Charles Thomas is General Motors' first chief data and analytics officer. As leader of the chief data and analytics office, Thomas instills a culture of data-driven decision-making, maximizing the impact that data and insights have on business results, operational efficiency and effectiveness. Thomas plays a crucial role in GM's digital transformation to ensure customer, corporate and business data are managed as a strategic asset.
Thomas has expertise leveraging data to drive strategy across B2B and B2C segments, digital and traditional routes to market, multiple regions and industry verticals such as energy, high-tech, pharma, retail and financial services. This is Thomas' third time as CDO for a major corporation. He's previously led these efforts for Hewlett-Packard, USAA and Wells Fargo.
Thomas sits on the advisory panel of the University of California at Berkeley's School of Information and is a consult for numerous programs across the country. He holds a Ph.D. in sociology – organizational behavior and quantitative methods – from Yale University. He is headquartered in Detroit and lives in Austin with his wife and two children.