#40 How to Build a Diverse Data Science Team with Kjersten Moody - Chief Data and Analytics Officer

Kjersten Moody joined State Farm in July 2017 as Vice President and Chief Data & Analytics Officer in Bloomington, Illinois.  Previously, Kjersten led Data & Analytics and IT groups at global companies, such as FICO (Braun), Thomson Reuters and Unilever. She has a record of delivering tangible, positive business results, and a depth of experience in scaling operations, planning/executing mission-critical business initiatives, and achieving profitability objectives.  Kjersten is a graduate of the University of Chicago and has a proven track record in modernizing and scaling operations, executing mission-critical business initiatives, and achieving profitability objectives. An energetic leader with a focus on people development, diversity, and inclusion Kjersten demonstrates the ability to effectively lead and work in highly complex environments. In this episode, Kjersten talks about her love for data and how it compliments an understanding of human behavior. She is incredibly grateful for the chances others took on her to get her in the role she is today. Understanding how to thrive in stressful situations is one of the essential lessons Kjersten learned in her early roles.  Her leadership style is open, honest, and collaborative while always ensuring to take time out of her day to serve others. In the healthcare industry, Kjersten gets to see her work through and enjoys the process of continuous improvement. Building teams have not changed much, some methods of work differ and where the work is performed. For example, information security has grown significantly to evolve with the ever-changing advancements in technology. Later, Kjersten explains how she builds a team, what diversity means, data strategy, data governance, and financial impacts.  In This Episode: • [00:20] About Kjersten Moody • [04:45] Love for data • [06:40] Transition to technology consulting • [09:50] Lessons learned early on • [13:15] Leadership took the time • [14:40] Kjersten’s leadership style • [15:35] Transition to healthcare • [18:00] Lessons learned in consulting • [20:00] Building teams • [22:15] Qualifications for individuals • [29:10] Data strategy  • [33:00] Data governance • [38:00] Understanding the business aspects  • [45:20] Financial impacts • [48:20] Listener questions    Some of Kjersten's quotes from the episode: “Challenges are a constant in a domain such as data science.” “Diversity is an attribute of the team. It’s the diversity of experiences, culture, and thought.” “The process of matching price to risk is inherently done through data.” “Data strategy is interpreted in many different ways.”  “The leader needs to be able to work in a trusted way with business leaders and general managers.”  Now you can support Data Futurology on Patreon!  https://www.patreon.com/datafuturology Thank you to our sponsors: JCU Master of Data Science - Online Program Fyrebox - Make Your Own Quiz And as always, we appreciate your Reviews, Follows, Likes, Shares and Ratings. Thank you so much for listening. Enjoy the show!