CDO Summit

What CDO Summit does

CDO Summit, operated by parent company Innovation Exchange LLC (IXL), is a B2B event platform that produces the world's longest-running conference series for Chief Digital Officers (CDOs), Chief Data & Analytics Officers (CDAOs), and — most recently — Chief AI Officers (CAIOs). Founded in 2013 with the inaugural CDO Summit at Thomson Reuters in New York City, the company has since staged summits in 12+ cities across five continents, including London, Boston, Washington DC, San Francisco, Sydney, Tel Aviv, Tokyo, Toronto, Amsterdam, Madrid, and Fukuoka. Its core products are the CDO Summit, the CDAO Summit, the Chief AI Officer Summit (launched December 2023), and the CDO Club membership community, which the company states has 100,000+ global members spanning Fortune 500 enterprises, government agencies (including DoD, CIA, DHS, DNI, SEC, Treasury, and the U.S. Military Academy at West Point), military, national security/intelligence, and academia.

The business is event-driven and community-driven rather than software-driven. CDO Summit monetizes primarily through event registration, ticketing (distributed via cdosummit.com and Eventbrite), and flagship corporate sponsorships, with IBM, Microsoft, McKinsey, and Accenture named as current sponsors. Sponsorship is anchored by institutional venue partnerships with Thomson Reuters, BBC, CNN/Time Warner, Columbia University, Northeastern University, and UTS-Sydney. The company is founder-led by David Mathison (formerly VP at Thomson Reuters and founder of Kinecta Corporation, which was acquired and is now part of Oracle) and operates with 11-50 employees, with no disclosed external funding or institutional investors. Adjacent to the CDO portfolio, IXL also operates the Web3 Summit/Club, extending the executive-convening model into emerging-tech C-suite roles.

The go-to-market combines curated C-suite speaker lineups, in-person summits, virtual webinars, and a membership community (CDO Club) to attract senior decision-makers. Distribution is global but anchored in a handful of recurring event cities. The firm does not disclose revenue, valuation, or funding, and its technology footprint is described as an event-management and community platform rather than a proprietary AI or data product. CDO Summit's defensibility rests on first-mover brand in a niche executive category, the size of its member community, and recurring sponsor and venue relationships, rather than on any disclosed technology moat.

Name

CDO Summit

Legal name

Innovation Exchange LLC

Website

https://cdosummit.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2013

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

CDO Summit, operated by Innovation Exchange LLC, is a B2B event platform producing the world's longest-running conferences for Chief Digital Officers, Chief Data & Analytics Officers, and Chief AI Officers, alongside the 100,000+ member CDO Club community spanning Fortune 500, government, military, and academia.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Executive Conferences and Events

NAICS

Convention and Trade Show Organizers (561920), Business Associations (813910)

SIC

Services-Membership Organizations (8600)

akta.pro primary industry

Association & Society Conference Management (Nonprofit, Professional Bodies) (THAHACAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Training, Enablement & Talent Development Summits (THAHAMAH), Virtual/Hybrid Conference Production & Platform Management (THAHACAM)

Keywords

• Executive summit events
• C-suite networking conferences
• Digital transformation summits
• Chief data officer events
• AI leadership conferences

Headquarters

HQ city

Long Beach

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices12 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Operations, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Event Registration and Attendance: CDO Summit generates revenue through ticket sales for its in-person summits and virtual events, with pricing targeting senior C-suite executives from enterprise organizations, government agencies, and academic institutions.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

CDO Summit produces and delivers in-person executive conferences and virtual events for Chief Digital Officers, Chief Data & Analytics Officers, and Chief AI Officers. The company has run the world's longest-running event series for these senior digital, data, and AI leaders since 2013, hosting summits in 12+ cities across five continents at prestigious institutional venues. It also operates the CDO Club, a membership community of 100,000+ C-suite executives offering networking, advisory, leadership training, and original research.

Product overview

CDO Summit operates as a conference and membership organization offering multiple distinct event products: the CDO Summit (core event for Chief Digital Officers), the CDAO Summit (for Chief Data & Analytics Officers), and the Chief AI Officer Summit (CAIO Summit). The company also maintains the CDO Club as a membership community. These products are event-based offerings centered on professional conferences, speaker content, and peer networking rather than software products or technology platforms.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• CDO Summit The world's longest-running event series for Chief Digital Officers (CDOs), delivering in-person summits featuring keynotes, panels, and networking for senior digital, data, and AI executives. Hosted at prestigious venues across 12+ cities globally.
• CDAO Summit Chief Data & Analytics Officer Summit focusing on data strategy, analytics, and AI leadership, with annual events and virtual webinars connecting CDAOs with industry peers.
• Chief AI Officer Summit (CAIO Summit) Dedicated summit for Chief AI Officers and senior AI leaders, delivering cutting-edge content on artificial intelligence strategy, implementation, and governance.
• CDO Club The world's first and largest membership community of Chief AI Officers, Chief Data & Analytics Officers, Chief Digital Officers, and senior leaders in AI, data, and digital transformation, offering executive networking, advisory services, leadership training, and exclusive events to 100,000+ global members.

