Data AI and CMO Think Tank

Jason Clark is a creative solutions engineer and former architect specializing in driving business value through innovative, out-of-the-box thinking. With a strong focus on AI, agentic engineering, and automation, he stays at the forefront of technological advancement. At LaunchDarkly, Jason has carved out a niche as a thought leader, strategist, and collaborative visionary. He has partnered with numerous large enterprises to define best practices for feature releases, code enhancements, and modern software delivery. Prior to his time at LaunchDarkly, Jason worked in the cloud and Kubernetes security space, further deepening his expertise in scalable, secure systems.

George Wang is a multi-faceted Chief Marketing Officer at Peterson Technology Partners, recognized as a "Super Connector" in the Chicago tech ecosystem. A 2020 Chicago CIO of the Year nominee, George brings over 30 years of rare, balanced experience across CIO, COO, and CMO roles. From launching Motorola’s first digital cellular handset to architecting the State of Illinois’ 45-year technical modernization, his career is defined by "industry firsts." George has successfully led teams of up to 175, fostering a culture of trust and accountability across seven different verticals, including Healthcare, Finance, and Government. An expert in Agile DevOps, Blockchain, and Cybersecurity risk quantification, he leverages his deep technical roots and Lean Six Sigma expertise to help leaders execute with elite talent. A dedicated mentor and "pay-it-forward" advocate, George excels at bridging the gap between business innovation and technical excellence.

Grant Ecker is a senior technology executive leading Enterprise Architecture and Integration at Ecolab, managing a global team of architects and integration leaders. With 20+ years of experience, he drives transformation and innovation across billion-dollar IT portfolios, building proactive architecture communities and aligning technology strategy with business value. Grant is also the Founder and Chairman of the Chief Architect Network, the largest vendor-neutral community for Chief Architect executives, connecting 600+ members across 400+ Fortune 500 companies. Through this network, he leads global virtual and in-person events, sponsors specialized topic groups, promotes diversity in architecture, and shares thought leadership via publications and conferences, further advancing the profession and enabling architects worldwide to drive impactful business outcomes.

With more than 20 years of technology corporate-side leadership and consulting service experience across highly-regulated industries and verticals, including distribution and transportation, retail, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, and energy services, Sandeep has managed multimillion-dollar budgets and aligned globally dispersed teams to accelerate business transformation, creating higher customer satisfaction and competitive advantage for major corporations. Recognized for balancing futuristic vision, down-to-earth execution, and a sense of business urgency, Sandeep leverages business acumen and technical expertise to transform IT into a strategic company partner. As a trusted advisor to executive leadership teams, he provides expert advice on developing and integrating the best enterprise solutions and applications to enable organic growth, integrate M&A’s, and build profitability in the marketplace. Motivated by a “people-first” mindset, Sandeep propels business performance to the next level by developing world-class staff, transforming IT teams to deliver strong business value, and instilling a culture that rewards “bold moves”, process simplification, and customer focus. He proudly built an award-winning CIO 100 IT team, recognized for creating industry-pioneering applications.

As a Senior Strategic Advisor at Salesforce, Sandesh Gawali provides expert advisory services to CxOs, guiding the decision-making process for high-stakes, transformational projects designed to elevate organizational performance. With over 20 years of experience in innovation and technology consulting, Sandesh has a proven track record of leading and delivering complex digital solutions for Fortune 500 clients across diverse industries. By leveraging a deep technical arsenal that includes data, AI, ML, cloud computing, and information security, he bridges the gap between technical possibility and strategic business value to drive sustainable growth and innovation.

For more than twenty-five years, Chris has been helping financial powerhouses like Visa, Northwestern Mutual, U.S. Bank, Capital One and TD Bank discover ways to motivate consumers to act. His experience has involved working for industry leaders like McGuffin Creative Group, Leo Burnett, and DraftFCB. Before joining McGuffin, he launched a digital agency Slant Marketing and grew it to over 25 people. An expert in marketing, Chris has often been quoted in trade publications and has been a featured guest on podcasts offering insights into how technologies impact consumer interactions with brands. He is currently serving his second term as the President of the AMA Chicago chapter and has also been on the ANA Promotion Committee. He was elected and served as Chair and Secretary for more than ten years on the local school council at Newberry Math and Science Academy. During his free time, you’ll find Chris on the tennis courts, attending events around the city and hanging with his lovely wife and two adorable daughters.

