Nonna Milmeister is Chief Data & Analytics Officer at RMIT University and is helping RMIT to improve the lives of students, staff and community through trusted insights. Through the development and implementation of Data & Analytics Strategy, Nonna is establishing data-driven culture and foundations for better decision-making to support learning, teaching and research and deliver innovative outcomes using data, ML and AI capabilities.
With wide range of industry experience in consulting, telecommunications, finance and IT, Nonna is an award-winning Data and Analytics Champion. She is a thought leader in data quality and use of analytics to improve customer service and productivity of Australian businesses. Nonna partners with business stakeholders and IT to drive data strategy, develop enterprise Data and AI Governance and deliver large, complex data, analytics and AI initiatives, significantly improving business bottom line. Nonna has been recognised by IAPA in the top 10 Analytics Leaders in Australia in 2021 and by Corinium in the top 100 Data and Analytics Innovators in the world in 2020, 2021 and 2023. Nonna has been named among 30 “Top Women in Tech in Australia” in 2025 by WomenTech Network. Nonna is a frequent presenter at Australian and International conferences and podcasts.
Recently, in an exclusive interview with Higher Education Digest, Nonna shared insights on the field of data management and analytics evolving in the next 5-10 years, significant career milestones, future plans, words of wisdom, and much more. The following excerpts are taken from the interview.
Hi Nonna. What inspired you to pursue a career in data management and information quality?
I was always fascinated by the transformational powers of data and information and its ability to look deep under the covers of business processes to understand how organisations can achieve their goals and improve their competitiveness. But I think it’s one man, the late Larry English, “The father of data quality” who I met very early in my career, who really inspired me to learn about data quality. I still remember some of his examples of the impacts of poor data quality on business around the world and thought that I can really help to make a difference in this area. Fast forward and everything that Larry English taught in the 2000s is still true. Data is fundamental to business success and the most fascinating asset that we need to nurture and grow, especially now when we can apply AI to multiply its powers.
What do you love the most about your current role?
I think the most important aspect of my role is to make a difference in students’ and academics’ life through impactful data initiatives and help to implement RMIT University’s “Knowledge with Action” ambition. Working at RMIT is a privilege, because I am working with people who are 100% dedicated to excellence in education, research and community impact and my personal values are aligned with this as well. I was lucky to be able to create and lead an amazing team of data professionals, and it is a culture of mutual respect, experimentation with modern data and analytics techniques and models and focus on impactful projects that makes me proud to come to work every day.
What do you think is the most pressing challenge facing data professionals today, and how do you address it?
There are many challenges that I can think of; data ethics and data literacy are prime examples, but one of the most challenging is viewing AI as a technology issue and relying on off-the shelf capabilities without clear attention to data and change processes. Yes, you can use existing AI capabilities to gain efficiency and with increased data literacy, this will be widely used and beneficial in many areas of the business, but the real power and competitive advantage will come from using AI models with your own data. Ensuring that this data is organised, managed, understood, available and secure is the basis for successful implementation of any AI initiatives. Data, analytics and AI support business processes, enable technology and people and ultimately become the most valuable and powerful combination of capabilities to support business strategy. Organisations need to invest in a couple of fundamental questions: “How do we want our business processes to change? How will this AI initiative change the way we work”. When we start with these questions, and we have data to support the change, implementing technology capabilities will be much easier.
How do you see the field of data management and analytics evolving in the next 5-10 years, and what skills do you think will be most in demand?
The change in data and analytics has been phenomenal in the last few years and this change will only accelerate with adoption of GenAI, agentic technologies and the acceleration of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) and Superintelligence. In the last 10 years we have seen a sharp demand for data scientists, data engineers and ML/AI Engineers. This has been supplemented with Prompt Engineers, AI and GenAI Developers. We are rapidly moving into a new world where AI adoption will create more opportunities for data analysis, cybersecurity, data and AI ethics, supervising AI and handling exceptions. Remember AI will never replace human empathy, values and judgement and, in my opinion, will only redefine how the work is done.
How do you stay up to date with the latest trends and advancements in data management and analytics?
To tell you the truth, it’s almost impossible. Reading LinkedIn articles from key professionals, strategic and forward-looking research from Partners and academics, attending carefully selected professional conference and constantly trying to educate and experiment with new AI capabilities are some of the ways I am trying to stay abreast. I am also lucky to be working at RMIT, where we have academics who have dedicated their lives to research in some of these areas. Is this enough? Definitely not, but as long as I constantly learn, it works for me.
How do you prioritise your own well-being and self-care given the demands of your work?
My family is my stress relief. When I hold my 3-month old granddaughter, all stress melts away. When I talk to my kids or my husband, I feel loved and supported and it gives me strength and security to move ahead. My father used to say that he is happy man because he looks forward to going to work every day and at the end of the working day is very happy to go home to his family. I feel I am the same. My work is also my hobby, I do what I am excited and interested about. And my family is what I live for. I guess, I am very lucky.
Who has been a significant influence or mentor in your career, and how have they helped shape your professional journey?
I already mentioned Larry English, I will be forever thankful to this great man for introducing me to a fascinating topic of data quality and value of data. But over the years, I met many great people, who influenced my career. Robert Hillard who told me that its me who is interviewing the company, not another way around, Andrew Young who taught me the art of managing people, Mike Shimota who helped me to see things from every angle, Kate Koch who was my role model, Ram Kumar who has always been a valued advisor, Professor Sherman Young and his passion for learning and teaching; Professor Aleks Subic with his vision and drive, Judy McGannon who understands university processes like no other. The list goes on and on. Every team I built over the years has influenced me as a person and as a professional and I am lucky to have friends from every company I ever worked with who still share their news with me and want to stay in touch.
What has been your most career-defining moment that you are proud of?
Defining and implementing Data & Analytics Strategy at RMIT, including uplifting data capability maturity above education industry and at par with banking and insurance; building an advanced Data Analytics platform that paid for itself in the first year and continue to support data from 54 systems forming a basis for any advanced analytics and AI across every data domain. I am also extremely proud of my team and the culture we built over the years as well as a network of data stewards across the University, who are working together to advance information architecture, data quality, AI Governance and many other data and analytics initiatives. I think being included in the list of “Top Women in Tech in Australia” by the WomenTech Network this year has been a real highlight and I hope this will encourage other women to pursue a career in data and analytics.
What are your long-term career aspirations, and how do you see yourself evolving as a leader over the next five years?
I really enjoy what I do now, there is still a lot of work to do to implement our new “Data with Impact” strategy and roadmap at RMIT. I think the next steps would be to use my years of experience in data, analytics and AI to help other organisations and professionals on a similar journey.
What advice would you give to aspiring data professionals looking to make an impact on their organisations?
Invest in learning, find something you are really interested in and focus on that. Believe in yourself, you are unique and it’s a good thing. Don’t be afraid to challenge the existing processes, they are not set in stone and can and should be changed if they become blockers.
And most importantly, learn about the business you are working in, understand what is important and use your data knowledge to help your stakeholders to make decisions that advance their goals.