DJ Patil is considered one of the world’s most influential data scientists and was appointed by Barack Obama as the first-ever U.S. Chief Data Scientist. In this role, he helped transform the U.S. Federal Government into a data-driven enterprise, working closely with senior officials to establish nearly 40 Chief Data Officer roles across multiple departments. His contributions supported major initiatives including the Precision Medicine Initiative, the Cancer Moonshot, and Data-Driven Justice programs impacting over 94 million Americans. For his national security and public service efforts, he received the Department of Defense Medal for Distinguished Public Service.

In the private sector, DJ led product teams at RelateIQ before its acquisition by Salesforce and served as Chief Scientist, Chief Security Officer, and Head of Analytics and Data Products at LinkedIn, where he co-coined the term “Data Scientist.” He has also held leadership roles at Skype, PayPal, eBay, and Devoted Health, while contributing to organizations such as Crisis Text Line and Greylock Partners. Currently, he serves as a General Partner at Great Point Ventures, focusing on healthcare, enterprise technology, and national security innovation.

Alongside his industry leadership, DJ has contributed extensively to research and policy. As a faculty member at the University of Maryland, his work focused on nonlinear dynamics and chaos theory. He also directed initiatives for the Department of Defense involving social network analysis and computational sciences to anticipate emerging threats. Recognized globally for his impact, DJ was named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.