“If the data's wrong, it doesn't matter how advanced your model is" - Tom Hinkle on AI and data strategy in FP&A

About this episode

Tom Hinkle discusses the importance of data governance in AI and FP&A.

Tom Hinkle, senior leader in data and analytics at TIAA, has built his career at the intersection of finance, technology, and strategy. He also has a budding YouTube channel (Tom's Data World, which includes instructional videos on Excel, SQL, and AI). He's worked extensively with Excel (is a Microsoft MVP) and SQL, as well as Tableau and Power BI, and has worked with major financial institutions, including Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and TIAA. "Nobody really gets excited about spending money on data governance. They get excited about machine learning, about AI, about data storytelling — everybody wants seminars on that. But data governance? At the end of the day, you're coming up with something you thought was right anyway, and then you're asking someone to spend more money just to make sure it's right." Why data governance is the foundation of AI Trust but verify challenges The two sides of data governance: master data management vs. data quality and controls How FP&A teams should think about their role as downstream consumers of data Why domain expertise is still non-negotiable in the age of vibe coding Tom's Minesweeper-in-Excel story, and what it taught him about…

People in this episode

Host: Glenn Hopper

Guest: Tom Hinkle

Topics covered

• data governance
• AI trust
• data quality
• FP&A teams
• domain expertise
• data strategy

Keywords

• data governance
• AI
• FP&A
• data quality
• Excel
• SQL
• machine learning
• data storytelling

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: TIAA, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Microsoft

Products: Excel, SQL, Tableau, Power BI

Books & works: Tom's Data World

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