Confira a entrevista "Navegando pelo Futuro com Dados e Analytics” realizada com Gabriel Vernalha Ribeiro

Gabriel Vernalha Ribeiro, VIce-presidente de Operações, Desenvolvimento Profissional e Estudos Técnicos da DAMA Brasil

Entrevista concedida ao portal Digital First Magazine em dezembro/2025.

Recently, in an exclusive interview with Digital First Magazine, Gabriel shared insights into his approach to data governance, analytics, and AI, highlighting the importance of transforming data into strategic business value. He also shared his personal hobbies and interests, future plans, pearls of wisdom, and much more. The following excerpts are taken from the interview.

Hi Gabriel. What initially sparked your interest in data and analytics, and what keeps you passionate about it today?

My initial interest in data and analytics sparked from a very practical experience when I was a trainee at EDS. I was involved in a major project migrating data from a mainframe environment to an Oracle database. At first, the challenge seemed purely technical, but that’s where everything changed for me.

I began to realize that we weren’t just moving data; we were unlocking its potential. For the first time, we had the ability to analyze a massive volume of information in a way that was impossible on the old system. It was at that moment that I understood the importance of bringing context and meaning to data, turning it into a tool to identify operational problems and find ways to improve the company’s efficiency. It was fascinating to see how the right analysis could pinpoint bottlenecks that no one had noticed before.

Today, that passion is stronger than ever. What motivates me is precisely this ability to act as a bridge between raw data and business value. I love the challenge of diving into a problem, investigating the data, and emerging with insights that can lead to smarter, more strategic decisions. The technology and tools are always evolving, which keeps me constantly learning, but the essence of the work, transforming data into real impact, is what truly drives me.

What do you love the most about your current role?

What I love most about my current role as  Executive for Data Governance, Analytics, AI, and Innovation at DASA is the responsibility and the direct impact my work has on the heart of the business. I’m not just a data custodian; my primary motivation is the responsibility of managing the company’s data asset and, more importantly, transforming it into a strategic capability.

What truly fulfills me is seeing this end-to-end process: from the governance that ensures quality and security, to making that data available so the business units can make smarter decisions. To contribute with the positive impact of these actions on the company’s results, especially in improving our customers’ experience. Knowing that a well-executed data strategy can, at the end of the day, makte the patient’s journey ease or optimize a health service is what gives my work purpose.

And that is a core reason why this opportunity attracted me. The possibility of applying this same vision, using data, analytics, and AI not as an end, but as a means to generate business value and real customer impact, in a new environment, with the challenges and scale you offer, is the logical and most exciting next step for my career.

What do you think is the most pressing issue facing businesses today, and how can data and analytics help address it?

In my view, the most pressing issue for businesses today is the need to adapt in real-time to customer expectations and market shifts. The era of the ‘five-year’ strategy is over. Customers expect hyper-personalized, immediate experiences, and competition can emerge from anywhere, driven by new technologies. The company that cannot sense and respond to these signals quickly risks becoming irrelevant.

This is where data, analytics, and increasingly, AI, cease to be a support function and become the central nervous system of the organization. The solution isn’t just to collect more data, but to build a capability of  ‘active intelligence’.

This manifests in three practical ways:

First, in Hyper-Personalizing the Customer Experience: Using data to understand not just what a customer has done, but what they are likely to need next, and delivering that proactively.

Second, in Augmented Decision-Making for the Business: It’s about empowering leaders and frontline teams with real-time insights, allowing for immediate course correction.

Third, in Process Optimization and Automation: Using AI and machine learning to optimize complex operations, freeing up people to focus on higher-value strategic tasks.

So, the challenge is speed and relevance, and the solution is to transform the company into a living, intelligent organism, with data as its DNA and analytical capability as its brain.

How do you think artificial intelligence and machine learning will change the way businesses operate and make decisions?

