“Mathison says Chief Digital Officers can be found in every industry now. He also notes that despite the title implications, the CDO position is a business focused post, not a technical one. These people – if they are successful – will probably be running the show in three to five years. I’ve been surprised at how quickly it’s happening, Mathison predicts.”

“Mathison says Chief Digital Officers can be found in every industry now. He also notes that despite the title implications, the CDO position is a business focused post, not a technical one.”

November 13, 2013: “David Mathison, founder of the Chief Digital Officer Club, recently told the MIT Sloan Management Review that there will still be only 500 CDOs worldwide by the end of the year, although that is a big rise from the 75 or so that existed in 2011.”

November 7, 2013: “The CDO position, Mathison added, is increasingly the fast-track to the CEO seat. In 2013 alone, he said, more than seven CDOs became CEO, and more than four CDOs joined public boards. Considering there are not many CDOs around, that is a very impressive statistic, and reflects the importance of digital in business, education and our culture, Mathison said.”

November 1, 2013: “When you look at their backgrounds and skill sets, they’re coming up from entrepreneurial and managerial backgrounds, Mathison says. These people — if they are successful — will probably be running the show in three to five years. I’ve been surprised at how quickly it’s happening.”

October 11, 2013:DATA MANAGER: Pensi che il Vecchio Continente sia pronto per l’introduzione di questi professionisti? DAVID MATHISON: “Assolutamente, sì. Dall’inizio del 2013 a oggi, ci sono stati 177 nuovi assunti con il ruolo di CDO, cioè una media di uno al giorno. Settantacinque di questi erano in Europa, con una crescita che riguarda soprattutto Bulgaria, Repubblica Ceca, Danimarca, Finlandia, Francia, Germania, Olanda, Italia (con in testa le città di Milano, Roma e Monza), Serbia, Spagna, Svezia, Svizzera e Regno Unito (dove Londra ha il maggior numero di CDO in Europa).”

September 6, 2013: “Good conversation today with David Mathison at Chief Digital Officer Club http://cdoclub.com. One insight that surfaced is that CDOs are starting to be elevated to CEO roles. Its way too early to call this a trend, but there are a few reasons to think that it might become one:”

April 16, 2013: David Mathison is the founder of the CDO Club, which in February hosted the first CDO Summit in New York City. He is consulting for six universities looking to hire CDOs. After reviewing hundreds of resumes, Mathison says the biggest surprise has been that candidates’ backgrounds are largely entrepreneurial.

“They are coming out of these high-tech environments, with successes behind them in the digital world, and being called on by bigger companies,” he said. “They are technical, but that’s not the main skill that gets them hired.”

What gets them hired, he says, is how they answer this question: “Can you come in here and quickly evaluate our system . . . to give us short-term solutions and longer-term goals?”

Mathison is studying the emerging role of CDOs and says their functions vary, depending on how much an organization has shifted in its digital evolution. In broad terms, CDOs increase revenue through digital products, decrease costs through digital fulfillment, improve customer service and improve the return on mobile and online investments. They also help organizations respond to disruptors, or innovations with game-changing potential. To many in academia, that means massive open online courses (MOOCs).

“There weren’t many [CDOs] around five years ago, and in academia it’s really been in the last year or two, with the MOOCs that have really spooked everyone,” Mathison said.