The chief data officer (CDO) is a senior executive responsible for the utilization and governance of data across the organization. While the chief data officer title is often shortened to CDO, the role shouldn't be confused with chief digital officer, which is also frequently referred to as CDO.

The CDO Council shares responsibilities with other interagency councils that conduct and impact data-related activities, including those focused on information technology, statistics, information security, evaluation, privacy, freedom of information, and other government objectives.

Chief Data Officer (CDO) is the nodal officer for all Data related activities of a Ministry/Department/Organization/State.

The Chief Data Officer (CDO), on the other hand, is a scientist who heads the data and analytics functions and whose primary goal is to unlock value from the information assets of the organization in the best way possible.