Top 100 Data + AI Leaders

Top 100 Data + AI Leaders of San Francisco Bay Area

Data Science Connect's Top 100 Data + AI Leaders of San Francisco list recognizes the executives building the technical, strategic, and organizational foundations for AI-driven enterprise transformation.

Honorees
100
Top 100 Data + AI Leaders of San Francisco Bay Area

Data Science Connect (DSC), the world’s largest data and AI ecosystem for enterprise leaders, is proud to introduce its Top 100 Data + AI Leaders of the San Francisco Bay Area. This recognition honors the executives redefining how enterprises harness data and AI to transform their businesses. Home to some of the world’s most influential companies and fastest-moving innovators, the Bay Area remains the epicenter of AI advancement. This year’s honorees represent the leaders translating cutting-edge technologies into enterprise value—driving AI strategy, modernizing data ecosystems, and accelerating innovation across industries including financial services, healthcare, retail, manufacturing, and consumer products.The Bay Area’s data and AI community is distinguished by its unique combination of technical innovation and enterprise leadership. While breakthroughs in AI often begin here, these executives are focused on what comes next: operationalizing AI responsibly, building scalable data foundations, and delivering measurable business outcomes within complex global organizations. Their work is helping define how enterprises adopt, govern, and realize value from AI at scale.The Top 100 Data + AI Leaders of the San Francisco Bay Area will be recognized at the ALIGN AI Executive Summit on Wednesday, August 19, 2026, at McCormick & Kuleto’s in San Francisco, where an intimate group of senior executives will gather for candid, peer-driven discussions on enterprise AI strategy, infrastructure, governance, and the future of intelligent organizations. This recognition reflects DSC’s ongoing commitment to celebrating the leaders shaping the next generation of enterprise AI while strengthening the community driving innovation forward.

Data Science Connect is proud to be in the top 20% of America’s fastest-growing private companies, as recognized by Inc. 5000.

Honorees

100 leaders shaping AI in San Francisco Bay Area.

