Arkansas can now claim one of the rising data leaders in the United States.
Adita Karkera, deputy chief data officer for the Arkansas Division of Information Systems, was declared the Data Leader of the Year for the 2020 Women in IT Awards Series. Delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the awards ceremony was held virtually on Oct. 29.
Now in its third year, the Women in IT Awards New York ceremony brought more than 500 professionals together virtually to honor those who had been nominated. During the awards, 15 women were honored, along with one male ally and four companies/initiatives. The awards ranged from entrepreneur of the year to CIO of the year to woman of the year.
The Data Leader of the Year award recognizes “a female IT, technology or business leader who has demonstrated successful results in the area of data technology in the last 18 months.” Karkera faced stiff competition, going up against individuals at prominent companies, including Rolls-Royce, Bloomberg LP, S&P Global, Etsy, BlackRock and more. She was the only individual in her category representing a governmental agency – much less a state agency.
Karkera was nominated for the award by an independent panel and first learned about the nomination in January. Getting the news inspired a rollercoaster of emotions – from surprise to excitement – for her.
“I am humbled and honored to be named alongside such amazing women leaders. Personally, I feel passionately about getting our girls excited about science and technology and about encouraging our women in STEM. The gender gap is changing rapidly but there is so much more we can, and need to do,” she told Arkansas Money & Politics in an earlier interview.
“Professionally, I am delighted with this recognition for Arkansas. I may be the individual nominated, but it is ultimately a recognition of the efforts of so many hard-working state employees like the agency data officers.”
She would have to wait months before learning the outcome of the awards voting, though. In the meantime, Karkera received another professional award. In September, she was named an “up and comer” by StateScoop, an online publication that reports on technology, as part of its seventh annual StateScoop 50 Awards. Karkera also was one of 11 inductees named to the fourteenth class of the Arkansas Academy of Computing, which recognizes individuals who had made significant contributions to the computing profession.
After almost a year of waiting, Karkera was declared the winner of the Data Leader category at the end of October. To her, the award did not only recognize her efforts but those of Gov. Asa Hutchinson and the larger efforts in the data field in Arkansas.
“It is truly an honor to represent the work of my accomplished colleagues and teams in the State of Arkansas. Thanks to the leadership of Governor Hutchinson, Arkansas has made, and continues to make great progress in the areas of data, data analytics and computing. The gender gap in technology is changing rapidly, but it still needs all of our support to continue to encourage, guide and mentor our girls, daughters and women in STEM. I hope this award can serve as an encouragement to other women to continue to stay focused, work hard and not be afraid to take risks and challenge themselves,” Karkera said.
This award is the latest step on Karkera’s journey of creating a data-driven culture in Arkansas’ state government. Since joining the Arkansas Division of Information Systems in Little Rock in 2000, Karkera, a native of northern India, has championed data literacy and improved data policies and standards.
“I work with state departments to champion a data-driven culture; create data literacy, research, suggest and collaboratively develop data policies, standards, and best practices to improve data governance and data management statewide,” she said. “I also seek out opportunities for data sharing across departments to increase the use of government data for effective data driven decision making.”
Starting as a database administrator on a three-month contract, Karkera has climbed the ranks, being named the deputy state chief data officer in 2017. With the increasing importance of the digital sphere in an ever-changing world, Karkera believes that data will become an even more critical element in Arkansas’ growth.
“Data = Information = Knowledge. For that reason, data analytics and data literacy are front and center in today’s digital world. Quality data facilitates informed decision-making because it provides verifiable evidence that can help maximize resources and add efficiencies. Data can help measure performance and help determine if changes need to be made. Good data helps establish baselines, benchmarks and goals,” she said. “A strong data department and associated workforce is needed to make government programs function more effectively on behalf of the people of Arkansas. Public-private partnerships like Arkansas Center of Data Sciences and Arkansas Research Alliance (ARA) together with the work being done by the Office of the Chief Data Officer, are positioning us for continued success in innovation, talent pipelines and economic growth.”
READ MORE: Karkera Named ‘Up and Comer” in State Information Technology Sector