Meta names Alex Schultz first chief data officer

July 1 (Reuters) – Meta said on Wednesday its chief marketing officer Alex Schultz will become the company’s first chief data officer, to better manage AI analytics globally.

The Facebook-parent also promoted its vice president of consumer marketing and growth, Denise Moreno, to marketing chief.

• “My focus in this new role will be helping transform how Meta learns and makes decisions in the AI era,” Schultz said in a LinkedIn post.

• The leadership changes signal at Meta’s move to deepen its focus on data-driven decision-making and AI integration across its operations.

• Schultz joined the company in 2007 and held responsibilities across various domains like developing Meta’s brand strategy and WhatsApp privacy campaigns, according to his LinkedIn page.

• Shares of Meta were up 10% after Bloomberg News reported earlier on Wednesday that the company is building a cloud business to sell excess AI computing capacity.

• A 17-year veteran at Meta, Moreno began her career managing email marketing and growth experiments, she said in a separate post.

• Axios first reported about Meta naming Schultz as its chief data officer and elevating Moreno as CMO.

• Meta is projected to spend as much as $145 billion on AI infrastructure this year, a significant portion of Big Tech’s more than $700 billion outlay on the technology.

(Reporting by Jaspreet Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Joyjeet Das)