On November 21, 2024, the CDO Council held its inaugural symposium, Data Powers Mission: Transforming Business and Mission with Data, in the GSA Auditorium. The event attracted a diverse crowd of over 200 people, including federal employees, industry partners, and other key players in the federal data space. The keynote address provided by Social Security Administration (SSA) Commissioner Martin O’Malley highlighted SSA’s SecurityStat initiative, which has helped the agency embrace data as a core asset to its mission and dramatically improve its service delivery and customer satisfaction. See Commissioner O’Malley’s keynote address here.
The Council would like to offer special thanks to the incredible lineup of panelists and speakers who made this event so insightful and successful. See the full line-up for participants in the Symposium Program Book linked here. The panels throughout the day spoke to several important themes, including fostering a data-driven culture, understanding the points of overlap and critical distinctions between the CIO, CDO, and CAIO roles, seeing data as a strategic enabler of mission delivery, and collaborating across councils and agencies to address the unique requirements of the Evidence Act. These themes underscored the ongoing need for collaboration between CDOs and the agency functions they ultimately serve, including IT, finance, human capital, operations, etc.
Building on the momentum of this inaugural symposium, the CDO council hopes to elevate the success stories and substantial ongoing work happening within the federal data space. Those interested in becoming more involved in the Federal CDO Council, including participating in its working groups, can express interest by contacting the council via cdocstaff@gsa.gov.