Christian J. Ward is the Executive Vice President and Chief Data Officer at Yext focused on the expanding applications of knowledge graphs and data asset optimization. His focus is to help Yext clients identify, value, and structure their knowledge graphs to maximize their data value.

Ward is the co-author of the Amazon top release Data Leverage: Unlocking the Surprising Growth Potential of Data Partnerships and has developed and executed hundreds of data partnerships around the world, from small entrepreneurial firms to the world’s largest data companies. Ward has served as Chief Data Officer of SourceMedia, Chief Data Officer of Infogroup, and Global Head of Content Innovation at Thomson Reuters, among other roles. He has been quoted in publications like the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Fortune, GeoMarketing, StreetFight, and Search Engine Journal and he speaks frequently on data strategy, partnerships, and the future influence of data.

Josh Graus served as Yext’s Chief Marketing Officer. He joined Yext in November of 2019 as Yext’s first Chief Brand Officer, developing the company’s first and multi-award winning brand advertising campaign “The Man Without the Answers”.

Prior to Yext, Josh worked at Wealthfront, a consumer digital investing and banking platform where he was Vice President and Head of Marketing. Before that he spent six years at Twitter, where he was among the first 150 employees and started and led various marketing teams across the U.S. and EMEA. He has also held senior marketing roles at YouTube and ESPN and spent four seasons as an NCAA Division 1 volleyball coach.

Josh holds an M.S. in Integrated Marketing from Northwestern University, an M.Ed. from the University of Texas, and a B.S. from the University of Florida. He is currently on faculty and a member of the board of trustees for the Medill School at Northwestern.