Pure Leadership Series: AI vs. AI: Can AI Solve the Data Crisis It Created?

Winston Thomas

Winston brings over 20 years of journalistic experience to CDOTrends.com. As the previous editor at Computerworld Hong Kong, CIO Asia and PCWeek Asia, he followed, edited and wrote how the Internet and the rise of the digital economy impacted businesses across various industries. Most recently, Winston served as N. Asia editor of CMOInnovation. As the Editor-in-Chief of CDOTrends.com, he is bringing together intriguing articles, insights from leading thinkers, in-depth lessons from practitioners, and various thought leadership materials to develop a new resource for CDOs and other digital practitioners. Fascinated by new technology trends, he is constantly looking at how digital is reshaping our future lives.

Besides his communication skills, he is well-versed in building conference and marketing programmes externally and internally. Recently, he produced Total Security Conference 2016, Big Data and Business Analytics Forum 2016 and Future Workplace Forum 2016. Previously, he also launched CIO Asia Awards and helped to create the Computerworld Hong Kong Readers’ Choice Awards (today Computerworld Hong Kong Awards under Questex Asia).

As a copywriter, Winston has contributed to South China Morning Post (for finance and IT sections), Asia Week and IT Malaysia. He has also contributed technology-based articles for inflight magazines, including Cathay Pacific’s The Club and Gulf Air magazine, and recently to Benchmark Magazine.

Previous to his career in the media industry, he was a commodities broker and an abattoir manager in Singapore. He currently holds a B Sc. (Biology) with Merit, loves playing the piano and running marathon events.

Anirban Nandi

A highly accomplished and results-oriented AI and Data leader with 18+ years of experience envisioning, building, and scaling high-impact AI solutions across diverse sectors, including Retail, E-Commerce, Advertisement, BFSI, Telecom, and Media & Entertainment. Passionate about leveraging the latest technologies to solve complex business problems, I have a proven track record of building and empowering high-performing teams to deliver transformative results and drive innovation.

Following his Master's in Economics, Anirban began his career at Target, where he spent over 8 years pioneering in-house products like Customer Personalization, Recommender Systems, and Search Engine Classifiers. Starting with small-scale proof of concepts, he built capabilities that demonstrated the power of data science, ultimately leading to the implementation of cutting-edge algorithms at production scale and driving significant business impact by connecting online and offline business strategies.

Building on his experience at Target, Anirban joined Landmark Group as a founding member of Data Labs, where he spent ~5 years cultivating a data-driven culture and building high-performing teams. He established both onshore and offshore teams, scaling the organization to 100+ members focused on delivering innovative analytics solutions across Assortment, Inventory, Pricing, Marketing, Ecommerce, and Customer domains. Anirban focused on transforming decision-making from gut-driven to data-driven by educating CXOs, implementing robust stakeholder management practices, and promoting the value-driven adoption of AI. He was a strong advocate for "Explainable AI" and a "Test and Learn" culture, ensuring that business stakeholders embraced data science and analytics.

Currently, Anirban leads Data and AI initiatives at Rakuten, heading a global team of 220+ members and spearheading the development of AI Products and Solutions for the Rakuten global ecosystem. He has built a high-performing team in Bangalore, India, and his portfolio encompasses a diverse range of Data Products (Customer, Product, Click-Stream, Geo, etc.), AI/Gen AI Products (Inventory & Pricing Optimization, Search & Recommendation, Rakuten AI Agents, etc.), and customized AI Solutions (Credit Scoring, Fraud Detection, Ad Optimization, etc.) across various business verticals. Over the past four years, Anirban has grown the India team from 1 to 220+ members, establishing it as the 2nd largest Rakuten AI team globally, driven by a strong focus on business impact and stakeholder/relationship management.Beyond product innovation and team building, Anirban has been instrumental in establishing the Rakuten AI brand in the India market through multiple industry recognitions and by establishing the Rakuten Product Conference, showcasing Rakuten's AI capabilities and attracting top talent. This strategic branding has enhanced Rakuten's reputation as a leader in AI and a destination for AI professionals.In addition to his core AI responsibilities, Anirban also champions Rakuten’s overall DEIB initiatives.

Anirban is a highly regarded AI leader, recognized as a Top 10 AI Leader in APAC (2023 & 2024) and a four-time Top 100 AI Leader in India (2021-2024). He is also the author of a book on AI Explainability. Personally, Anirban enjoys sports, particularly soccer, and is a dedicated supporter of Argentina and Manchester United.

Vijay Morampudi

Matthew Oostveen

Matthew Oostveen is the Chief Technology Officer for Pure in Asia Pacific & Japan. He is a member of the global CTO organization at Pure that helps empower Pure’s customers to reach new heights of capability and efficiency in their organizations as well as guide them in their journey to future technologies.

Oostveen has deep experience in working closely with customers in the region across a range of technologies. Prior to joining Pure, he had CTO roles with Dell EMC and VCE and also worked at leading companies such as IDC, Microsoft and IBM.

As an industry analyst with IDC Matt has authored and published over 50 research papers on a variety of technology related topics, forecasted the IT market and produced predictions documents on how the future will evolve.

This diverse background has given him a unique perspective of the IT landscape with particular deep expertise in the areas of cloud computing, big data, data analytics, mobility and the future workspace, and how these technologies intersect with one another. More importantly, he has a keen understanding of the dynamics between technology and business imperatives which has enabled him to serve as a trusted advisor to many large enterprises.

Oostveen has degrees from the Queensland University of Technology and Macquarie Graduate School of Management. He currently resides in Singapore with his young family and is a certified life saver.