How did you get into data governance and information quality? Was it a conscious choice, a happy accident, or were you “voluntold”? Where are you headed, and how do you get there? Join this diverse panel of professionals as they discuss their career journeys and learnings along the way, and be inspired for your own career. 

Speaker: Danette McGilvray

President and Principal, Granite Falls

An internationally respected expert, Danette McGilvray is known for her Ten Steps™ approach, used by multiple industries as a proven method for increasing the value of data through quality and governance. It applies to operational processes and focused initiatives such as security, analytics, digital transformation, artificial intelligence, data science, and compliance. Danette guides leaders and staff as they connect business strategy to practical steps for implementation. As president and principal of Granite Falls Consulting, Inc., Danette is committed to the appropriate and effective use of technology and addressing the human aspect of data management through communication, change management, and engaging with people. Danette is the author of Executing Data Quality Projects: Ten Steps to Quality Data and Trusted Information™, 2nd Ed. (Elsevier/Academic Press, 2021), often described as a “classic” or noted as one of the “top ten” data management books.

Speaker: Aakriti Agrawal

Manager, Data Governance, American Express

Aakriti Agrawal, MBA, CDMP Practitioner, is a Manager of Data Governance at American Express. Prior to this, she helped build a data governance program at Ameritas. She has a Master's degree with a focus in organizational and nonprofit change. On the side, she enjoys philanthropy and social entrepreneurship. She co-founded a nonprofit, Girls Code Lincoln, and is in the process of starting her second nonprofit, The Nonprofiting Org. Through her professional and philanthropic experiences, Aakriti has been able to practice effective change leadership by generating buy-in, developing processes, and creating robust programs that grow and thrive. She has been recognized with the Inspire Founders Award and the Emerging Young Leaders Award, has been nominated to the Forbes 30 Under 30 List, and serves on numerous boards of national and international nonprofits. 

Speaker: Diane E Schmidt

Chief Data Officer, Government Accountability Office (GAO)

With over 27 years of data experience, Diane has held numerous senior data executive roles in both the public and private sectors. She is a data pioneer and was one of the first Chief Data Officers at Freddie Mac. She held a Managing Director role with a data management and architecture consultancy, a director role at the Department of Treasury Office of Financial Research, and the role of Chief Data Officer at Freddie Mac. Diane held the role of Head, Enterprise Data Governance, and more recently, the Corporate Chief Data Officer at the London Stock Exchange Group. Currently, she is the Chief Data Officer of the Government Accountability Office (GAO). Diane has a PhD in Computer and Information Sciences with a focus on Information Quality, an MS in Information Management and is an active member of numerous data management industry forums. 

Speaker: Mark Horseman

Data Evangelist, DATAVERSITY

Mark is an IT professional with nearly 20 years of experience and acts as the "Data Evangelist" for DATAVERSITY. Mark moved into Data Quality, Master Data Management, and Data Governance early in his career and has been working extensively in data management since 2005. Previous to his work at DATAVERSITY, Mark led Information Management initiatives in both private and public sector organizations. 

Speaker: Monika Kapoor

APJ, Enterprise Technology Solutions Head, Thermo Fisher Scientific

Monika has over two decades of experience in CRM, ERP, Business Consulting, Data Quality, and Business Transformation for regional and global businesses. She has been in diversified roles covering extensive consulting and leadership experience in global sales, services, and marketing-related digital transformational programs. In her current role, she heads APJ Enterprise Technology Solutions for Thermo Fisher Scientific. She has set up a Quality Excellence Framework and provided overall Process Quality/Maturity leadership to Business, Markets, and Functions (BMF). Monika has benchmarked and replicated several Industry best practices and cutting edge processes in Data Governance for various organisaations globally.

Speaker: Valerie Calvo

Data Governance Manager, CBRE Investment Management

Valerie Calvo is a Data Governance Manager for CBRE Investment Management. She directly supports data-driven ambitions by setting and realizing the firm’s Data Governance strategy and championing data democratization. In this role, she is responsible for ensuring consistent practices by creating policies, standards, and processes for metadata management, reference data, and data quality management.

Prior to joining CBRE IM, Valerie led a team responsible for the design and implementation of semantic models, reference data, taxonomies, and master data inventories as well as the enterprise adoption of data management practices at Bloomberg LP.

Valerie is a CDMP and holds Certificates in the Data Management Capability Assessment Model (DCAM) v2.2 (EDM Council) and Advanced Data Analytics (General Assembly). She is also an attorney admitted to practice in New York and New Jersey.