About Ryan den Rooijen

If you want to get in touch please use this form or contact me on LinkedIn.

I am a seasoned technology executive (ex-Google, Dyson) with deep expertise in helping people make better decisions through data and AI. I have advised tens of organisations on how digital capabilities can unlock transformative growth and deliver a sustainable competitive advantage.

Currently, I am the Chief Ecommerce Officer of the Middle East's largest luxury retailer, after serving as the group's Chief Data Officer. Previously, at Dyson, I was the Director of Data, where I worked on topics as diverse as machine learning for digital motor manufacturing and automotive analytics.

Waistcoats are great for presentations as you can skip ironing your shirt. Photo by Chalhoub.

At Google, I led the development of the global sales analyst skills curriculum, after spending years uncovering new ways of deriving insights from our data. Combined with many executive summits, this helped me hone my analytics translator skills. Before that, I worked on a number of digital start-ups.

In the UK, I was named one of the top 100 people in data-driven business, one of the top 50 data innovators, and one of the top 10 data futurists. I was also invited to be a Partner in the Forbes Ignite coalition. My surname is pronounced den (like bear den) Roy-yen (like the currency).

A lot of my effort is focused on explaining digital technologies in plain English. Photo by GISEC.

What I Present

I have spoken at 100+ conferences and corporate summits, usually on the topics of data & AI, digital leadership, and transformation. I have also developed an executive training focused on data and AI: more information.

SELECTED PRESENTATIONS: AI Congress London, AI Everything Dubai, P&G Geneva, AI Summit London, Arabnet Riyadh, Unilever London, Big Data World London, Google Chicago, Business Analytics Tech Fest Sydney, Code Europe Warsaw, Danske Bank Copenhagen, GISEC Dubai, Chief Data & Analytics Officer Summit London, GroupM New York, French Business Council Dubai, Data Leaders Summit Barcelona, Excellence in Leadership London, DataCon Middle East Dubai, Amplifon Venice, Digital Marketing Asia Singapore, Middle East Retail Forum Dubai, BNY Mellon London, Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence Abu Dhabi, University of Oxford, Smart Data Summit Dubai, National University of Singapore, Deloitte Amsterdam, Arabian Business Forum Dubai, HEC Paris, Hypermotion Dubai

Big data is the easy part. Making the right decisions is hard. Photo by Smart Data Summit.

ONLINE RESOURCES: Data Leadership Collaborative (Jan 2022), Images Retail Middle East Interview (Apr 2021), Harper's Bazaar Article (Jan 2021), AI Adoption Panel (Jun 2020), Data Conversations Over Coffee (Jun 2020), Oxford Internet Institute Alumni Profile (Oct 2019), Data Leaders Interview (Jul 2018), Customer Insight Leaders, Hub and Spoken: Putting your Data Strategy into Action (Mar 2018), Leading Change in a Company as the Head of Data (Mar 2018), DataIQ (Feb 2018), DataIQ (Jan 2018), Forbes (Mar 2017), Top Tips for Data Storytelling (Jan 2016)

Please get in touch if you are interested in having me speak at your event. Generally, I tend to only participate on behalf of my employer, but on special occasions I have done corporate events as my schedule allows.

I have spent a lot of time talking about what buzzwords mean in practice. Photo from Twitter.

What I Write

You can find all the posts I have written here. Some of my favourites:

Recruiting a New Team? Go For Diversity, In Every Way
When defining their key performance indicators (KPIs), organisations areincreasingly incorporating metrics around diversity and inclusion. While this isa laudable effort given historical inequities, it also makes a lot of businesssense. Study[https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/organization/our-insights/why-diversity-matters…
Q* – Data, Analytics, & AI Leadership BlogRyan den Rooijen
Chief Executives Need an MBA, with A for Analytics
If there is one term newscasters seem to enjoy it is “the new normal”. Cryingfake news seems a bit passé, but I struggle with the proliferation of thisphrase. Normal implies a sense of equilibrium, a modicum of order and proportionhaving been restored. We are not there yet. Even in those countrie…
Q* – Data, Analytics, & AI Leadership BlogRyan den Rooijen
If You Are Serious About AI, You Had Better Get Serious About Data Quality
Ah, data quality. Almost as unpopular a cocktail party topic as data governance.Yet like that walking punchline Chandler Bing[https://qstar.ai/the-one-where-friends-least-popular-character-ended-up-with-the-sexiest-job-of-the-21st-century/], data quality is about to enter its defining decade. It …
Q* – Data, Analytics, & AI Leadership BlogRyan den Rooijen
Putting the AI in LemonAIde: Practical Applications of Artificial Intelligence
Though you might not have realised it if you live in England, summer is here.Once upon a time, this meant kids would take to the sidewalks to hawk theirnon-alcoholic beverages. Other than providing their pint-size proprietors withsupplementary income, lemonade stands are a helpful microcosm when …
Q* – Data, Analytics, & AI Leadership BlogRyan den Rooijen
The One Where Friends’ Least Popular Character Ended Up with the Sexiest Job of the 21st Century
Although I did not watch the American sitcom Friends when it originally aired, I have since worked my way through its ten seasons over the…
Q* – Data, Analytics, & AI Leadership BlogRyan den Rooijen

If you made it this far, congratulations! Have a link to my Spotify playlist :)

— Ryan