Shaquille O’Neal Keynotes Cloudera’s Annual ELEVATE Event to Kick Off FY27 Momentum
The Four-Time NBA Champion and Entrepreneur Shares Leadership Insights at Cloudera Sales Kickoff
Santa Clara, California – February 12, 2026: Cloudera, the only company bringing AI to data anywhere, today welcomed Shaquille O’Neal as the keynote speaker at its annual Sales Kickoff, ELEVATE27. O’Neal, interviewed by CEO Charles Sansbury and CRO Frank O’Dowd, shared advice on leadership, perseverance, teamwork, and achieving success.
ELEVATE brings Cloudera employees together to strategize on and prepare for the year ahead, marking the start of the new fiscal year. The event emphasizes alignment, execution, and growth as Cloudera continues to advance its data and AI strategy. O’Neal’s participation highlights the company’s commitment to leadership, innovation, and sustained performance.
Widely regarded as one of the greatest NBA centers, Shaq is a four-time NBA champion, three-time Finals MVP, league MVP, and 15-time All-Star whose leadership and teamwork have established him among basketball’s elite. Beyond sports, O’Neal is known for his roles as an investor, board member, and brand partner in the consumer and technology sectors. He exemplifies adaptability, focus, and scale, all qualities that reflect the mindset required as Cloudera continues to grow and evolve in the data and AI market.
“Shaq’s perspective reinforced the importance of showing up prepared, surrounding yourself with strong teammates, and continuing to raise the bar,” said O’Dowd. “Those principles are highly relevant as Cloudera continues to execute for our customers and lead with confidence in a rapidly changing data and AI landscape.”
About Cloudera
Cloudera is the only data and AI platform company that large organizations trust to bring AI to their data anywhere it lives. Unlike other providers, Cloudera delivers a consistent cloud experience that converges public clouds, on-prem data centers, and the edge, leveraging a proven open-source foundation. As the pioneer in big data, Cloudera empowers businesses to apply AI and assert control over 100% of their data, in all forms, improving security, governance, and real-time and predictive insights. The world’s largest brands across all industries rely on Cloudera to transform decision-making and ultimately boost bottom lines, safeguard against threats, and even save lives.
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