Ayman Khalil

Ayman Khalil

Director, Data Science, ML & Analytics

Srujana Kaddevarmuth

Srujana Kaddevarmuth

AI Leader & Global Head of Applied AI Labs

Vineet Kumar

Vineet Kumar

Vice President, Data Science

Meenal Iyer

Meenal Iyer

SVP, Data

Debarag Banerjee

Debarag Banerjee

Chief AI and Data Officer

Ahmad Aladdasi

Ahmad Aladdasi

Director, AI Technical Product Management

Thomas Evans

Thomas Evans

CAIO, Head of Artificial Intelligence

Ashutosh Joshi

Ashutosh Joshi

Head of Engineering

Lijay Shih

Lijay Shih

VP, Technology

Leon Bian

Leon Bian

VP, Head of Product, AI & Data Security

Amir Akleh

Amir Akleh

VP, Business Strategy, Growth & Insights

Hanneke Krekels

Hanneke Krekels

Corporate VP, Global AI Markets

Patrick Loerch

Patrick Loerch

SVP, Clinical Data Science

Mark Clare

Mark Clare

Chief Data Officer

Kyle Farh

Kyle Farh

VP & Distinguished Scientist, Artificial Intelligence Lab

Whedy Wang

Whedy Wang

VP, Head of Data Science R&D

John Axerio-Cilies

John Axerio-Cilies

Chief Data Technology Officer

Ram Prakash

Ram Prakash

Chief Data and Analytics Officer

Philip Glebow

Philip Glebow

Chief Enterprise Architect & VP Data, AI and MarTech

Margery Connor

Margery Connor

Chevron Fellow, Modeling, Analytics, AI

Franziska Bell

Franziska Bell

EVP and Chief Technology Officer

David Leach

David Leach

SVP, Chief Security Officer and Chief Data & Analytics Officer

Arpita Saha

Arpita Saha

VP, AI Research

Scott Kaufman

Scott Kaufman

Chief Analytics & Data Officer

Deep Ratna Srivastav

Deep Ratna Srivastav

Chief AI Officer

Vivian Tan

Vivian Tan

Chief Data & Analytics Officer CDAO

Gio Granato

Gio Granato

Sr. Director, Data & ML

Ha Hong

Ha Hong

Chief Artificial Intelligence Officer, Endoscopy

Amit Patel

Amit Patel

Chief Data Officer for Wholesale Banking

Alexey Trepakov

Alexey Trepakov

Chief Data & Analytics Officer

Siddharth Mehta

Siddharth Mehta

Senior Director, AI Semiconductors, Clusters

Lee Davidson

Lee Davidson

SVP, Chief Data Officer

Jatin Upadhyay

Jatin Upadhyay

VP, Data Center & AI, GM, Customer Systems Engineering

Patrick Bangert

Patrick Bangert

Chief of AI

Anil Nanduri

Anil Nanduri

Vice President, Head of AI Acceleration Office

Sharad Mathur

Sharad Mathur

Global Head of Data & Analytics

Frank Zhu

Frank Zhu

Chief Analytics Officer

Brendan Watkins

Brendan Watkins

VP, Chief Analytics Officer

Karl Varsanyi

Karl Varsanyi

Chief Digital Officer

Angela Alaniz

Angela Alaniz

Chief Digital Officer

Akash Pugalia

Akash Pugalia

Chief Digital Officer

Brady Cole

Brady Cole

Chief Data Officer

Marc Fleischmann

Marc Fleischmann

Chief Software & AI Officer

Harshal Dedhia

Harshal Dedhia

VP of AI

Kapil Gupta

Kapil Gupta

Chief AI Officer

Susan Moon

Susan Moon

Chief Digital Officer

Juseon Kim

Juseon Kim

President, AI Infra

Han Park

Han Park

VP, AI Integration

Melonee Wise

Melonee Wise

Chief Product Officer of Software and AI

Ashok Elluswamy

Ashok Elluswamy

VP, AI Software

Dilip Varadarajan

Dilip Varadarajan

VP, GM, Infrastructure & Platform Services

Julia Keintz

Julia Keintz

VP, Data Science, Data Engineering, Analytics, BI

Mahesh Pasupuleti

Mahesh Pasupuleti

VP, ML & Data Infra

Brian Baron

Brian Baron

VP, Data & Analytics

Koundinya Pidaparthi

Koundinya Pidaparthi

VP, Analytics

Aliza Apple

Aliza Apple

VP, Catalyze360 AI & Global Head of Lilly TuneLab

Liang Zhang

Liang Zhang

VP, Engineering, Head of AI & Analytics

Nancy Wang

Nancy Wang

Chief Technology Officer

James Philbin

James Philbin

SVP, Autonomy & AI

Keith Lavery

Keith Lavery

VP, Data Analytics & AI

Arthur Meloy

Arthur Meloy

Corporate VP, AI, Data, and Cloud

Krishna Gadepalli

Krishna Gadepalli

VP, AI Platform

Ross Monro

Ross Monro

SVP, Finance & Analytics

Tom Lue

Tom Lue

VP, Frontier AI Global Affairs

Julia Dziuba

Julia Dziuba

VP, Data Science & Analytics

Craig Sabol

Craig Sabol

VP, HR Technology, AI Strategy & Implementation

Deepak Savadatti

Deepak Savadatti

VP, AI Infrastructure

Bhaskar Deka

Bhaskar Deka

GVP, Prouct Management, AI & Learner Experience

Olaf Brandt

Olaf Brandt

SVP, Matterport Engineering, AI/ML Vision, Platform & Experiences

Siddharth Patil

Siddharth Patil

EVP of Marketplace

Hamed Hasheminia

Hamed Hasheminia

SVP, Data Science, Analytics, and AI

Karl Hightower

Karl Hightower

Chief Data & Analytics Officer

Rafi Tzadikario

Rafi Tzadikario

SVP, Engineering & AI

Jen Allum

Jen Allum

SVP, Co-head, Generative AI Strategy and Transformation

Milind Naphade

Milind Naphade

SVP, Technology, AI Foundations

Kevin Weeks

Kevin Weeks

VP, Sports Partnerships, Business Operations, Data Science

Steve Scherf

Steve Scherf

VP, Engineering, Artificial Intelligence

Niaz Jalal

Niaz Jalal

SVP, AI, Product and Platforms, IHFM

Roman Kisin

Roman Kisin

SVP, Engineering, Data & AI

Gaurav Sehgal

Gaurav Sehgal

VP, Consumer AI & Experimentation

Rajani Koduganti

Rajani Koduganti

VP, Total Rewards, People Analytics and Operation

Siddarth Satish

Siddarth Satish

VP, AI

Daniel Danker

Daniel Danker

EVP, AI Acceleration, Product, and Design

Brahim Bourig

Brahim Bourig

VP, AI

Jeremy Wall

Jeremy Wall

Group VP, Head of Enterprise Data and Integration Platforms

Keyur Desai

Keyur Desai

Senior Managing Director, Chief Data and Analytics Officer

Vijay Kotu

Vijay Kotu

Chief Analytics Officer

Rashid Desai

Rashid Desai

CIO, Data & Analytics, Chief Engineer

Xingchu Liu

Xingchu Liu

Chief Data & Analytics Officer

Christopher Bergey

Christopher Bergey

EVP, t Edge AI Business Unit

Cora Han

Cora Han

Chief Health Data Officer, UC Health

Rajesh Arora

Rajesh Arora

VP, Chief Data and Analytics Officer

Jason Ash

Jason Ash

SVP, Chief of Data & AI

Dan McNamara

Dan McNamara

SVP & General Manager, Compute & Enterprise AI

Sandeep Bharathi

Sandeep Bharathi

President, Data Center Group

Paul Ju

Paul Ju

Corporate Senior Vice President, ISG BG Head

Vaibhav Kulkarni

Vaibhav Kulkarni

Vice President of Engineering

Daniel Yang

Daniel Yang

VP, AI and Emerging Technologies

Soumya Kalra

Soumya Kalra

Chief Data Officer

Ravi Nandagopalan

Ravi Nandagopalan

Head of Global Data & Analytics