2025 Great Lakes Data, AI & Analytics Summit

MIT’s recent report The State of AI in Business showed a 95% failure rate. Interestingly, the root cause of these failures was precisely the same as the root cause of failure for most traditional BI projects: poverty of Context. In this keynote, Scott will make the case that mastering Context is the shared key to improving BI value-delivery in the short term and to laying the groundwork for successful analytical AI projects that will follow.

Presented by: Scott Davis

Scott is a tireless bender of categories, remixing ideas from a sprawling array of experiences: corporate CFO, certified diesel mechanic, tech entrepreneur, industrial engineer, ocean vagabond, educator, quant, UX designer, author, philanthropist. For more than 30 years he’s led ground-breaking work in decision science and business intelligence for some of the largest airlines, telecoms, railroads, and financial services firms in the world.

In today’s data-driven world, the role of data stewards is crucial for maintaining data quality and governance. This presentation will explore how to facilitate a successful data stewardship program by innovating with existing tools and resources. Attendees will learn strategies for providing structure and support to data stewards, ensuring they can effectively manage and govern data assets. Key insights will be shared on how to creatively use available tools to solve data governance challenges and drive positive outcomes for the organization, even when working with a small team. Benefits of the Talk:

- Structured Data Stewardship: Discover methods to establish a clear framework and support system for data stewards.

- Innovative Problem-Solving: Gain insights on how to leverage existing tools and technologies creatively.

- Creating Data Governance Standards: Learn techniques to involve various departments in your organization to create effective data governance standards, especially when working with a small team.

- Program Facilitation: Understand best practices for facilitating and managing a data stewardship program.

Presented by Frances Stoor, Jackson Financial

Frances Stoor is a seasoned data governance professional with a rich background in software development. Over her impressive 20-year tenure at Jackson Financial, Frances has gained extensive experience in supporting both legacy systems and cloud-based data architecture and management. Currently, Frances serves as the Manager of Data & AI Governance at Jackson, where she plays a pivotal role in setting and executing the organization's data governance roadmap. Her expertise extends to implementing AI governance compliance across the enterprise, ensuring that Jackson maintains the highest standards of data integrity and ethical AI practices. Frances's leadership and innovative approach have been instrumental in bridging the gap between business leaders and IT development teams, fostering a culture of collaboration and excellence in data management.

Analytics is evolving beyond static dashboards. With Sigma Data Applications, teams can now build interactive, action-oriented experiences directly on live data: no code required. In this session, you’ll see how Sigma is redefining what’s possible for data-driven organizations by empowering anyone to turn insights into applications that drive action. We’ll explore real-world examples of how companies are using Sigma Data Apps to streamline workflows, personalize analytics for every role, and deliver measurable business impact: all within the security and scalability of the Snowflake Data Cloud. Join us to learn how you can move beyond dashboards and unlock the full potential of your data with Sigma.

Presented by: Krishna Swargam, North

Krishnais a Sr. Business Intelligence Architect at North, where he focuses on enterprise-level data analytics, transforming raw data into actionable visual insights. With over 15 years of experience in Business Intelligence and IT, Krishna has led initiatives in end-to-end data workflows, data cleaning and transformation, and scalable visual reporting.

He has spent 12 years within the FinTech industry, working across various departments including Finance, IT, Marketing and Data Sciences. Before joining North, he held roles as a BI Consultant, helping clients streamline their data reporting processes.

Krishna is passionate about leveraging clean, accurate data to drive smarter business decisions and is recognized for his ability to architect robust BI solutions using tools like Sigma. When not building data pipelines, Krishna enjoys spending time with his kids, playing volleyball, and engaging in competitive ping pong.

Without healthy data, every decision is at risk. High-quality data allows you to reach more customers, unlock new partnerships, implement new business models, become more agile, and move faster than competitors. However, most organizations focus their data-quality efforts on cleaning up errors, rather than finding and fixing the root cause of the errors in the first place. As a result, organizations lack an enterprise data quality foundation to respond to regulatory, analytics and AI demands in a scalable way.

Please join Bobbi Caggianelli, Global Practitioner, Customer Engineering, Collibra, in a practical discussion of how data quality and observability can help you shape your data and AI strategy. She’ll discuss:

- Top trends in data quality and observability

- Ownership of review and remediation

- Steps to drive data quality adoption and ensure success

Presented by: Bobbi Caggianelli, Collibra

Prior to joining Collibra, Bobbi Caggianelli spent four years building a data governance and quality practice from scratch at a multi-billion dollar life and annuity company. She joined Colliba after working with Collibra's toolset, in part to share her experience with others. Her goal is to help companies build a successful governance practice and show them how Collibra enables that maturation journey. Bobbi has an MS in Business Analytics and is a Master Black Belt in Six Sigma.

