Meta appoints Alex Schultz as first chief data officer

Meta has named Alex Schultz as its first-ever Chief Data Officer, creating an entirely new C-suite position at a company that already sits on one of the largest consumer data troves on the planet.

Schultz joined what was then Facebook back in November 2007, meaning he’s been at the company for the better part of two decades.

From analyst to the C-suite

Schultz started as an analyst, worked his way into leadership positions in analytics by 2015, and has served as Chief Marketing Officer and VP of Analytics since September 2020.

In that dual role, he’s overseen marketing, product analytics, data science, and data engineering teams.

Why a CDO, and why now

The timing isn’t random. Meta is navigating an increasingly complex regulatory landscape around data privacy, from the EU’s enforcement actions to evolving US state-level privacy laws. Having a single executive whose explicit mandate is data governance gives the company a clearer chain of accountability.

What this means for investors

This doesn’t appear to have any connection to blockchain, crypto tokens, or decentralized data initiatives. Meta famously tried and failed with its Libra (later Diem) stablecoin project, and this appointment carries no signals of a renewed push in that direction.

Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.