DATAVERSITY Talks

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138

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Jun 2026

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About the show

Welcome to My Career in Data—a new DATAVERSITY Talks podcast where we sit down with professionals to discuss how they have built their careers around data and the tips, tricks, and advice they have for those looking to follow in their footsteps.

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60 recent

June 10, 2026Episode 152 min

Inside Applied Data Governance: Expert Perspectives from the ADGP Program Episode 1: The Importance of Data Governance with John Ladley

Welcome to Inside Applied Data Governance, a DATAVERSITY Talks podcast where we explore the practical realities of data governance with the experts who helped build the Applied Data Governance Practitioner (ADGP) certification.In this episode, we speak with John Ladley about why data governance is more than policies and processes; it’s a critical business capability. John shares insights on the business drivers behind governance initiatives, common misconceptions organizations face, and what effective governance looks like in practice. Learn why successful programs focus on business outcomes and how practitioners can help organizations turn governance from a concept into a competitive advantage.Connect with John Ladley on LinkedIn Learn more about the Applied Data Governance Practitioner (ADGP) CertificationBuy the ADG BoK Take the TrainingSchedule Your Exam Never miss an episode – subscribe to the DATAVERSITY weekly newsletter.Interested in being a guest?

June 4, 2026Episode 933 min

My Career in Data Season 4 Episode 09: Joe Devon, Chair of the GAAD Foundation and Co-founder of Global Accessibility Awareness Day

Welcome back to an all-new season of My Career in Data – a DATAVERSITY Talks podcast where we sit down with professionals to discuss how they have built their careers around data.In this episode, we speak with Joe Devon, technology entrepreneur, accessibility advocate, Co-Founder of Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD), and Chair of the GAAD Foundation. From early internet ventures and high-scale platforms like American Idol to launching a global movement for digital accessibility, Joe’s career has followed an unexpected path shaped by risk, reinvention, and impact.Listen as Joe shares how one idea became a worldwide accessibility movement, why AI is changing the future of inclusive technology, and what data professionals need to understand as software, accessibility, and artificial intelligence continue to converge.Learn more about Joe and the work he does:LinkedIn Joe Devon: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joedevon/LinkedIn GAAD Foundation: https://www.linkedin.com/company/gaad-foundation/GAAD Foundation: https://gaad.foundation/Global Accessibility Awareness Day: https://accessibility.day/AIMAC Initial Report: https://aimac.ai/AIMAC Open Source Benchmark: https://github.com/GAAD-Foundation/AIMACAccessibility & GenAI Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@A11yGenAINever miss an episode – subscribe to the DATAVERSITY weekly newsletter.Interested in being a guest?

February 25, 2026Episode 824 min

My Career in Data Season 4 Episode 08: Sanjal Kanti Howlader, Insights Analyst, Greene King Limited

Welcome back to an all new season of My Career in Data – a DATAVERSITY Talks podcast where we sit down with professionals to discuss how they have built their careers around data.This episode we speak with Sanjal Kanti Howlader, Insights Analyst, Greene King Limited. At six years old, he dreamed of becoming an actor to be the hero solving everyone's problems, later imagining himself as a detective solving mysteries before earning degrees in applied statistics and joining telecommunications where his first customer segmentation assignment in SPSS revealed that data could answer unanswered questions and solve real organizational problems. Listen how after 13 years in telecom rising to head of customer analytics, he made a bold move to the UK so his wife could pursue her PhD, testing his transferable skills across industries from sports governance to his current role as Insight Analyst at Greene King, one of the UK's largest pub and hospitality companies with over 1,000 locations.Never miss an episode – subscribe to the DATAVERSITY weekly newsletter.Learn more about Green King Limited.Connect with Sanjal Kanti Howlader on LinkedIn.Interested in being a guest?

February 18, 2026Episode 729 min

My Career in Data Season 4 Episode 07: Karina Blackman, Master Data Governance Manager, GrainCorp

Welcome back to an all new season of My Career in Data – a DATAVERSITY Talks podcast where we sit down with professionals to discuss how they have built their careers around data.This episode we speak with Karina Blackman, Master Data Governance Manager, GrainCorp. At six years old, she dreamed of becoming a librarian and ironically, she's now doing something remarkably similar as Master Data Governance Manager. For years, she assumed data careers were only for analytical people living in spreadsheets and code. Hear how she realized the real leverage sits in strategic thinking & understanding how things fit together, how people work, how organizations change, and how data affects all of it.Never miss an episode – subscribe to the DATAVERSITY weekly newsletter.Learn more about GrainCorp.Connect with Karina Blackman on LinkedIn.Interested in being a guest?

February 11, 2026Episode 654 min

My Career in Data Season 4 Episode 06: Duru Ahanotu, PhD, Sole Proprietor, Ahan Analytics

Welcome back to an all new season of My Career in Data – a DATAVERSITY Talks podcast where we sit down with professionals to discuss how they have built their careers around data.This episode we speak with Duru Ahanotu, PhD, Sole Proprietor , Ahan Analytics. At six years old, he dreamed of becoming a scientist solving big problems, never imagining he'd spend his career doing data management, sometimes without even realizing it until later. After earning his PhD at Stanford working with expert systems and automotive diagnostics, he was pulled into boutique management consulting where he built a legendary 100-tab spreadsheet modeling IBM's manufacturing supply chain, though he just thought of himself as a "modeler" rather than a data professional. Listen how his career bounced between startups and established companies, until deciding to work for himself.Never miss an episode – subscribe to the DATAVERSITY weekly newsletter.Learn more about Ahan Analytics.Connect with Duru Ahanotu, PhD on LinkedIn.Interested in being a guest?