Master Data Management (MDM) is no longer just a data governance initiative. it has become a strategic engine for driving business value. As organizations modernize, traditional MDM approaches must evolve to support cloud-native platforms, AI-driven insights, and real-time data needs. This session explores how modern MDM can fuel digital transformation by unifying data, enabling smarter analytics, and delivering measurable ROI. Attendees will gain insights into modernization strategies that align technology with business priorities, innovations that leverage automation and AI for better outcomes, and best practices that ensure governance, scalability, and agility. Real-world examples will highlight how enterprises are turning MDM into a catalyst for operational efficiency, regulatory compliance, and customer experience excellence.  

Presented by: Vinod Surasani, Royal Bank of Canada

Vinod Surasani is a Sr Software Engineer with 14 years of experience designing and implementing enterprise applications and data-driven solutions. His expertise spans data analytics, AI/ML integration, cloud-native development, and modernization of data management platforms, with a strong focus on scalability, performance, and governance. Vinod has contributed to impactful programs in finance, healthcare, and technology-driven industries, helping organizations unlock business value through advanced analytics and automation. He has worked extensively with Master Data Management (MDM), event-driven systems, and modern data platforms that support intelligent decision-making. Passionate about innovation and knowledge sharing, Vinod actively participates in industry conferences, Industry advisory, and mentoring initiatives, contributing to the broader data and AI community.

AI and machine learning efforts need access to centralized, high-quality data. However, managing data pipelines in-house often leads to complexity, inefficiencies, and delays that stall AI innovation. This session explores how automation transforms data movement—streamlining ingestion, normalization, and preparation—to fuel AI/ML applications effectively. Discover how automated pipelines, managed data lake services, and rapid deployment models empower teams to move from experimentation to production faster, unlocking real business value.

Join this session to learn:
- Strategies to centralize and normalize data from diverse sources

- How to get reliable, high-quality data from automated pipelines

- Ways to accelerate AI from experimentation to production with scalable data movement

Presented by: James Render, Fivetran

James Render is a Senior Sales Engineer at Fivetran.  He has been in the data space for over 12 years, working in analytics, data management, and data integration. He has worked with enterprise organizations on data infrastructure and integration for 10 years. During his time at Fivetran, James has partnered to onboard various Fortune 100, 500 and G2K organizations, modernizing their data movement infrastructure for advanced analytics and generative AI initiatives.

Unlocking the full potential of your enterprise means connecting everything—from legacy systems to AI. This session explores how a modern Multi-Capability Platform (MCP) goes beyond traditional integration to simplify complexity, boost business agility, and drive tangible value. Discover how a unified platform for application and data integration can accelerate your digital transformation and future-proof your business. Join us to learn how to build a flexible integration strategy that truly delivers.

Presented by: Roger Sramkoski, SnapLogic

Roger Sramkoski is a distinguished professional celebrated for his unique ability to bridge the strategic worlds of sales engineering and product marketing. With a profound command of complex technologies, he excels at translating sophisticated technical capabilities into compelling narratives that resonate with key stakeholders. As a visionary behind SnapLogic's iPaaS "golden demo" and a pivotal contributor to Gartner MQ submissions, Roger's deep technical expertise and strategic acumen have been instrumental in shaping the company’s market position and influencing its external story.

In this session, you will learn about how Lake Trust Credit Union has streamlined analytics processes through automation, including:

- Real-world context on common processing pain points and how data and workflow automation can deliver instant impact

- How automation converts hours of manual work into automated insights

- Common use cases—like replacing Excel-based processes and streamlining regulatory reporting

- A live demo of Alteryx software, showcasing how even non-technical users can build powerful data workflows in minutes

Presented by: Shubhangi Pararha, Lake Trust Credit Union

Shubhangi is currently the Business Intelligence Manager at Lake Trust Credit Union. She has 12 years of experience in extensive data analysis in Mortgage, Health Care, Automotive and Banking domain.

AI adoption is accelerating, but businesses need a practical approach as AI agents transform workflows, customer experience, and software development. By 2028, one-third of AI interactions will involve autonomous agents, making targeted, industry-specific solutions essential. One way to decide how and when to deploy AI solutions to drive ROI may be to leverage AI assistants for turning piles of data into personalized insights and automating business processes, while leveraging AI agents for more targeted solutions tailored to your market and domain.

