The Changing C-Suite: Chief AI Officer In, Chief Diversity Officer Out

The chief AI officer and the chief data officer are in, while the chief diversity officer and the chief transformation officer roles are on the outs.

These were the results of a West Monroe survey of 1,000 working professionals between 25 and 45 years old at the director, vice president, and senior vice president levels, 13% of whom predicted the chief diversity officer role would be phased out in the next five years.

The survey was broadly focused on determining what the C-suite would look like five years down the line as the "silver tsunami" — executives 65 years old and up — retires to make way for the next generation of business leaders.

Casey Foss, chief commercial officer at digital services firm West Monroe, said she sees the role of chief diversity officer evolving rather than being phased out.

"Business transformation, including inclusion initiatives, has become a collective responsibility for all C-suite members — from traditional roles like the CMO [chief marketing officer] and CHROs [chief human resources officers] to evolving and newer roles like chief AI officers," she explained.

As business leaders think about driving business results and change into their organizations, they must continue to think about how they can create an inclusive environment that gets the most out of their talent, Foss said.

Related:ITPro Today 2024 IT Salary Survey Report

"The same goes for diversity," she added. "While inclusion and diversity programs require teams to execute, the strategic intent should be embedded across the entire organization and not siloed into one singular role."

Foss explained that the shift toward integrating diversity responsibilities into broader leadership roles is partly due to the increasing expectation to do more with less.

"As organizations understand having diverse teams lead to better outcomes and faster value creation, there's a growing consensus that all leaders should be involved in driving these initiatives," Foss said.

From the perspective of Caroline Carruthers, CEO of global data consultancy Carruthers and Jackson, the roles that achieve longevity in the C-suite are those that are based around a corporate asset.

"That could be anything from finance to people to data to operations to security," she said.

At one point in time, the chief financial officer wasn't an established role, but now it is because it's based around a vital corporate asset, according to Carruthers.

However, some C-suite roles aren't based on an asset, and instead become widespread across companies due to societal and business needs at a specific time, such as the chief diversity officer, she said.

Related:Role of Chief Data Officer: Essential so Why the Turnover?

"Our research shows these roles are more likely to come and go as societal and business needs change over time," Carruthers said.

Diversity Achieved Through Executive Leadership

Peter Jackson, chief data and technology officer for data, analytics and performance product company Outra, said the chief diversity officer has been an important strategic addition to the C-suite to help guide diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) across areas such as recruitment, retention, training, and education.

"It would have been difficult to achieve diversity in these areas without representation at the most senior level," he said.

Now that a lot of these policies have been operationalized, it's likely that the role will start to phase out as changes are implemented and sweep through every department in a business. 

The chief transformation officer role, meanwhile, is simply too general for a lot of organizations, particularly when almost all business transformations are now driven by data, Jackson said.

"Without data science or AI experience, it's difficult to implement a successful operational transformation across a modern organization," he said.

Krishna Subramanian, co-founder and chief operating officer (COO) of data management software maker Komprise, noted that finding good talent is hard and every manager should focus on diversity since the talent pool is more diverse overall today than 20 or 30 years ago.

"For example, half of college graduates are female, and roughly 30% of women work in tech — a traditionally male-dominated field," she explained.

Whether organizations choose to have a distinct leadership role focusing on diversity or not, leaders at the top of companies and departments should take it upon themselves to always consider diversity in the organization.

Studies have shown that more diverse teams and organizations have better cultures and results.

"Yet as a society we still have a lot of progress to make," Subramanian said.

For instance, black college and university enrollment declined by 22% between 2010 and 2020, according to the National Center for Education Statistics, and it has fallen by another 7% since then, according to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center.

Chief AI Officer Takes Center Stage

"AI is probably going to be the most transformative technology we have seen in decades because it reshapes every aspect of a business, and it is evolving so rapidly," Subramanian said. "Therefore, the chief AI officer is the new transformation leader."

She noted that AI offers the greatest business opportunity but also carries probably the greatest business risks.

This means organizations must figure out where to use AI, how to manage data governance and data workflows when using corporate data with AI, and how to prevent security and compliance issues.

"AI and big data are driving strategies in the enterprise," she said. "Someone with the right expertise needs to manage the intersection of AI and data."

Subramanian predicted that either the role of the chief data officer will evolve to encompass AI or a new role of chief AI officer will have broader oversight across AI and data.

"It is likely that chief AI officers will develop close collaboration with security, IT, legal, and line of business leaders," Subramanian said.

She added that she believes the roles of chief data officer and chief AI officer will merge, as AI needs data and the biggest opportunities with AI have to do with data.

From Jackson's perspective, the chief AI officer role is a "bit of a knee jerk reaction" to what's going on within the wider context of the world and response to demand for AI.

For listed companies, appointing a chief AI officer might help increase share value or position on the capital markets, but there is more to AI than AI.

"If you don't have good, well-managed data you can forget about realizing the true value of AI," he said.

A well-defined chief AI officer role with clear responsibility for data in the business might work, but a C-level role that simply covers AI is only sitting on one part of a process that is underpinned entirely by data.

Foss said organizations are appointing chief AI officers now because AI is a new and rapidly evolving technology, and many companies are uncertain about how to use it to drive business results.

"Organizations are focused on understanding governance implication, industry-relevant use cases, and ultimately a path toward execution," she explained. "Seasoned leadership is required to tie these categories together and drive change across the organization."

This role signals to both the market and the organization that AI is being prioritized and the organization is committed to significant investment in its potential.

"While some may see it that way, I don't believe these new AI chiefs will be around forever," she added.

Over time, these responsibilities may be integrated into other executive roles or shift toward the next emerging technology as AI becomes more embedded within the organization.

"AI isn't going away, but it will become more integrated into every part of the business, much like digital has," Foss noted.

Future C-Suite Shifts Expected

Traditionally, CEOs have come from the worlds of law and finance, but as more and more businesses realize that data sits at the heart of their organization, Jackson said he believes the role will increasingly be filled by chief data officers.

"Anyone who has been a CDO has experience bridging both the business and technology sides of the organization and has a complete overview," he said. "They are involved in ensuring the maximum value of data is being obtained the right way across the business in every department."

Jackson said he also believes there will be a shift where the traditional chief technology officer will move out of the C-suite as the role increasingly becomes about handling managed services and cloud computing contractual agreements and less about managing the development of products and services.

"We're a data company with a chief data officer who sits on the executive committee," he added. "We're unusual, but it's a model of what can happen."

Foss said she thinks that the chief data officer role is likely to stick around for the long haul.

"With companies continuing to accumulate more data and as regulations getting stricter, having a dedicated person to manage data will be crucial," she said.

As companies that started their digital journeys a few years ago now find digital embedded in every part of their business, Foss said the role of chief digital officer is becoming more integrated into everything that an organization does.

That means chief marketing officers must understand how to engage with customers in a hyper-digital world, chief operating officers must understand the implications of emerging technology to streamline processes and take out costs, and chief human resource officers must adjust employee experiences to meet talent where it is today.

Foss said she also expects new titles to emerge to address the latest technologies.

"As businesses encounter new kinds of tech and innovations, there will be new roles created to handle these developments and keep pace with the changes," she said.