Spotlight on Ely Liu

I'm the Head of Analytics at BODi, where I lead analytics, data science, business intelligence, and data engineering to help drive customer growth and business strategy. My career spans more than 25 years across software engineering, analytics, and executive leadership, including 18 years at Disney before joining BODi. I enjoy turning complex data into simple business decisions that create measurable impact.

Outside of work, I'm an avid car enthusiast and have recently become obsessed with Forza Horizon.

Learn more about the Southern California CDAO community here.
 

Give us a brief overview of the path that led to your current role.

I began my career as a software engineer before transitioning into analytics, where I discovered a passion for using data to influence business strategy. Over the past two decades, I've led analytics organizations across media, entertainment, and subscription businesses, including leadership roles at Disney and now BODi.

Along the way, I've expanded from reporting and BI into data science, experimentation, marketing measurement, and executive decision support, ultimately leading enterprise analytics functions.
 

What is one of your guiding leadership principles?

Build trust by combining intellectual honesty with relentless curiosity. I encourage my teams to challenge assumptions, follow the data wherever it leads, and communicate insights in a way that helps leaders make better decisions—not simply validate existing beliefs.
 

What is the greatest challenge CDAOs face today, and how are you addressing it?

One of the biggest challenges is separating signal from noise as AI, privacy changes, and increasingly fragmented customer journeys make measurement more difficult. We're shifting away from relying solely on attribution models and toward experimentation, incrementality testing, and marketing mix modeling to better understand what truly drives business growth. At the same time, we're investing in first-party data and AI to help our teams make faster, more confident decisions.
 

What is the key to success for someone just starting out as a CDAO?

Focus on solving business problems, not data problems. Build strong relationships across the organization, learn how your company creates value, and develop the ability to communicate complex ideas simply. Technical expertise is important, but influence and credibility ultimately determine your impact.
 

How do you measure success as a leader?

Success isn't measured by how many decisions I make—it's measured by how many great decisions my team can make without me. I look for business outcomes, the growth of my team members, and whether analytics has become a trusted strategic partner across the organization rather than simply a reporting function.
 

What is the value of being a member of Gartner C-level Communities?

The greatest value comes from learning how peers are solving similar challenges. Technology, AI, and customer expectations are evolving rapidly, and having a trusted network to exchange ideas, validate strategies, and learn from real-world experiences helps leaders make better decisions more quickly.

Governing Body members share their insights and leadership perspectives to shape the agendas and topics that address the top priorities impacting business leaders today.