Brendan Aldrich

Brendan Aldrich has been responsible for data modernization and innovation initiatives across several city and statewide college and university systems. His work has influenced transformative change through the design and deployment of innovative data architectures that engage and empower data-informed decision-making.

Using a "data democracy" approach, Brendan has empowered thousands of faculty, staff, and administrators with the intuitive, interactive and relevant data needed to support operational efficiency and student success.

A cross-industry data innovations specialist, Aldrich has also held roles as the Chief Data Officer for the California State University, Office of the Chancellor; Chief Data Officer of Indiana's statewide community college, Ivy Tech; Executive Director of Enterprise Information Management for City Colleges of Chicago; Director of Business Intelligence Analytics for new media start-up Demand Media; and Director of Business Systems for The Travelers Companies, among others.

In recent years, his work has been recognized as a top-three finalist in the global 2021 Snowflake Startup Challenge; the AWS 2018 City-on-a-Cloud "Dream Big" Award; Gartner's 2017 Data & Analytics Excellence Award for Self-Service Analytics; Hitachi Vantara's 2017 Excellence Award for Social Impact; and Campus Technology Magazine's 2014 Innovator’s Award for Administrative Systems.