Cindi Howson

Cindi Howson is the Chief Data Strategy Officer at ThoughtSpot and host of The Data Chief podcast. In this role, she advises enterprise clients on building data-driven cultures, shaping ThoughtSpot’s product direction, and driving the future of search-powered analytics.

She previously served as Vice President in Data and Analytics at Gartner, where she led the development of the Analytics & BI Magic Quadrant and introduced pioneering concepts like augmented analytics, NLP/BI search, and data-for-good frameworks.

Cindi is the founder of BI Scorecard, a review platform known for its rigorous, hands-on evaluations of BI products. She also authored several influential BI books, including Successful Business Intelligence and SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.0: The Complete Reference.

Her expertise in analytics has earned her recognition as Women in Data’s Data Leader of the Year (2021) and a spot among top analytics and BI influencers by the likes of Analytics Insight and Solutions Review.

With more than 20 years in the data industry, Cindi has also contributed as a faculty member at TDWI, and worked with Deloitte & Touche and Dow Chemical in early BI leadership roles. She holds an MBA from Rice University and a B.A. from the University of Maryland, and actively supports organizations promoting women in tech and data literacy.