Scaling AI where it meets the real world — in the office, on the factory floor, and through the people who run it.
Enterprise Technology, Data & AI Executive
Richard Leaton has spent more than twenty years leading technology and data organizations at global scale. He served as a Chief Information Officer at General Electric, holding a $50 million P&L across 185 countries, leading a division of more than 140 people, and running operations for 495,000 users at 99.9% uptime. He moved from there into enterprise data leadership at Hertz, served as Deputy Chief Data and AI Officer at Deloitte, and now leads data, analytics and AI at Novelis as Vice President (CDAO). He is based in Atlanta, Georgia.
His work has produced measurable commercial results: $100 million in revenue growth at Hertz through the monetization of enterprise data, new revenue and $8 million in cost avoidance at Deloitte, and over 100,000 hours of productivity gains at Novelis. Each was delivered alongside the platform, governance and cost discipline required to sustain it.
He has led teams based in Russia, Hungary, China, Mexico, Canada and India. His current organization spans Switzerland, Germany, China, Korea, Brazil, Canada and the United States. He reports data and AI value to the Executive Committee monthly and presents strategy to the CEO, CIO and Hindalco and Aditya Birla Group (parent companies) leadership.
His experience covers both the operating estate and the capability built on it — ERP, master data, enterprise architecture, cybersecurity and IT service management, through to data governance, decision intelligence, and generative, agentic and physical AI. On the organizational side, he is the author of Intentional Engagement®, the leadership model he applies to technology change.
Data strategy and governance
AI & machine learning — traditional, generative, agentic
Data platforms and analytics modernization (cloud & hybrid)
AI ethics and responsible innovation
Global IT operations and service management
Multi-region team leadership across Europe, Asia and the Americas
Core business systems — ERP, CRM and master data
Enterprise architecture, cybersecurity and technology risk
P&L, capital planning and the strategic partner ecosystem
M&A technology integration
Board and executive committee engagement
Organization design, talent and Intentional Engagement®
Richard has led data and technology functions across four sectors:
Richard is the author of Intentional Engagement®: Empowered Path to Culture Change — the people half of his work, and the reason AI programs land rather than stall. His recognition, published research and speaking are below.
In every role, the pattern has been the same:
“Technical excellence will get you in the room, but influence and impact come from how intentionally you engage with people.”
Informatica World 2024 — “Trusted Data Foundation for Generative AI.”
Informatica MDM 360 & Data Governance Summit.
Formal education, executive credentials, and twenty-one verified certifications across cloud, data and AI.
MIT Chief Data Officer & Information Quality Program
Applied risk management for AI systems
General Electric
Microsoft Azure AI, AWS, Google Cloud, Databricks, Informatica
Across 11 issuers — see the full wallet below
Richard’s conviction about leadership took hold in the Navy, where he learned that the people running the equipment have ideas, opinions and ambitions of their own — and that engaging them is a deliberate act, not a personality trait. Everything below follows from that.
Richard leads the enterprise Data, Analytics & AI function for the world leader in aluminum rolling and recycling — an $18.4 billion enterprise with 12,750 employees, 29 advanced manufacturing facilities and 11 innovation centers across four continents. Reporting to the Chief Information Officer, he directs an organization of roughly fifty professionals across Switzerland, Germany, China, Korea, Brazil, Canada and the United States, spanning four pillars: AI automation, decision intelligence, data management and data engineering. He advanced a risk-based AI governance framework aligned to the EU AI Act and NIST AI RMF, and reports adoption and value to the Executive Committee monthly.
The work runs in both directions at once. In the office, he leads the enterprise-wide deployment of AI assistants to thousands of employees, and the master data modernization consolidating a fragmented ERP landscape onto a single trusted foundation. On the plant floor, he is extending computer vision, predictive maintenance and edge intelligence — integrating ERP, MES, SCADA and sensor data from rolling mills, furnaces and casting lines into one analytics and AI layer for real-time operational visibility.
Richard led enterprise data and AI strategy, governance and innovation for a 180,000-person global professional services firm, with executive oversight of AI adoption and responsible-AI standards. He directed a $70 million transformation to a decentralized data mesh and cloud-first platform across AWS, Azure, Snowflake, Databricks and Informatica, achieving 95% data-quality gains and a 20% cost reduction.
The programme generated new revenue across advanced analytics, generative and agentic AI, delivered 110,000 hours of productivity gains and $8 million in cost avoidance, and produced the firm-wide data governance and AI-ethics operating model built with Legal and Compliance.
Richard directed a $55 million data transformation, building a four-domain Informatica MDM and Databricks platform that enabled enterprise-wide self-service analytics. The program improved data quality 85% and contributed $100 million in revenue growth, establishing data as a monetizable strategic asset rather than an operational by-product.
Over eighteen years at GE, Richard progressed from Quality and Operations Manager to CIO of Global Learning Systems. As a Six Sigma Master Black Belt he streamlined supply chains and drove plant-level manufacturing analytics, implementing Oracle ERP, Informatica MDM and a greenfield Siebel CRM deployment.
As CIO he owned a $50 million global P&L across 185 countries and led a division of more than 140 people — with teams on the ground in Russia, Hungary, China, Mexico, Canada and India — running worldwide operations for 495,000 users at 99.9% uptime. He led the data and technology integration for the $10.6 billion GE/Alstom acquisition, completing it in eight months.
Richard began his career as a commissioned officer aboard the USS Harry S. Truman, managing reactor operations to a safety- and precision-critical standard. He later served as Weapons Officer aboard the USS Chancellorsville, responsible for armament systems and the teams that ran them.
Scaling AI in the office and on the factory floor, through Intentional Engagement® of the people who make it work—driving financial returns and employee safety.
