CEO | Data Engineer | Consultant | Data Lineage Expert
Former software developer, data engineer, and consultant turned into CEO and Founder of MANTA, an end-to-end, enterprise #datalineage platform. On a mission to bring back full visibility for data infrastructure to increase trust in data, enable agile and efficient change management, and prevent data incidents from happening.
What attracted you to data management or IT, and why did you choose to pursue this career?
As a kid, I loved mathematics which turned into a passion for computer science and software engineering. I was always fascinated by the art of software architecture and design. That passion coupled with my stubbornness and inability to follow orders because “that’s how it’s always been done” made me a natural fit for starting a tech company!
What has been your greatest career accomplishment so far, and why has it been important to your career?
That’s an easy one, MANTA! Ten years ago, if you would have told me what I’d be doing now, I likely would have laughed. I’m incredibly proud that MANTA is helping large enterprises, globally, become more efficient and agile thanks to the intelligent use of data lineage and metadata. Not only that but I’ve had the privilege to work alongside so many exceptional people who challenge me to get outside of my comfort zone. Every day is an opportunity for me to learn from those around me and help them to grow as well. Though there is a lot of pressure and risk involved in founding and running a company, it is undoubtedly the best job in the world.
What are the two or three biggest challenges you face as a data management professional / CDO and how can we address them?
One of the biggest challenges the industry is facing right now is fragmentation of the data management market and reluctance of vendors to truly integrate and build an interoperable ecosystem. Data management is complex, and tools and technologies should support people and processes, not to make their life harder.
Debates such as whether or not “ETL is better than ELT” have monopolized much of the conversation amongst data management professionals. What we need to focus on is the cultural changes necessary in enterprise organizations that will enable them to become truly data driven. A few areas that we can improve as a technical community are high-quality open APIs, standardization, and interoperability.
How do you see data management / the role of the CDO / IT changing in the next 2 – 3 years?
I like to think of the CDO role as moving from a fully defensive approach to a hybrid of defensive (risk, compliance) and offensive (data value). We’ve been talking about data for decades, but the reality is there is a lot of work to be done in order to help organizations extract the full value of data and utilize it on a daily basis.
As an industry we’ve dedicated a significant amount of time searching for a (technological) silver bullet that unfortunately, does not exist. I see the next few years as a great opportunity for us to redirect those efforts and focus on cultural and organizational change. Additionally, I feel that most organizations will evolve from a centralized data model to a more federated/distributed system. The solution lies in finding the right balance between freedom, agility, speed vs. security, and safe and ethical use of data. As I’ve seen with MANTA’s more mature customers, visibility is the key to success in this environment.
Do you have any planned next steps for your career?
My goal is, through MANTA, to transform the data market and help enterprise companies become more agile, digital and data driven.
What is the single best piece of advice you have received in your data management / IT career so far? Why has it been so important to you?
There are two. The first one was from an advisor in the early days of MANTA – “The CEO job is all about selling. To customers, partners, investors, and employees. Get out there and sell!” This piece of advice was particularly important for me, a software engineer and developer, thinking all about technology instead of people, their needs, pains, and dreams, business processes, and all those funny things.
The second piece of advice is actually from the TV Show Ted Lasso when he says, “Be curious, not judgemental”. That is the smartest thing I have ever heard, and I keep reminding myself of it every single day.
Can you share something about yourself as a person that people wouldn’t know about you?
When I was at university, I could not decide between two career paths, computer science or journalism. I was a big fan of movies like ‘All the President’s Men’ and ‘The Paper’ which is why journalism appealed to me. I’d dream about uncovering political secrets or taking on big corporations. So, instead of starting MANTA, I could have been writing for a newspaper today!
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