Number of Chief Digital Officers Doubled in 2013; Seven CDOs Became CEO and Four CDOs Became Board Directors, According to the CDO Club

NEW YORK and OXFORD, England, May 12, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- According to new data from the CDO Club, the number of Chief Digital Officers (CDOs) doubled from 2012 to nearly 500 in 2013, continuing a trend of doubling each year.

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140512/86456
Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140512/86455

The CDO Club conservatively forecasts that the number of global CDOs will double again in 2014, to 1,000 CDOs by the end of the year.

CDO Club founder David Mathison presented his CDO Talent Map 2014 findings at the second annual CDO Summit, held in April 2014 at Time Warner in New York City: http://bit.ly/1nlQi8D

On Monday May 12^th during his evening keynote at Digital Oxford Week in Oxford, England, Mathison will also reveal, for the first time, statistics on the state of Chief Digital Officers in the U.K.

His Talent Map presentation includes the following statistics on CDOs in 2013:

• Salaries for CDOs ranged from $250,000 to $750,000
• 81% of CDOs are male; 90% are Caucasian; and 98% are between the ages of 30 and 59
• The advertising sector claims the largest percentage of CDOs, with 36%, followed by media (18%), publishing (13%), nonprofit (10%), financial (8%), retail (7%), and PR (3%)
• Globally, 68% of CDOs are located in North America (down from 88% in 2013), followed by 23% in Europe (up from 7%); 6% in Asia; 2% in MEA; and 1% in South America
• The top five CDOs by country are in: (1) U.S.; (2) U.K.; (3) Australia and Spain (tie); (4) France and Italy (tie); (5) Germany
• The top five CDOs per capita are in: (1) Finland; (2) Australia; (3) U.S.; (4) Singapore; (5) U.K.
• More than 100 (one third) of new CDO hires in 2013 were in Europe, including Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Holland, Italy, Serbia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and U.K.
• CDO hires were also reported in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Korea, Lebanon, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Poland, Russia, Singapore, Taiwan, Turkey, UAE, and Vietnam

The CDO Talent Map also revealed that seven CDOs became CEO or President in 2013. See full list here: http://bit.ly/1nlQi8D.

To better understand this CDO to CEO career path, Mathison reviewed hundreds of CDO profiles, and found that:

• 60% of CDOs in the ad sector were previously CEO, President, GM, or Managing Director
• 30% of CDOs in the media sector were previously CEO, President, GM, or Managing Director

"Given so many CDOs were previously CEO, it's no surprise that seven CDOs became CEO last year. The surprise here is that the number isn't higher!" said Mathison.

In addition, the CDO Club reports that four CDOs became Board directors in 2013.

"Just last week, Starbucks CDO Adam Brotman joined the Board of Neiman Marcus. I'm confident we'll see more CDOs becoming Board directors in 2014," said Mathison. 

He continued, "The Harvard Business Review reported that only nine companies—less than 2%—of the Fortune 500 have boards that are considered to be 'highly digital.' Great Britain's boards also suffer from a digital deficit: Only three companies on the FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 have three or more tech-savvy board members."

"If your board is looking for a digital Director—and it should be—the CDO Club is a great place to start your search," noted Mathison.

The CDO Talent Map 2014 also tracked the emergence of Chief Data Officers, reporting 197 persons globally with that title. The CDO Club projects the number of Chief Data Officers to grow to 250 this year.

More details on Chief Digital Officers will be provided at the inaugural U.K. CDO Summit on October 29, 2014, at the BBC Media Centre in London.

For more information, visit http://www.cdosummit.co.uk.

ABOUT THE CDO CLUB:

The CDO Club is the world's largest network of CDOs. It provides breaking news, original research, career development support, networking opportunities, and inspirational events such as the CDO Summit.

For more information, visit the CDO Club.

SOURCE CDO Club