Jacqueline Kuehl is the Executive Director, Digital Marketing Concentration at the DePaul University. Jacqueline inspires people and grows business with plans that work. She excels at pinpointing the exact barriers to growth and turning that around. She brings an energetic, engaging, entrepreneurial spirit with a unique blend of analytic skills and creativity. Her career consists of creating, building, and growing marketing within a company, whether large or small. She loves to see results in action to make a real impact and have fun in the process.

Jenny Lopez Riley is a visionary and results-oriented Chief Growth Officer at RTM Engineering Consultants, bringing over 20 years of experience in accelerating revenue through digital transformation and integrated growth strategies. Throughout her career, she has led brand transformations and marketing initiatives for complex global organizations across the AEC, infrastructure, healthcare, and technology sectors. In her current role at RTM, Jenny orchestrates enterprise growth, innovation, and strategic expansion - overseeing everything from M&A and data analytics to client experience - by aligning technology and talent to unlock new market opportunities and deliver measurable business outcomes.

Ian Coe is a presales leader with 15+ years in analytics and software. As Director of Solutions Engineering at Amplitude, he leads teams focused on helping customers solve their hardest questions with data. He's built SE organizations at Snowflake, Alteryx, and Tableau. A two-time Americas SE Leader of the Year at Alteryx, Ian is known for building systems that scale to $1B and developing people who go on to do great things.

Kristen Delphos is the Vice President and Head of Communications & Public Affairs at UL Research Institutes. In this role, she leads a team of passionate professionals committed to advancing the organization's global mission: creating a safer, more secure, and more sustainable world. With over 18 years of experience in marketing and communications, Kristen has a proven track record of developing and executing innovative, integrated, and impactful strategies. Her campaigns consistently drive business objectives and elevate stakeholder engagement across both the technology and energy industries.

Kip Russell, Director of Business Insights at Spinutech, advises enterprise and financial services brands on the future of digital discovery, consumer behavior, and marketing performance. His work sits at the intersection of AI, search evolution, attribution, and cross-channel strategy — helping organizations adapt to fragmented customer journeys, shifting trust dynamics, and increasingly complex paths to conversion.

Katherine is a motivated marketing leader with nearly a decade of experience at ALDI, spanning operations, digital transformation, product management, and brand marketing. She currently serves as Marketing Director, where she leads ALDI’s brand strategy, creative development, organic social media, and creator marketing. Katherine brings a unique cross-functional lens to brand-building, blending strategic vision with deep executional experience. She is passionate about creating brand experiences that resonate—internally and externally—through collaboration, creativity, and data-driven insight.

Ranga Bodla is the Vice President, Field Engagement and Marketing at NetSuite. Founded in 1998 NetSuite is a cloud computing company that offers software and services to manage business finances, operations, and customer relations. NetSuite is headquartered in Austin, TX.

Born in Costa Rica, raised in New York, and built in Chicago — Jorge is a brand creative executive who has spent his career making large organizations creatively distinct. At Capital One he's leading brand integration for the largest bank merger in two decades. Before that, eleven years at Discover: Super Bowl ECD, enterprise design system, $1B in customer value. He served on the Google AI CMO Council, is a McKinsey executive fellow, and a recent soccer convert. Proud owner of Brando — a dog his son Javier insists does not outrank him.

Michael Loesel is the VP of Marketing for Hinge Health. Michael builds high-growth healthcare marketing organizations that drive revenue and P&L impact from scale-up through IPO. As VP of Marketing at Hinge Health, he leads enterprise marketing and go-to-market alignment within a B2B2C ecosystem, while spearheading the adoption of AI tools to boost team productivity and creative output. Throughout his career at Hinge Health, Optum, GE Healthcare, and Allscripts, Michael has consistently transformed underleveraged marketing departments into strategic, accountable functions. He combines commercial discipline with modern marketing stacks - including ABM, analytics, and AI-enabled workflows - to bridge the gap between clinical storytelling and data-driven results.

