Usama Fayyad

Usama Fayyad is a distinguished figure in data science and artificial intelligence, currently serving as the Inaugural Executive Director of the Institute for Experiential AI at Northeastern University and Chairman of Open Insights, a company he founded in 2008 to help enterprises leverage data assets through AI solutions. His illustrious career spans academia, technology, and finance, including groundbreaking roles such as becoming the industry's first Chief Data Officer at Yahoo! in 2004, where he founded Yahoo! Research Labs and contributed to the development of Hadoop. Prior to this, he founded the Machine Learning Systems group at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (1989-1996), earning Caltech's top Excellence in Research award and a NASA medal. His corporate leadership includes serving as Global Chief Data Officer at Barclays Bank (2013-2016), co-founding OODA Health (2017-2019), and holding executive positions at Microsoft (1996-2000). With a Ph.D. in Engineering focusing on AI/Machine Learning from the University of Michigan, Fayyad has published over 100 technical articles, holds more than 30 patents, and is a Fellow of both AAAI and ACM. He has received both the ACM SIGKDD Innovation and Service Awards, edited influential books on data mining, and served as founding editor-in-chief for two key journals. His influence extends to numerous board positions, including roles at Criteo, Invensense, RapidMiner, and advisory positions at Imperial College's Data Science Institute, UTS, and the WEF Global Center for Cybersecurity. As an active angel investor and advisor, he continues to shape the future of technology through investments in early-stage startups across the U.S., Europe, and the Middle East.