Sarah Davis, Director of Portfolio Programs - Data and AI at IBM, discusses how she’s using OKRs to enable a very global organization to do its best work for customers. Sarah talks about having good alignment conversations, transparency for thousands of people in 16 countries, and accelerating organization impact.
Sarah (Knudson) Davis is a pragmatic product and operations leader who built high‑impact data and AI products and GTM motion through senior roles at IBM up to Senior/Director level in Watson and Cloud Platform product teams. She led cross‑functional product operations for IBM’s Data & AI portfolio, scaled offerings and teams globally, and launched enterprise AI products that grew revenue and market adoption. Her earlier experience combines product management and program leadership across technology and energy firms, giving her strong execution know-how and experience aligning large engineering and commercial organizations behind measurable outcomes.
Deidre Paknad has founded and led three tech startups, acquired companies and been acquired, and led a high-growth business as an executive at IBM for several years; this affords her a unique perspective on using both speed and scale to drive growth. In her role as CEO at WorkBoard, she works with senior leadership teams at some of the world’s largest companies to clarify, align, and drive strategic priorities with greater speed and agility. She is a frequent speaker on Outcome Mindset™ and tapping into ambition.
Deidre has over a dozen patents and has twice been inducted into the Smithsonian Institution for innovation. Goldman Sachs named her one of the 100 most intriguing entrepreneurs of 2019. Deidre hosts The OKR Podcast, which focuses on accelerating outcomes and fostering an outcomes culture.