Learn how IBM became its own "client zero" by applying agentic AI to automate processes and streamline complex workflows. We'll share how we used AI agents to integrate software packages across the enterprise, cutting manual effort and friction. These initiatives delivered measurable results—including significant cost savings and faster time to value. Join us to see how IBM's experience can help your organization capture similar efficiencies and innovation at scale.

Presented by: Dale Mumper, IBM

Dale has been involved in consulting and technology for over 30 years in many different industries, working his way all the way up to Executive Director of Analytics Solution Development. Over that time he has worked in software development, databases, architecture, business intelligence, data science, and artificial intelligence. He is passionate about teaching people about technology in their own terms and prioritizing trustworthy AI.

Microsoft Fabric represents a major step forward in unifying data engineering, analytics, and business intelligence within a single platform. In this session, Brandon Harrison, Analytics Consultant at WIT Inc., will explore the end-to-end process of implementing Microsoft Fabric—from initial planning and architecture design to integration, automation, and performance optimization. Drawing on real-world project experience, he will highlight key lessons learned, common challenges, and best practices for maximizing value through Fabric’s unified data environment. Attendees will gain practical insight into how Fabric can streamline workflows, enhance collaboration between teams, and accelerate the delivery of actionable insights.

Presented by: Brandon Harrison, WIT Solutions

Brandon is an Analytics Consultant at WIT Solutions, where he helps organizations use data to solve real business problems. Since joining in 2022, he has led projects that improved data analysis and reporting, automated workflows, and uncovered key performance insights across several industries. Valued by customers for his data science foundation, strong technical skills and practical approach, Brandon turns complex data into clear answers that drive results.

As organizations increasingly adopt AI and data-driven strategies, ensuring quality and reliability across the entire data + AI estate has never been more critical. Attendees will gain insights into how observability bridges the gap between data and AI systems across your Data, Systems, Code, and Models, enabling more trustworthy, scalable, and efficient operations. Join us to learn practical approaches and tools that can future-proof your data and AI initiatives to drive real business impact.

Presented by: Jas Sidhu, Monte Carlo Data

Jas is Data & AI Observability Evangelist at Monte Carlo Data, where he gets an opportunity to work with the most advanced Data & AI teams across Fortune 500 companies. He has spent the last 25 years in various roles ranging from IT operations, Consulting, Customer Success & brings a unique perspective of solving Data Quality & reliability through the lens of Application reliability.

Agentic AI promises to transform how organizations automate business processes - but without a solid data foundation, these initiatives often falter. When AI agents act on behalf of users, they must be able to inherit security permissions, access the right data in real time, and understand business context. Without that, they risk delivering inconsistent answers, exposing sensitive information, or driving the wrong outcomes.

This session explores why a unified data and business context layer is essential for making Agentic AI both powerful and trustworthy. We’ll discuss the pitfalls organizations face today - from fragmented data silos that starve agents of critical context, to ad-hoc integrations that bypass governance and erode trust.

We’ll then show how leading enterprises are addressing these challenges with a single, governed data access foundation that gives agents and users consistent, explainable, and secure insights at scale.

If you want your AI initiatives to move beyond pilots and reliably drive business value, this session will provide the roadmap to get there.

Presented by: Paul Shimabukuro, Denodo

Paul is a sales engineer who has been with Denodo for over six years. He has a diverse IT background spanning system architecture, system and database administration, technical support and sales engineering. Before joining Denodo, he was a solution architect for Tableau Software.

Vibe coding is an emerging method of software development that heavily incorporates the use of LLMs for generating code. In this session, you will learn:

- How "vibe coding" – using AI to generate functional code – can solve real data challenges, including helping your staff self-serve analysis

- How to identify analysis workflows that are prime candidates for automation via AI assistance

- How to generate and deploy analysis code using AI, including a live demo

Presented by: Rahul Desai, AI America

Rahul is the Founder & CEO of AI America, a consulting and corporate training firm focused on helping businesses adopt AI. He is also COO & Board Director at Saddletree Partners, a Cincinnati-based buyout firm. Previously, he was an Operating Partner at Sylva, a private equity firm, where he grew his business units 40% annually for 3 consecutive years. He joined Sylva via the acquisition of his corporate training firm Upslope. Prior to that, he was an early Business Operations hire at the insurtech startups Pathpoint ($110M valuation) and Newfront ($2B valuation), as well as a strategy consultant to top firms including Google and Uber.