As a brand strategist and global design leader, advocate and educator, Christine has built a career leveraging the power of brand strategy and design thinking within organizations, agencies and institutions all over the world. As a leader, she brings vision, paired with the tenacity and resiliency needed to deliver it. She is considered an innovator and change agent wherever she goes. She serves as the VP Brand & Creative for Medline Industries. Founded in 1966, Medline Industries is a national manufacturer and distributor of health care supplies and services. Medline provides products and services to the entire continuum of care, including hospitals, extended care facilities, surgery centers, commercial laundries, home care dealers, home care agencies, physician offices. Medline is located in Northfield, Illinois.

Daniel Hennessy is an Executive Creative Director and builder of in-house creative studios, currently serving as VP Head of Creative at The Tag Group. His career spans JWT London, McCann, Leo Burnett, and eight years as Regional Creative Director at Dyson, where he built and ran The Americas Centre of Excellence. He specializes in translating complex technology and engineering into cultural narratives — and occasionally disappears to write television.

Jaideep Deshpande is the Executive Director of Strategy and Marketing at the University of Illinois Chicago, where he leads strategic planning, digital marketing, and program management for Dentistry, part of UI Health. With over 18 years of experience across organizations such as Blue Cross Blue Shield, GE Healthcare, and Baxter, his work sits at the intersection of strategy, marketing, and execution. Jaideep is a frequent speaker at national conferences, including Becker’s Healthcare and CMO leadership summits, where he shares insights on AI, brand strategy, and building human-centered, data-driven marketing organizations.

Taylor Fisher specializes in AI-driven discovery, modern search visibility, and enterprise organic strategy. She helps brands adapt to evolving search behaviors and fragmented digital journeys by building strategies designed for both traditional search and emerging answer engines.

Mark Mansell is the Head of Marketing for Carelon. Mark is an enterprise leader who builds and scales revenue engines inside complex, multi-business platforms. Operating at a portfolio CMO scope, he brings a decade of experience in regulated, high-stakes environments where product, pricing, sales, and narrative must work as a unified system. Partnering with presidents and leadership teams, Mark excels at turning commercial complexity into clarity to drive growth, protect revenue, and scale new businesses.

Jigar Shah is the CISO of Medusind. He is a passionate and transformational IT, data, and cybersecurity senior executive with two decades of experience spanning the healthcare, financial, banking, and retail/consumer goods industries, as well as professional consulting. Throughout his career in strategic leadership, Jigar has developed deep expertise in overseeing large, complex, enterprise-level initiatives. His track record includes spearheading critical cybersecurity programs, cloud migrations, application development, and infrastructure overhauls for large, regulated organizations. Driven by a multidisciplinary approach, he brings a unique and powerful background combining technology, business, and law to his leadership roles.

Yaël Gomez is a fractional CIO/CTO and former Vice President, Global IT, Integration & Intelligent Automation at Walgreens Boots Alliance. As an accomplished technology executive, technologist, and strategic business partner across large-scale enterprise organizations, Yaël has proven expertise in successfully developing technology delivery centers, delivering complex technology strategies and transformations generating business growth. He is skilled at driving global strategies whilst meeting business specific local requirements, with the goal of enabling business innovation, agility and performance with the right technologies. Yael finds his energy at the intersection of people, business and technology, and taps into 25 years of experience in small and large organizations such as Walgreens, in aligning business and technology, and in bringing clarity to complex problems to drive growth, operational excellence and product/service leadership for the businesses he serves.

As the Founder and CEO of AlterEnable, Charles Wiggins helps organizations modernize at scale without losing control in the process. For over 20 years, he has led complex enterprise technology transformations across global, regulated, and high-stakes environments. His work sits at the intersection of AI, cloud, cybersecurity, data, and operating models, helping organizations grow while maintaining trust, resilience, and governance. Most recently, as CIO at the American Marketing Association, he led a significant digital shift, re-architecting infrastructure and applications while embedding AI to power personalization and predictive analytics. Through his advisory work, Charles partners with CEOs and executive teams to operationalize AI, modernize security foundations, and align technology strategy to business outcomes. A battle-tested operator who leads with clarity, calm, and conviction, he specializes in creating clarity, reducing risk, and unlocking growth through fractional CIO/CTO leadership and real-world mentorship.