Two Cleveland volunteer communities come together to give Northeast Ohio’s data and AI professionals more ways to connect, learn and grow.
CLEVELAND, October 27, 2026: CLE AI & DATA and Data in the Land are joining forces. Data in the Land, a community for analytics, data science and data engineering professionals across Northeast Ohio, will dissolve and fold into CLE AI & DATA, bringing its members into a volunteer-run community of almost 5,000 people.
Both groups started with the same idea: people learn faster and go further when they learn together. Data in the Land was founded in 2025 to help data professionals at every career stage network, share skills and grow in Cleveland’s evolving data landscape. CLE AI & DATA traces its roots to a Hadoop user group started in 2010 and has hosted 183 events since, from monthly socials to auditorium talks with speakers from across the industry.
This is not the first time Cleveland’s data community has grown by coming together. In 2024, the original Hadoop group and Cleveland AI merged to form CLE AI & DATA. Welcoming Data in the Land is the natural next step, and it moves CLE AI & DATA closer to its mission: making AI accessible to everyone, and seeing Cleveland’s AI and data jobs filled by Cleveland professionals.
Cleveland’s data community has always been the strongest when we build it together. Helen and the Data in the Land organizers created a place where data professionals actually help each other grow, and that’s exactly what we want more of. To every Data in the Land member: you’re not joining something new, you’re bringing what you built with you, and we can’t wait to meet you on the east side.
Ted Troxell, CEO, CLE AI & DATA
Data in the Land has grown into a community we’re incredibly proud of, and joining forces with CLE AI and Data is a natural next step. Together, we can reach more people and create meaningful opportunities for education, mentorship and career growth. I’m excited about the impact we will make together in Cleveland’s tech ecosystem!
Helen Shere, Co-founder, Data in the Land
What this means for Data in the Land members
- New: weekly job postings
Data and AI job openings posted every week on the CLE AI & DATA LinkedIn page. - New: east side meetups
Regular meetups on Cleveland’s east side, in addition to monthly socials at Happy Dog, big-night speaker events, hands-on workshops, hikes and volunteer days. All free. - A bigger network
More than 4,000 members across data, AI and the businesses that use them.
What this means for CLE AI & DATA members
More data practitioners in the room, more technical depth in our programming, weekly job postings and new east side meetups. Same welcome as always.
Come say hello
Join us Tuesday, November 17, from 6 to 8 PM at Happy Dog (5801 Detroit Avenue, Gordon Square) for a Data in the Land welcome night. No slides, no agenda. Just good conversation.
Questions? Reach us at info@cle-ai.com.
Leave a Reply