Junaid Farooq

I believe delivery is the currency of credibility. I have an established career as a leader in data management, AI, information technology, and financial services. My experience spans all data disciplines, and I have utilized industry-leading and niche technologies. I have held significant roles at global investment banks, asset management firms, hedge funds, and Big Four consulting firms. I specialize in defining, establishing, and leading Data Management and AI functions that significantly enhance data utilization. I have successfully identified and implemented strategic initiatives that have resulted in notable revenue generation, measurable risk mitigation, and enhanced insight to inform business decision-making. Building cross-organizational relationships based on integrity and credibility is key to my success. This has enabled me to effectively negotiate, influence, and collaborate with business heads and technology partners. I have established and led high-performing, multidisciplinary teams to deliver strategic and tactical efforts. My ability to engage executive sponsors and deliver messages with presence and poise across all organizational levels instills confidence and fosters alignment, ensuring strategic initiatives are understood, embraced, and successfully executed. Accomplishments: DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION: Led First Citizens Bank through mergers with CIT and Silicon Valley Bank by accelerating the establishment of enterprise data management & governance functions suitable for a global bank with $200B in assets. COST OPTIMIZATION: Secured $10M in cost savings by consolidating data management platforms following two mergers, renegotiating contracts, and co-developing an enterprise data migration & data integration plan. REVENUE GENERATION: Spearheaded the data strategy for a Salesforce implementation for 2.5K sales employees by ensuring ~450 crucial CDEs were fit for purpose, improving numerous metrics, including a sales increase of 15.3%. REGULATORY & RISK MANAGEMENT: Implemented a data fabric to scale data governance from ~300 to ~3.5K CDEs as part of a data integration strategy to assimilate data from various systems and platforms to file 35+ regulatory reports. INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY: Pioneered the use of data mesh architecture, leveraging it to create data products for Customer Segmentation, Customer 360, Churn Prediction, and Cross-Sell/Up-Sell Recommendations.