February 4, 2026Episode 535 min

My Career in Data Season 4 Episode 05: Suresh Srinivas, CEO and Co-founder, Collate

Welcome back to an all new season of My Career in Data – a DATAVERSITY Talks podcast where we sit down with professionals to discuss how they have built their careers around data.This episode we speak with Suresh Srinivas, CEO and Co-founder, Collate. At six years old, he dreamed of being a scientist passionate about math and puzzles but fell in love with computers for the same reason later in life. Debugging problems and fixing what doesn't work, a passion he still pursues by coding on weekends when not serving as CEO - "chief of everything officer". Hear how his journey took him from Nortel Networks to Yahoo's Hadoop team during the big data revolution, to co-founding various data driven companies. Never miss an episode – subscribe to the DATAVERSITY weekly newsletter.Learn more about Collate .Connect with Collate on LinkedIn.Connect with Suresh Srinivas on LinkedIn.Interested in being a guest?

January 28, 2026Episode 439 min

My Career in Data Season 4 Episode 04: Ron Zionpour, Chief Technology Officer, Healthee

Welcome back to an all new season of My Career in Data – a DATAVERSITY Talks podcast where we sit down with professionals to discuss how they have built their careers around data.This episode we speak with Ron Zionpour, Chief Technology Officer, Healthee. At six years old, he never dreamed of becoming a CTO. He grew up in the 90’s taking apart old radios and flashlights to reassemble them into something more useful, inspired by his father's electronics work and driven by an innate desire to solve problems and create. When his love of math and science led him to computer science in college, he started at a large corporation but quickly left for an early-stage tech startup. Listen how he spent eight and a half years growing from junior developer to VP of Engineering, discovered he loved leading people more than writing code but stayed obsessed with technical details and knowing the platform better than anyone. As well as landing at Healthee to help people navigate the confusing U.S. healthcare system by turning complex benefits information into clear, actionable insights through AI built on rock-solid data foundations. Never miss an episode – subscribe to the DATAVERSITY weekly newsletter.Learn more about Healthee.Connect with Ron Zionpour on LinkedIn.Interested in being a guest?

January 21, 2026Episode 328 min

My Career in Data Season 4 Episode 03: Macie Minier, Director of Strategy and Evaluation, Coburn Place Safe Haven

Welcome back to an all new season of My Career in Data – a DATAVERSITY Talks podcast where we sit down with professionals to discuss how they have built their careers around data.This episode we speak with Macie Minier, Director of Strategy and Evaluation, Coburn Place Safe Haven. She never imagined working with data on a macro level. Growing up watching her social worker mother, she assumed social work meant directly helping people face-to-face, starting as a case manager at a domestic violence emergency shelter realizing that is not always the case working with survivors brought in from police departments and hospitals. While she loved the interpersonal connection, she kept facing the same systemic problems beyond individual cases, so she stayed vocal with supervisors about trends and persistently offered to tackle administrative work until she transitioned into program analysis. Listen to how as Director of Strategy and Evaluation at Coburn Place, a domestic violence safe haven, handles data governance, grant reporting, strategic planning, and KPIs across the entire organization and learning that her biggest challenge wasn't analytical ability but communication. Listener note: This episode features a conversation with a professional who works at Coburn Place, a domestic violence shelter. While we do not share personal stories or detailed accounts, the topic is mentioned in this episode. This note is shared simply so you can make an informed choice about listening.If you or someone you know needs support, help is available. In the U.S., you can contact the National Domestic Violence Hotline at thehotline.org or call/text 1-800-799-SAFE (7233). You can learn more about Coburn Place at coburnplace.org/.Never miss an episode – subscribe to the DATAVERSITY weekly newsletter.Learn more about Coburn Place.Connect with Macie Minier on LinkedIn.Interested in being a guest?

January 14, 2026Episode 237 min

My Career in Data Season 4 Episode 02: Erin Woodward, Lead AI Architect, Cyclotron

Welcome back to an all new season of My Career in Data – a DATAVERSITY Talks podcast where we sit down with professionals to discuss how they have built their careers around data.This episode we speak with Erin Woodward, Lead AI Architect, Cyclotron. At six years old, she dreamed of becoming an astronaut due to an aunt sending her items from space camps and watching the film of the same name. But being in the middle of the country left little opportunities for that path. Her advisor suggests computer science since "computers were becoming a thing" which fed into her natural talent for math and love of puzzles. Nothing about her 25-year data career turned out to be as easy as she thought. Follow along how she went from a call center worker to becoming the lead AI Architect at Cyclotron.Never miss an episode – subscribe to the DATAVERSITY weekly newsletter.Learn more about Cyclotron.Connect with Erin Woodward on LinkedIn.Interested in being a guest?

January 7, 2026Episode 145 min

My Career in Data Season 4 Episode 01: Malcolm Hawker, Chief Data Officer, Profisee

Welcome back to an all new season of My Career in Data – a DATAVERSITY Talks podcast where we sit down with professionals to discuss how they have built their careers around data.This episode we speak with Malcolm Hawker, Chief Data Officer, Profisee. At six years old, he dreamed of getting paid to build Lego for the rest of his life. While that didn't pan out, his winding career path through data and product management has been just as creative. After earning a business degree, he pursued a master's in communications while dreaming of becoming the next Richard Branson. Instead, he sent 400 resumes and landed as a call center rep at AOL in 1995. Listen how that AOL role launched a 30-year career spanning product management, data and analytics, and leadership roles at companies like Dun & Bradstreet and Gartner, eventually leading him to make the unconventional decision to step away from people management and a multi-million dollar budget to become an individual contributor and thought leader, advising CDOs, CIOs, and CEOs. Never miss an episode – subscribe to the DATAVERSITY weekly newsletter.Learn more about Profisee and Podcast.Connect with Malcolm Hawker on LinkedIn.Get Malcom's Book Here.Interested in being a guest?