Data Governance Matters

If you’ve been to a Data Governance event in the past few years, you should thank Davida Berger. You see, there was no such thing as a Data Governance conference before Davida, along with Tony Shaw of Wilshire Conferences and his amazing team, decided the world needed one.

Now, thanks to their efforts, practitioners, academics, and thought leaders have many opportunities to come together to discuss the growing discipline of Data Governance & Stewardship. Davida and Tony collaborate on a series of conferences such as the Data Governance Conference in Europe, coming up in Feb. 2009, and the Data Governance Annual Conference in the U.S., which will be held again next June in San Diego. And since their initial successes, others across the world have taken up the banner, also. So there are now many opportunities to get under one roof with your peers to discuss the ins-and-outs of this growing field.

But it wasn’t always so. Back when Davida had the forsight and courage to be the first program director for the industry’s first Data Governance conference, there wasn’t even concensus about what DG meant - much less what it did, and what it could accomplish. But Davida saw a need, and she had an extensive series of discussions with those of us working in the field (thought leaders and early adopters) to get a feel about what was going on and where efforts were headed.

Sure, now there are studies that show that 80-90% of organizations say they have or need formal Data Governance. But in the beginning there were no surveys. There was Davida, researching everything there was about Data Governance & Stewardship on the web, and connecting in person with many many people to identify trends, drivers, and best practices.

But I shouldn’t put this in the past tense. Davida continues to be one of the hardest-working people I know. Maybe you know her, too. Or maybe you’ve attended one of her events and haven’t said hello. (Next time, say hi!) Or maybe you participate in a different set of seminars or events put on by others. Regardless, there’s a good chance that something Davida has done has helped get you there.