Quantifiable outcome

• 100,000+ global members in the CDO Club community
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Twelve partnerships are on record, tiered flagship and core.

• Northeastern University - Institute for Experiential AIflagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2023Hosted the 10th anniversary CDAO Summit (December 13, 2023) and the world's first-ever Chief AI Officer Summit (December 14, 2023) at Northeastern University in Boston.
• MicrosoftflagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2023Listed as a sponsor of CDO Summits alongside IBM, McKinsey, and Accenture.
• McKinseyflagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2023Listed as a sponsor of CDO Summits alongside IBM, Microsoft, and Accenture.
• AccentureflagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2023Listed as a sponsor of CDO Summits alongside IBM, Microsoft, and McKinsey.
• EventbritecoreTechnology or Integration · 1 January 2023CDO Club uses Eventbrite for event registration and ticketing (cdo-club-4080292503).
• IBMflagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2022IBM sponsored CDO/CTO Summits in NYC (June 2023), Boston (December 2022), and San Francisco (November 2022). Primary corporate sponsor for multiple high-profile events.
• Columbia UniversitycoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2022Two NYC summits hosted by Columbia University; Sree Sreenivasan served as CDO at Columbia before moving to the Met.
• UTS Sydney (University of Technology, Sydney)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2016Sydney CDO Summits held at UTS campus; academic partner for Australian events.
• BBCflagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2014Hosted the first London CDO Summit at BBC headquarters in 2014. Venue partner for UK-based events.
• CNN/Time WarnerflagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2014NYC summits held at CNN/Time Warner headquarters; provided prestigious media venue for CDO Summit events.
• Thomson ReutersflagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 February 2013Hosted the world's first-ever Chief Digital Officer Summit in February 2013 at Thomson Reuters headquarters in New York City. Thomson Reuters also hosted the inaugural Toronto event and subsequent IBM CDO Summits.
• CDO ClubflagshipOthers · 1 January 2012CDO Club is the world's first and largest community of CAIOs, CDAOs, CDOs. Founded in 2012, it operates as a sister entity to CDO Summit under the same parent company Innovation Exchange LLC (IXL). CDO Club provides the membership community while CDO Summit provides the event platform.

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• MIT Sloan CIO Symposium: Annual invite-only C-suite technology executive symposium hosted by MIT Sloan, targeting CIOs, CDOs, CTOs, and senior data/AI leaders. It is the closest direct peer to CDO Summit given overlapping persona, content focus, and executive-curation model.
• The Economist Events: The Economist's executive events division hosts curated summits on technology, AI, data, and business leadership targeting senior enterprise decision-makers — directly comparable in audience, premium pricing model, and curated-content approach to CDO Summit.
• Fortune Brainstorm Tech: Fortune's invite-only executive technology conference convening CEOs, founders, and senior enterprise leaders around digital transformation and emerging tech. Highly comparable to CDO Summit in attendee caliber, sponsorship model, and C-suite networking emphasis.
• WSJ Pro / Wall Street Journal Executive Events: WSJ's executive conference portfolio (including WSJ Pro Cybersecurity Executive Forum and technology summits) targets senior enterprise technology, data, and digital leaders with premium curated programming — directly comparable to CDO Summit in audience and format.
• MIT Technology Review (EmTech): MIT Technology Review's EmTech and executive AI/digital summits target senior enterprise technology and innovation leaders. Comparable attendee persona, premium-curated programming, and AI/digital content focus to CDO Summit.

Broad incumbents

• Gartner: Global research and advisory firm operating Gartner Symposium/ITxpo and CIO/CEO executive forums targeting the same C-suite IT, data, and digital leadership personas as CDO Summit, but at vastly larger scale and with broader research offerings.
• Forrester: Research and advisory firm running Forrester Forums and executive summits aimed at CIOs, CDOs, and CMOs. Comparable audience and executive-event format to CDO Summit, with deeper research and consulting monetization layered on top.
• IDC Directions: Global market intelligence firm running IDC Directions and CIO/CEO Executive Leadership Forums targeting senior technology and data buyers. Comparable audience and content focus to CDO Summit, with broader research and advisory scale.
• Web Summit: Large-scale global technology conference (Lisbon, Rio, Vancouver, etc.) convening enterprise executives, startups, and media around digital and AI themes. Broader than CDO Summit in attendee mix but overlaps significantly on the C-suite digital/data track and sponsor base.
• Dreamforce (Salesforce): Salesforce's annual mega-conference hosting tens of thousands of enterprise digital, data, and AI leaders. A much larger but adjacent executive conference model that competes for the same enterprise AI/digital sponsorship dollars as CDO Summit.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/cdosummit
• YouTubeyoutube.com/user/BeTheMedia/videos
• Facebookfacebook.com/CDOClub
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/chief-digital-officer-summit

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about CDO Summit