• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, February 16, 2021

Zeta Global, John Sculley’s company known for its predictive artificial intelligence data, on Tuesday announced the appointment of Neej Gore to chief data officer.

Gore has been with Zeta for nearly four years. He previously held the position of president for the data cloud division. 

He joined Zeta with the acquisition of Boomtrain, the AI company that Zeta acquired four years ago, where he held the position of chief business officer.

Zeta’s marketing technology solutions are underpinned by one of the largest proprietary data assets in the world, Gore said. As chief data officer, he is responsible for guiding the company’s global data strategy and innovations to help brands identify and act on opportunities that drive growth.

Aside from a “short-lived stint of wanting to be a professional tennis player, I was always tinkering with different product and mechanical systems,” he said. “I thought it was the fastest path to becoming a bonafide ‘Inventor,’ which sounded like an exciting career with unlimited possibilities."

Gore has always been interested in data. From attending a high school focused on science and technology to obtaining his engineering degree from Cornell, he has always been interested in leveraging information to solve problems. Many of his experiences prior to Zeta focused on leveraging customer development information to build startups addressing market gaps.

Ultimately, it all comes back to unlocking the value of data to create value.

There is tremendous buzz around digital transformation, he said, but the reality is that CMOs have a difficult time “getting their heads around what’s required and where to start.”

Gore believes he and Zeta have a responsibility to help simplify the process of getting transformation underway amidst a complex evolving ecosystem that needs to serve consumers in more meaningful ways.   

He has faith and conviction that the Opportunity Explorer that Zeta launched in 2020 will make a difference and drive meaningful growth for clients. His goal for the year is to “get the Opportunity Explorer, Zeta’s platform, into the hands of 200 enterprises in 2021. 

When asked how he will lead the company into the next step in data analysis and how he sees it changing the industry, Gore said marketers deserve solutions that enable easier, smarter and faster decisions.

“My focus is to move past descriptive, diagnostic, and predictive to prescriptive analysis,” he said. “Under my purview, Data Insights will evolve into actionable stories that are easy to understand, quantify, and take action on. These stories should become part of the DNA of every modern marketing organization.”