Advisory Board Spotlight: David McGrath - Joins BearingNode

As part of our BearingNode Advisory Board Spotlight Series, we're delighted to feature David McGrath, whose strategic expertise in technology innovation and business value creation has been instrumental in developing the Value capability of BearingNode's Data & Information Observability (D/I O11y) framework.

David brings over 30 years of experience leading digital transformation and new venture development across Financial Services and global technology organisations. His unique ability to translate complex technology initiatives into measurable business value makes him an invaluable advisor as we help organisations demonstrate tangible returns on their data investments.

Strategic Innovation Across Financial Services and Telco

David's career exemplifies value-driven transformation at the intersection of technology and business strategy. As Head of Innovation, Research, and Ecosystem Strategy at Pay.UK—the UK's retail payments authority—he established innovation capabilities that directly contributed to the UK's inter-bank New Payments Architecture ISO20022, delivering measurable efficiency gains across the entire UK payments ecosystem.

His experience spans major financial institutions, from leading innovation at Lloyds Banking Group to establishing strategic transformation capabilities at Salesforce. This deep financial services background provides BearingNode with crucial insights into how data leaders can demonstrate value creation in today's complex regulatory environment.

Technology Leadership with Business Focus

David's technical leadership consistently delivers commercial outcomes. As Global Senior Vice President at Telenor Digital—serving 214M+ customers across 13 countries—he led R&D on 50+ emerging technologies whilst maintaining laser focus on business value creation.

His experience as Managing Director of SaaS business achieving >€100 valuation, perfectly demonstrates his approach: transform innovative concepts into commercially viable solutions that deliver measurable returns.

Value-Driven Data Strategy

"The biggest challenge facing CDOs today isn't technical capability—it's demonstrating value," shares David. "Organisations invest millions in data platforms but struggle to show business impact. Observability changes this by providing continuous visibility into how data investments drive business outcomes. When you can measure value creation in real-time, data transforms from a cost centre to a strategic asset."

David's approach to value measurement—combining strategic vision with practical metrics—directly influences BearingNode's methodology for helping organisations quantify their data governance returns.

Impact on BearingNode's Value Framework

Daniel Rolles says:

"David's focus on measurable business outcomes has been essential in developing the Value capability of our D/I O11y framework. His expertise helps CDOs move beyond 'policy and hope' governance to demonstrate concrete returns on data investments.

David's guidance ensures our framework doesn't just improve compliance—it creates competitive advantage. His insights have helped us develop methodologies that transform data governance from an overhead into a profit centre, enabling organisations to make the business case for continued data investment."

About Our Advisory Board Spotlight Series

The BearingNode Advisory Board Spotlight Series showcases the strategic expertise guiding our Data & Information Observability framework. Each advisor brings unique insights that directly influence our development process, ensuring our solutions address real-world challenges facing data leaders in regulated industries.

Through our D/I O11y framework, BearingNode helps organisations discover, track, comply, govern, and extract value from their data assets—transforming data from a compliance burden into a strategic advantage that enables better decision-making for humans and AI alike.

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About BearingNode

BearingNode specialises in Data & Information Observability (D/I O11y), helping organisations discover, track, comply, govern, and extract value from their data assets. Our approach transforms data from a compliance burden into a strategic advantage, enabling better decision-making for humans and AI alike.