-level networking discussions pointed at meaningful outcomes.

Private ELE Networking Lounge

Connect with your peers during the conference at the exclusive sessions and in a private networking lounge in the virtual experience.

TUES, DEC. 6

1:00 – 2:00 pm | Networking Lunch

Join a private lunch with fellow ELE attendees.

2:00-2:30 pm | Panel: Data Analytics Journey

Every analytics journey brings together people, process, platforms, and data within a specific organizational context. We spend a lot of time worrying about whether we are following the right path on our journey to Insights-Driven Business maturity. However, companies come from a variety of starting places and no two journeys are alike because no two organizations are alike. In this panel, we’re going to hear from some of your peers about their analytics journeys, specifically:

• Starting points and early wins
• Key milestones that changed the path of the organization
• Maturity accelerators – opportunities or shortcuts have organizations found to mature faster

Speakers:

Brian Knollenberg, SVP, Marketing, BECU

Melanie Whalen , VP of the Analytics Department at Numerica

Moderator: Aaron Katz

2:35-3:05 pm | Hot Or Maybe Not: Emerging Technologies For Business Insights

Forrester analysts are bombarded with pitches for emerging technology certainly from startups but also from the well established technology companies. We are natural sceptics, but we are also looking for the next big thing that will give our clients a true competitive advantage. Join this session to hear a panel of distinguished analysts from Forrester’s business insights team:

• Discuss the merits of adopting emerging technology immediately or waiting
• Identify emerging technologies in data, analytics, and AI.
• Discuss and render judgment on each emerging technology

Speakers:

Mike Gualtrieri (Moderator)

Christina McAllister

Noel Yuhanna

Boris Evelson

3:15-3:45 pm | AI By The People, For The People

Matt Lease, UT Austin

The shift from model-centric to data-centric AI elevates AI data to equal status as AI models or software,

calling for 1) equal rigor in managing data as software, and 2) a corresponding shift in organizational practice and culture. Moreover, because AI data comes from people, responsible AI must be inclusive not only of impacts on end-users, but also how our AI ecosystem treats the essential human data workers it relies upon: those who label training and testing data, as well as those whose “human-in-the-loop” labor compensates for AI limitations at run-time. Building “Good Systems” (using our UT Austin nomencalture) involves finding win-wins for both ourselves and our data workers so that the human labeled data we collect not only mitigates AI risks, but also engenders better AI products for the world. In this session, we will discuss:

• Data is the fuel, foundation, and north star of modern AI, yet crucial data work is often disparaged and neglected, reducing AI performance and increasing the risk of AI bias and harm
• Finding win-wins with AI data workers can improve data quality for both better AI products and reduced AI risk
• UT Austin’s Good Systems (https://goodsystems.utexas.edu/) is an 8-year, $10M, university-wide grand challenge to advance responsible AI, with 150+ researchers engaged across 35 academic units on 6 core projects.

Wednesday, Dec. 7

11:35 am – 12:05 pm | Leadership Dashboards: Making Them Work for You

Executive dashboards set the focus and tone at insights-driven business. Yet too often business leaders find their dashboards unsatisfying, while creators struggle to build dashboards able to convey a meaningful view of the business. During this fireside chat, Forrester Analysts discuss what Executive stakeholders and insight creators must do to arrive at the leadership dashboards they need. In this session, we’ll discuss:

• Why organizations are struggling with leadership dashboards
• Proven strategies for aligning dashboards with the needs of the business
• Common pitfalls as well as opportunities to thrive

Speakers:

Aaron Katz

Ross Graber

12:15 – 12:45 pm | Elevate HR, Accelerate your Corporate Strategy 

Organizations depend on their human capital more than ever. Being competitive in the 2020s requires utilization of the data and strategic insights that Human Resources has at its disposal. Business problems are people problems, and to drive outcomes HR must have an elevated seat at the table.

• How to move your HR department from a Cost center to Value generator.
• What challenges organizations are solving for with people data.
• What is the HR Team of the Future?

Speaker:

Greg Pridgeon

Beginning To Belong: Unlocking The Power Of Inclusion At Work

The ability of any organization to engage a diverse workforce begins with how well its managers can create a sense of belonging on their teams and how well their leaders can create a sense of community within the organization. Belonging is the sense of feeling safe, accepted, and part of the team. Though this feeling is foundational to workforce engagement, 40% of people still say they feel isolated at work. This feeling of isolation erodes the employee experience and prevents employees from achieving their best. Join Forrester Analyst Jonathan Roberts as we learn what true inclusion is (and what it isn’t) while equipping leaders with the tools to create inclusive environments at work.

Speakers:
Jonathan Roberts, Analyst, Forrester

Fireside Chat: How 2020’s Breaking Point Enabled Progressive Inclusion Strategies

The impact of unjust police brutality and the pandemic was a breaking point in 2020 for Humana and the Digital Health & Analytics (DH&A) Organization. With disproportionate health disparities and blatant injustices towards Black Americans, DH&A responded by partnering with Forrester Research to launch an enterprise investigation around systems and practices relative to Black/African American associate and member experience disparities. A conceptual framework was developed to address systemic disparities, new sources of value from an EDI lens, and ongoing training and execution of key practices for EDI to reach full integration into our business norms.

In this session, you’ll learn:

• Setting up & finding our why
• The 3-phased project & key elements of real EDI strategy
• 2021 results and our path forward

Stacy Brooks, Associate Director | EDI Digital Strategy, Humana | Digital Health Analytics
Alex Stein, Senior Consultant, Forrester

Fireside Chat: Creating Inclusion Change That Sticks – What Do Leaders Need To Know And Do

Drop in for a fireside chat with the Global Head of D&I of the London Stock Exchange Group on the intricacies, implications and recommendations for making a success of D&I. Why does it matter to business – what do successful organisations get right – why it makes a difference for all leaders – and how to avoid a superficial and ineffective approach will be just a few of the questions to be explored in this session.

Key takeaways:

• How do you fulfill the role?
• How do you get your D&I journey right?
• What does good look like in applying D&I?
• What are the business effects of good D&I?

Ash Mukherjee, Solution Partner, Forrester
Audrey Campbell, Global Head of Diversity & Inclusion, London Stock Exchange

New Worlds Need New Leaders

Tomorrow’s world won’t be anything like today’s. Considering sectoral convergence, climate change and regulation, tech, energy and geopolitical disruptions, tomorrow’s leaders are expected to navigate tomorrow’s uncertainties with unchanged expectations of returns to shareholders. How can tomorrow’s leaders achieve organizational success with means at their disposal today? This talk explores today’s resilience strategies for tomorrow’s uncertainties.

Ash Mukherjee, Solution Partner, Forrester

Pricing incentive for teams of 5+  paid attendees from the same enterprise.

• Discounted Tickets: Receive 5 tickets for the price of 4 in one transaction. No code required, add 5 tickets to your cart and receive 20% off.

Pricing and experiential incentive for teams of 8+ paid attendees from the same enterprise.

• Priority 1-on-1s: Advanced access to book (1) 20-min 1-on-1 meetings before the general public.
• VIP Seating in Keynote Room: Premier seating reserved for VIP attendees​
• VIP Badge: Unique name badge identifier to signify VIP-level status.