Sector practice head — Hospitality (Africa) · CDO

Position overview

Gladwin International Leadership Advisors is representing a confidential organisation in Hospitality & Travel on a senior CDO leadership mandate anchored in Africa. The remit explicitly spans Singapore, Canada, Continental Europe.

This is a sector or practice-head mandate combining deep domain credibility with commercial ownership of a vertical P&L or global practice line.

The brief rewards leaders who can translate group strategy into market wins without burning the organisation on vanity initiatives.

Context you will inherit

• Market & sector: Food and beverage innovation — the F&B landscape is hyper-competitive; finding culinary and F&B leaders who can drive both quality and profitability
• Geographic spine: Primary hub Africa with explicit corridor responsibility across Singapore, Canada, Continental Europe.
• Organisation stage: Digital and data maturity uneven across business lines — quick wins exist beside multi-year platform investments.
• Stakeholders: Expect dense matrix: global product houses, regional P&L owners, shared services, and internal audit all pull on the same calendar.
• Secondary lens: General manager talent scarcity — qualified, experienced GMs who can manage large full-service hotels are in critically short supply across India

The mandate (12–24 month arc)

1. Data strategy: Define authoritative data domains, ownership, and quality metrics tied to business decisions.
2. Analytics products: Ship a small set of high-use decision support products instead of broad BI sprawl.
3. AI governance: Establish model risk, privacy, and ethics guardrails appropriate to the sector.
4. Data platform: Modernise ingestion, catalog, and access patterns — reduce time-to-insight for analysts and operators.
5. Monetisation (where relevant): Explore compliant ways data creates customer or internal value without regulatory missteps.
6. Skills & culture: Build hybrid teams of domain, data science, and engineering talent with clear career paths.

Responsibilities (representative)

• Own enterprise data strategy, governance, and quality accountability.
• Deliver analytics products with product owners and adoption metrics.
• Establish AI / ML governance appropriate to sector regulation.
• Partner with CIO on platforms and with business on domain ownership.
• Build data literacy programmes for executives and managers.

Leadership profile

• Data leadership: Governance plus delivery — not only strategy decks but shipped analytics outcomes.
• Communication: Executive presence in English; additional languages valued where market-relevant.
• Education: Strong undergraduate grounding; MBA / advanced degree / professional qualification common at this level.
• Judgment: High signal-to-noise under pressure; ethical clarity; willingness to halt initiatives that break risk appetite.
• Geographic muscle: Comfort operating from Africa with regular engagement across Singapore, Canada.

Team & culture

You inherit a mixed-tenure team — pockets of excellence beside roles that need upgrade. The mandate is to raise the bar without demoralising the organisation: clear standards, fair process, and visible wins that prove the new pace is achievable.

Success measures (examples)

• Growth quality: Mix of recurring revenue, new logos, and cross-sell — not volume for its own sake.
• Productivity: Unit cost, automation savings, or throughput improvements with audited baselines.
• Customer: NPS / CSAT where tracked; contract renewals; reference-ability in strategic accounts.
• Franchise: Clean compliance record; reputation stability in industry and government forums.

First 90 days (orientation arc)

• Days 1–30: Listening tour — customers, regulators (as appropriate), top team 1:1s, and unfiltered view of numbers; pause major reorganisation.
• Days 30–60: Publish a short memo on priorities, non-goals, and decision rights; align executive committee on three enterprise bets.
• Days 60–90: Lock operating cadence; fill or upgrade one to two critical seats; deliver one visible win (customer, cost, or culture).
• Commission a pragmatic view of data, cyber, and automation posture; sponsor one bounded pilot with ROI hypothesis.
• Establish escalation discipline with matrix partners — fewer meetings, clearer decision logs.

Stakeholder map (illustrative)

• Internal: CEO or regional president, CFO, risk / legal, CHRO, CIO or CDO, business GMs, internal audit.
• External: Strategic accounts, channel partners, industry associations, regulators (where material).
• Owners: PE operating partners, promoter office, or public investors — pace and clarity matter as much as vision.

Travel & mobility

Expect substantial travel — customer, hub, and owner meetings. Specific cadence discussed with shortlisted candidates.

Compensation

Market-aligned CDO remuneration in Hospitality & Travel with performance linkage; sign-on and relocation considered for exceptional fits.

Application status

This mandate is no longer accepting new applications. The search progressed through Q4 2025 and closed for submissions in February 2026. We retain this posting for transparency on the type of leadership work we carry in Hospitality & Travel and Africa. For similar active mandates, browse open roles or submit a general profile through executive search inquiry.

Reference: hospitality-travel · CDO · Africa · Gladwin International Leadership Advisors