Heather H. Wilson is the Chief Executive Officer of CLARA Analytics. Most recently she was the Chief Data Scientist and Head of Artificial Intelligence of L Brands. Prior to, Heather was the first-ever Chief Data Officer of AIG where she was the firm’s owner of the enterprise data program following the financial crisis and the face-off to over 200 U.S. and international regulators providing regular updates on the data quality risk indices of models, data standardization progress, data compliance issues, data lineage substantiation and data governance framework.  Heather provided monthly and quarterly updates to the full Board and Audit Committee and authored the Board-approved data policy, maturity model framework and CCAR framework.  Heather was asked by the CEO to architect and build new data technologies for the company including: client risk analytics, machine learning underwriter desktops, supplier network analysis, AIG’s first data marketplace and the first-ever real-time CEO Executive and Board of Directors dashboard. Heather spearheaded the digital and data code-a-thons to introduce and transform the consumer mobile capabilities and experience for personal lines of insurance. She architected and implemented the next generation data infrastructure for AIG including a new big data environment for the first-ever claims fraud detection application that she also developed. Her organization consisted of over 1,000 staff from New York to Bangalore. Heather was appointed to the US Treasury OFRAC in Washington, DC given her leadership and experience in leading some of the largest financial services organization data programs. 

 

Before AIG, Heather was the first female Chief Data Officer at Citigroup and promoted to the Global Head of Decision Science and the Head of Big Data analytics for the bank. As Citigroup’s Chief Data Officer, she was responsible for the billion dollar data program as part of regulatory sanctions to architect and implement a risk and finance data architecture with associated data quality and data risk indices. Heather was responsible for providing updates to internal audit and regulators about the status of the data roadmap and ensuring execution of regulatory commitments. As Head of Decision Science, she led new initiatives such as creating and implementing first-of-a-kind risk leading indicators, real-time transactional mining of credit card data for City insights to mayors and public officials, econometric modeling using credit card data for economic release forecasting (retail sales and non-farm payroll), and internal fraud analytics leveraging big data.  Heather oversaw an organization of over 1,500 employees across the globe within the retail, card and mortgage organizations. Heather was tasked with briefing the mayors of New York City, Chicago, Boston and San Francisco quarterly with her team’s leading economic indicators.  She was recognized as one of the Top Big Data Experts in the world. 

 

Prior to Citi, she was the Global Head of Information Strategy at Kaiser Permanente leading the next generation data platforms and advanced analytics. Heather and her team were tasked by the Board of Directors and CEO to build the first-ever population care algorithmic system for the prevention of chronic conditions across the U.S. population. Heather was promoted to the Global Head of Innovation at Kaiser running the Advanced Technology organization focused on next generation health solutions across analytics and digital with focuses on telemedicine, streaming data medications, operating room of the future and robotics with MIT. She was asked to lead the design and build of the Kaiser Permanente healthcare museum (Total Health) located next to Union Station in Washington DC. Heather was a senior partner at Knightsbridge and CSC Consulting and worked for an extended period of time at Deloitte and Accenture.

 

Heather graduated Summa Cum Laude from Shenandoah University earning her BBA International Business Concentration with a focus in Japanese and Russian linguistics. She was a Rotary Scholar having also attended Nanzan University in Nagoya, Japan and the International University of Moscow in Russia.  She was the first student from Shenandoah to study abroad and the first Rotary Scholar at the university and the first student to win Student Government President while out of the country. Heather’s entrepreneurial spirit started early in life when she started an export-import business of consumer products to Moscow, Russia during her senior year of college.

 

Heather is a Board of Director member of Equifax serving on the Audit Committee and Technology Committee.  She is a Trustee at Shenandoah University (the youngest trustee ever appointed in 2003) serving on the Finance and Investment Committees and serves on the Future Business Leaders of America Foundation Board that she started the age of 18. 

 

Heather launched the Kaiser Permanente Women in Technology group focused on mentoring, innovation and retention for women in math, technology and science earning the KP Diversity Award from the Board of Directors. She was an executive member of Citi4Women leading the predictive analytics work with a focus on retention/attrition of senior women sponsored by the Chief Human Resources Officer.  Heather launched Global Women in Technology at AIG and was the executive sponsor of AIG’s Girls Who Code sponsoring the first-ever summer program.  While at AIG, she was named the Insurance Woman of the Year for her data innovation work. 

 

Heather’s most recent five-year work at L Brands included advising the brand CEOs and spearheading several first-of-a-kind artificial intelligence and data analytics initiatives across customer patterns and correlations recognition, marketing media mix modeling, inventory and supply chain optimization, ad and offer mix targeting modeling, digital marketing science and creative platform leveraging new technologies and techniques in graph and machine learning. She also led the first cloud-enablement environment for the organization. Heather was the executive sponsor of the California Privacy Program for the enterprise.  She created and designed a new business model for the brands to scale their businesses and reach new growth revenue goals with the introduction of a fashion marketplace. 

 

As the CEO of CLARA Analytics in the Silicon Valley, Heather was named one of the 30 Most Inspiring Leaders of 2021, The Executive Headlines Magazine named Heather as the Changemaker of the Year for 2021.  She has led CLARA to be named one of the best AIFinTech100 companies of 2021, one of the 13 best Predictive Analytics Startups in Santa Clara by The Startup Pill and one of the 101 most Innovative California-based Predictive Analytics Companies.