Principal Engineer, Architect, CTO, & Data Scientist / Data, Analytics, & AI
Dave Wentzel
Others have KNOW HOW. Dave has KNOW WHAT and KNOW WHY too.
Philadelphia, PA
At a glance
One page. Everything I do, how I do it, who I do it with.
My mission
About
I strive to understand a business problem before throwing a bunch of tech at it. I work with executives and business and IT leaders to bring ideas to market. As a former CTO doing data projects for 25 years, I know the patterns to deliver successful data projects.
Dave’s concentration is in analytic solutions involving data, data science, and AI. I have implemented successful projects and know what works.
My method
Modern Data Ethos
Start with the business problem. Build the smallest thing that proves value. Fund the rest. Repeat until analytics is a habit, not a project.
- 1
Problem
Pin down the real business pain — before touching tech.
- 2
Persona
Who feels it. Who decides. Who benefits when it's solved.
- 3
Prototype
Vibe Analytics build on the customer's own data — usually 2–3 days.
- 4
Proof
Show value the room can react to. Get to YES.
- 5
Production
Fund the capital project. Accelerate consumption. Scale.
Design Thinking → Rapid Prototyping → Production Consumption
Where I've worked
Experience
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Technical Evangelist/Decision Architect · Microsoft Technology Center
- Work with Frontier Firms on their Data, Analytics, AI journey using Modern Data Ethos and Vibe Analytics approaches.
- Creator/champion of the Vibe Analytics movement: using conversational AI solve business problems using data
- Regular conference speaker and author
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Chief Technology Officer · 10th Magnitude
- Managed analytics teams delivering data consulting engagements for customers.
- Designed the Modern Data Ethos approach to businss problem solving.
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Chief Technology Officer · Capax Global
- Developed and delivered products and solutions for customers
- Built repeated solutions for Customer 360, demand signal repositories, and Retail Optimization.
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Data Consultant · David Wentzel LLC
- Consultant for customers with tricky, non-traditional data problems.
- Project management, consultative, and technical roles.
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Lead Data Architect · Siemens Medical Solutions
- Modernized data architecture for Soarian Financials (now Oracle Cerner)
- Built Zero Downtime Database Upgrade and Declarative Database Deployments software
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Data Architect · Deloitte & Touche
- Led database teams throughout client engagements, increasing both business and technical agility.
- Helped teams with performance management.
Some results
Impact
43
Fortune 500 companies partnered with on analytics & AI engagements.
Across pharma, healthcare, financial services, retail, and public sector.
2.3 days
Average time to a working Vibe Analytics prototype.
From an ambiguous business problem to a demo the room can react to.
62%
Of prototypes reach production consumption within 3 months.
Winner (with CSL Behring) of the 2019 Forrester Innovation Award.
Videos, Interviews, and thoughts on Data and Analytics
Insights
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- An interview on Modern Data Ethos, Vibe Analytics, and the methods I use to show value for customers, quickly.
- Microsoft created Microsoft Frontier Company to build out this program throughout all of our customers.
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- I was the Keynote Speaker for Datacamp's Agentic AI Conference.
- I made this into a Code Along event for attendees. If attendees had vscode/github copilot, or Claude Code available, they could follow along with the examples.
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- I was the Season 5 Premier guest on the Data Driven Podcast, where I discussed modern analytics architectures and processes that are business problem-first driven solutions.
- I focused on using the techniques in Modern Data Ethos to accelerate business value for data professionals.
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- I livestreamed a talk on prescriptive analytics for Philly.Net.
- I discussed business problem solving using data and how practitioners could get started with Prescriptive Analytics.
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- I livestreamed a talk to 1400+ Datacamp attendees on building a data mindset. including how to use Modern Data Ethos techniques to solve business problems with data.
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- This was my first appearance on the Data Driven Podcast.
- I talked about the benefits of Design Thinking. This includes as an alternative to scrum/agile, and how to leverage the principles to show value faster.
Get in touch
Let's talk
The best way to reach me is below. I read every message.
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