REDMOND, WA — The Data Management Association of Puget Sound (DAMA-PS), one of the longest-standing professional chapters in the data management industry, welcomed a data expert Dharmateja Priyadarshi Uddandarao as its featured guest speaker at the April Chapter Meeting on Tuesday, April 14, 2026. The meeting is Chaired by Uzma Khan, President of DAMA – Puget Sound and Shamnad Shaffi, VP – Programs and Education of DAMA – Puget Sound, Karrie Guymon VP – Marketing & Communications of DAMA. Held both in-person in Redmond, Washington, and virtually for remote attendees, the session challenged data professionals to fundamentally rethink how organizations measure the success of AI investments by moving beyond correlated vanity metrics toward rigorous causal frameworks that reveal true business impact.

A Four-Decade Legacy of Data Leadership in the Pacific Northwest

Since its founding in 1985, DAMA Puget Sound has served as a driving force in the data management industry, growing to a membership of over 500 data professionals across the Pacific Northwest. An affiliated chapter of DAMA International, DAMA-PS holds monthly meetings from September through June, offering a mix of dinner meetings, workshops, seminars, and guest speaker presentations that cover the full spectrum of information and data resource management. The chapter has established itself as an essential gathering point for data architects, engineers, scientists, analysts, and business leaders seeking to stay ahead of the curve in an ever-changing field. The chapter was recently an exhibitor at Interface Seattle 2025, further extending its reach and visibility across the region’s technology community. With a board of directors, DAMA-PS operates with the organizational rigor of a professional society while maintaining the collegial warmth of a community built on shared intellectual curiosity.

Discussion on Measuring Success in the AI Era

The evening’s featured presentation, “Designing Non-Traditional Business Metrics to Measure Success in the AI Era,” was delivered by Dharmateja Priyadarshi Uddandarao, a Senior Statistician and Data Scientist at Amazon. Uddandarao opened with a deceptively simple premise: the fundamental profit equation, P = R – C, remains the universal measure of business success, from lemonade stands to Fortune 500 companies. Every AI product launch, he argued, represents an increase in cost (C) that must demonstrate a multiplier effect on revenue (R) to justify the investment. The critical challenge, however, lies in isolating AI’s true contribution to profit amid indirect revenue pathways and long incubation periods.

The presentation systematically dismantled the reliability of traditional metrics that dominate most corporate dashboards. “Dashboards tell you what happened, but not why,” Uddandarao stated, illustrating how these metrics show correlation but not causation. He highlighted how traditional approaches fail to account for counterfactuals (what would have happened without the intervention), attribution confusion when multiple initiatives run simultaneously, and selection bias that can dramatically overstate or understate AI’s actual impact.

The core of the talk introduced causal inference methods as superior alternatives: A/B Testing as the gold standard with random assignment, Pre Balanced causal Methods, Propensity Score Matching for non-randomized scenarios, Difference-in-Differences for comparing changes over time, Instrumental Variables using external factors, and Causal Forests combined with Double Machine Learning for capturing heterogeneous treatment effects. Through vivid case studies spanning social media engagement and e-commerce campaigns, Uddandarao demonstrated how a traditional approach might show overstated or understated metrics while a causal approach reveals true incremental value actually caused by the event, a distinction with profound implications for investment decisions.

“In the AI era, the companies that win won’t just be the ones that invest the most, they’ll be the ones that measure the best,” Uddandarao concluded, leaving the audience with a framework for moving beyond vanity metrics to causal measurement systems that reveal true incremental impact. The session explored how organizations can design non-traditional business metrics that measure decision quality, behavioral change, operational efficiency, and economic value, capabilities that are becoming essential as AI spending accelerates across every industry.

The presentation sparked rich discussion among attendees, with questions ranging from practical implementation challenges in enterprise environments to the organizational change management required to shift leadership teams from familiar dashboard metrics to causal frameworks.

Looking Ahead: DAMA Day 2026 – The Pacific Northwest’s Premier Data Conference

For data professionals energized by the kind of forward-thinking discourse on display at the April Chapter Meeting, DAMA Puget Sound’s flagship annual event is just around the corner. DAMA Day 2026, themed “From Data to Decisions – Powering Innovation in the Age of AI and Quantum,” will take place on May 15, 2026, at the Meydenbauer Center in Bellevue, Washington, running from 7:30 AM to 7:00 PM.

DAMA Day is the Pacific Northwest’s premier data management conference, uniting data and technology professionals for a full day of insight, innovation, and networking. This year’s program reflects a pivotal moment for the profession: as AI adoption accelerates and quantum computing begins to influence real-world applications, organizations must rethink how data is governed, architected, and activated. Sessions will showcase how forward-looking data strategies, resilient architectures, and emerging technologies come together to turn complexity into clarity and data into decisive, high-value actions. Topics span decision-ready data foundations, AI and decision intelligence, governance and trust, and platforms built for scale, with sessions addressing provocative questions like “Why ‘Good Enough’ Data Breaks AI,” “When AI Recommends, Who Decides?”, and “Why Most Data Products Fail the Decision Test.”

Last year’s DAMA Day 2025, themed “The Future of Data – Pioneering the Data Frontier,” set a high bar with a lineup of distinguished speakers and practitioners like Bill Inmon, CEO and Best-Selling Author, DataVox; Enzhou Wang, Chief Data Officer, City of Tacoma who drew attendees from across the region. DAMA Day 2026 aims to build on that momentum with an even more ambitious program targeting Chief Technology Officers, Chief Data Officers, Chief Data & AI Officers, data and AI practitioners, business and IT leaders, and early-career professionals and students alike.

Registrations are currently open, and the chapter is actively seeking sponsors, speakers, and volunteers to help make the event a success. Data professionals across the Tri-City area, greater Seattle, Bellevue, Redmond, and the broader Puget Sound area are encouraged to register early and take advantage. Whether you are a seasoned data leader navigating the complexities of AI governance or an emerging professional looking to build your network and sharpen your skills, DAMA Day 2026 offers a rare opportunity to learn from the best, connect with peers, and shape the future of data-driven decision-making in the region. Learn more about DAMA Day here: https://dama-ps.org/damaday