I see artificial intelligence and machine learning not just as a new technology, but as the next foundational layer upon which business will be built. The impact will be transformational, and I break it down into three major areas:

Augmentation: AI as a “Co-pilot” for Every Employee. AI will augment human capability, giving professionals ‘superpowers’ to democratize expertise and free up time for critical thinking, empathy, and strategy.

Automation: The End of “Plumbing Work.” AI will take automation to a new level by automating complex processes and decisions, which eliminates low-value work and turns operations into dynamic, self-optimizing systems.

Invention: AI as an Engine for New Business Models. AI will become an engine for invention, creating what doesn’t exist. Competitive advantage will come from the ability to use AI to ask the smartest questions and generate the most innovative answers.

In short, AI will shift decision-making from being a reactive process to a proactive, predictive, and generative one.

What are the most important qualities or skills you think data and analytics professionals should possess to succeed?

A data professional’s success depends on the balanced combination of three pillars:

Business Acumen & Curiosity: The “Why”. This is the most important skill. A successful professional must be focused on solving business problems and ask, “What decision are you trying to make?”.

Technical Fluency: The “How”. This is the foundation that makes business curiosity actionable, including everything from SQL and data modeling to statistics and machine learning.

Data Storytelling: The “Translation to Impact”. This is the ability to turn numbers into a clear, compelling narrative that inspires action in a non-technical audience.

The ideal professional is a translator who lives at the intersection of these three worlds

Are there any particular books, articles, or resources that have significantly influenced your thinking or approach?

Absolutely. Three resources have been fundamental in shaping my approach:

For Strategy: “Competing on Analytics” by Thomas Davenport and Jeanne Harris. It taught me that analytical capability is a primary source of competitive advantage, shifting my dialogue to ‘building a capability’ instead of ‘doing projects’.

For Practice and Impact: “Storytelling with Data” by Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic and “Telling Your Data Story: Data Storytelling for Data Management” by Scott TaylorIt, both showed me how to build clear narratives that inspire action, serving as the essential bridge between analysis and decision.

For Decision-Making: “Thinking, Fast and Slow” by Daniel Kahneman. It revealed the importance of understanding and navigating cognitive biases to ensure data-driven insights are effectively absorbed and acted upon.

What are some of your passions outside of work? What do you like to do in your time off?

Outside of work, I seek a balance between activities that challenge me and others that help me recharge my batteries. I play tennis, beach tennis, paddel, and soccer.

Sometimes staying home with my family, cooking, and having a glass of wine helps me take my mind off the day’s activities and relax a little.

To stay up-to-date with the latest market trends and technologies, I usually dedicate a few hours to updating the materials for the MBA courses I teach.

What is your biggest goal? Where do you see yourself in 5 years from now?

My short-term goal is to deliver outstanding results in this position. Looking at the next 5 years, my biggest goal is the expansion of my scope of impact. I see myself evolving from a leader who executes a data strategy to a leader who helps define the business strategy through the lens of data and AI. In 5 years, I hope to have helped build a culture where the company uses predictive intelligence to anticipate the future and create new lines of business, becoming a thought leader within the organization.

What advice would you give to organizations looking to adopt more agile and design thinking approaches?

My advice focuses on culture, not tools, and can be summarized in three points:

Start with Why and Secure Leadership Buy-in. Don’t just adopt rituals; solve a clear business problem. Leadership must visibly sponsor and live this change.

Create Psychological Safety to Allow Failure. Agile and Design Thinking require experimentation. Frame ‘failures’ as ‘valuable data acquired at a low cost.’ Without psychological safety, you only have innovation theater.

Connect the Learning Loop with Real Data. Use the cycle: Empathy -> Hypothesis -> Experiment -> Data -> Learning. Ensure your data infrastructure allows for this rapid measurement to operate on evidence, not opinions.

A entrevista original pode ser acessada no link: https://www.digitalfirstmagazine.com/navigating-the-future-with-data-and-analytics/

*Gabriel Vernalha Ribeiro é Vice-presidente de Operações, Desenvolvimento Profissional e Estudos Técnicos na DAMA Brasil.