New AI architecture and embedded sales leaders join as enterprise demand for agentic data access accelerates

CHAPEL HILL, N.C., May 19, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — CData Software, the data layer for AI, today announced the appointment of Raviv Levi as Chief Product and Technology Officer (CPTO), along with the additions of Amit Naik as Vice President of AI Architecture and Craig Sanchez as Senior Vice President of Embedded Sales. The executive appointments support CData’s continued momentum as organizations rethink how enterprise data is accessed, governed, and acted on, whether by people working through conversational AI or by autonomous agents operating across enterprise systems.

“For years, enterprises focused on moving data for analytics,” said Amit Sharma, Founder and CEO of CData. “AI changes the equation. People are already using conversational AI to ask questions of their enterprise data, and autonomous agents are starting to take action on it. Both need live, governed, context-aware access to data wherever it lives. Raviv’s experience building and scaling enterprise technology platforms makes him the right leader to drive the next phase of growth at CData. We’re also excited to welcome Amit and Craig to the leadership team as we expand our AI platform and embedded partnerships to meet growing enterprise demand.”

Levi joins CData from Sift, where he served as Chief Product and Technology Officer, following senior leadership roles at Cisco, including Vice President of Security Strategy and Innovation for Cisco’s Security Business Group. He has led product, cloud security, and platform initiatives focused on enterprise-scale infrastructure and AI-driven technologies.

“The world has changed,” said Levi. “In enterprise AI, the model layer is moving fast and orchestration is moving fast, but responsible access to data, with live connectivity, controls, and context, is quickly becoming the bottleneck for enterprises. That’s where CData already has a strong foundation, and that opportunity is exactly why I joined.”

CData provides live access and data replication to virtually any enterprise data source spanning SaaS applications, cloud platforms, and on-premises systems. Its platform makes enterprise data usable for AI through a unified layer that delivers connectivity, semantic context, and governance controls, so that people can interact with data through conversational AI and agents can access and act on it autonomously, all without complex pipeline infrastructure. CData’s Connect AI platform is the industry’s first fully managed Model Context Protocol (MCP) platform and integrates with Anthropic Claude, OpenAI ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot Studio, Azure AI Foundry, and Agent 365.

As Vice President of AI Architecture, Naik will lead the design and evolution of CData’s AI architecture, working across product and engineering to ensure the platform meets the technical demands of enterprise AI deployments. He joins CData from Calix and previously held senior leadership roles in AI/ML solutions and infrastructure at PayPal, Financial Engines and Oracle.

“The AI architecture challenge for enterprises is clear: people need to ask questions of their data through conversational AI, and agents need to act on that data across dozens of systems, all in real time and with governance at every layer,” said Naik. “I’m here to work with our customers and product teams to establish CData as the substrate that makes agentic AI safe, grounded, and operational at enterprise scale.”

Sanchez will lead CData’s embedded sales organization, helping software vendors and platform providers integrate enterprise-grade connectivity and AI data access directly into their products. He joins CData from Vectara and previously held senior sales and business development leadership roles at Elastic and Cloudera.

“Every software company building AI capabilities needs a data layer that can connect to enterprise systems and let agents act on that data with proper governance,” said Sanchez. “That’s the embedded opportunity in front of CData right now, and it’s massive. I’m here to help scale the partnerships that get our connectivity into every AI-powered application in the market.”

The appointments reflect growing enterprise demand for AI systems, both conversational and autonomous, that can securely operate across fragmented data environments while maintaining governance, auditability, and real-time access. CData’s customers include global organizations such as Adobe, Office Depot, GSK, UiPath, and Palantir.

Supporting Resources

Download a headshot of Raviv Levi here
Download a headshot of Amit Naik here
Download a headshot of Craig Sanchez here

About CData Software

CData is the data layer between AI and ROI, delivering the connectivity, context, and control that make enterprise AI more accurate and actionable. One platform for live access and data replication across 350+ sources, semantic intelligence that ensures context-aware responses, and built-in governance to control every AI-to-data interaction. Powering AI workloads for Anthropic, Databricks, Microsoft, Google, Palantir, and more than 10,000 customers worldwide. Learn more at www.cdata.com or contact info@cdata.com.

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SOURCE CData Software