Dream Sports has announced the appointment of Anantha Sundararajan, Ph.D., as their chief data officer (CDO). Sundararajan will be responsible for making significant leaps in fan experience, engagement and trust, powered by cutting edge AI, ML, data science, decision science and data engineering for Dream Sports’ growing user base of 140 million sports fans across all its portfolio companies. Sundararajan will oversee the creation and utilisation of data led assets, products and capabilities through technology innovations across the Dream Sports ecosystem.
Sundararajan joins Dream Sports from Novartis, where as head DSAI and CDO, he played a key role in making data science and AI as part of the overarching competitive strategy for Novartis by bringing breakthrough innovations transcending multiple areas such as research, drug discovery and development, portfolio optimisation, operations, drug launch, brand strategy and marketing. Sundararajan brings close to 25 years of experience spanning both academic and corporate professions. He holds a doctorate and MS in industrial engineering and mathematics from Purdue University, USA. He is a seasoned leader in the AI and data science space and has championed strategic use of data across diverse industries such as aerospace, banking, ecommerce and pharma.
Commenting on the appointment, Dream11 and Dream Sports CEO and co-founder Harsh Jain said, “As a pure-play sports tech company, where data drives all our decisions, we are delighted to have Sundararajan onboard to formulate and drive our AI and Data vision. His deep expertise will help us further evolve our cutting-edge data led innovations for superior and personalised fan engagement. We are confident that under Sundararajan’s leadership, Dream Sports will continue to champion the highest standards of user experience and help Indian and global sports fans engage even more with their favourite sports.”
Chief data officer Anantha Sundararajan added, “This is a very exciting time for the sports technology sector in India, where companies like Dream Sports with their data-centric approach offer a differentiated fan experience to make sports better. I look forward to being a part of this incredible journey of Dream Sports to bring the ultimate experience to fans at speed, scale and consistency working collaboratively with all of the Dream Sports group of companies.”
Sundararajan will be based in Mumbai and will report to Jain.
