George Firican

The University of British Columbia

Director, Data Governance & Business Intelligence

Led a team of wonderful and highly skilled people in the areas of:
- Finance
- Human Resources
- Information Systems
- Gift Processing 
- Operations
- Strategic Projects
- Prospect Research & Analytics 
- Data Governance & Business Intelligence 

To support the goals of the fundraising and alumni engagement portfolio across the university.

Chief Advancement Operations Officer (Interim)

Director of Information Technology (Interim)

• Lead the Data Governance/ Quality program and the strategy development of Development and Alumni Engagement’s (DAE) data acquisition, maintenance and dissemination while fostering innovation and long term strategic vision
• Lead the efforts to develop a business glossary as well as a business intelligence (BI) framework and program that provides user-friendly access to the right information for the right people at the right time
• Directed the development and enhancement of standards, procedures, processes, policies related to the improvement and/or maintenance of quality of data within the Blackbaud Enterprise CRM database
• Created and fostered strategic partnerships and influential relationships with DAE senior management, the broader UBC community, campus stakeholders, vendors, and external universities to secure the success of DAE’s data governance, business intelligence and information quality efforts
• Collaborated with Information Technology to manage the development of automated data validations, data cleanses, data quality issue reports, and deployment of new tools and enhancements to aid in the preservation of data quality
• Advanced the data governance and business intelligence profession by participating in professional organizations, acquiring or maintaining required accreditations, publishing articles, and giving presentations at professional events

Associate Director, Data Governance & Business Intelligence

I proudly took part of UBC's "Start an Evolution" campaign (https://startanevolution.ubc.ca/), campaign which raised $1.5 billion dollars for students, research and community engagement and to double the number of alumni involved annually in the life of the university by 2015.

• Established and led an award winning Data Governance/Quality Program to support the university’s $1.5 billion fundraising campaign and sustainable alumni engagement strategy
• Provided oversight of the Data Governance/Quality Program and kept it on track by managing the development of standards, procedures, processes, policies related to the acquisition, management, and dissemination of enterprise data impacting the Blackbaud Enterprise CRM database while leading the Advisory Council
• Developed an award winning Tracing Program through which the returned mail percentage of Development and Alumni Engagement’s Portfolio has been reduced to less than 1%
• Managed the development of business performance metrics and scorecards to monitor and communicate the status and improvement of service of the Records department
• Achieved a 92% address and phone number accuracy for Canadian records, an improvement from ~64%
• Communicated to and educated internal and external stakeholders on the results and initiatives of data governance, quality, master data management, information delivery and advised stakeholders about best practices; was the first and only department to achieve 100% on the annual client satisfaction survey on communication delivery and content

Data Quality Manager

LightsOnData

- Educational Content Creation: Develop and deliver comprehensive courses, workshops, and webinars on data governance, data management, data quality, AI, and more.
- Brand Amplification: Collaborate with data companies to enhance their brand visibility and thought leadership in the data community.
- Engagement and Outreach: Host the Lights On Data Show podcast, featuring industry leaders and experts to share their insights and experiences.

Founder

Pearson

Course Instructor

O'Reilly

iData Quality Academy

Developed course content for iData Quality Academy
- Data Profiling
- Data Quality Costs

Instructor

Self employed

• Provided project management and business analysis expertise to various projects across the different industries (BaniPePost.com, JT Business Group, SMAWS, 8p8, Ashenzi, NetPress Consulting, LTS, AHACommunity, etc).
• Designed and developed unique, highly professional web and print designs, branding and e-learning solutions as well as developing and configuring custom websites (e-stores, online communities, content management systems, blogs, brochure websites, etc.).
• Accumulated experience as a web master by installing, upgrading, performing backups, managing migrations and maintaining a series of complex websites.

Freelance Consultant

Sauder School of Business, UBC

• Served as internal Project Manager for the evaluation, build and deployment phases of a custom-built, scalable web payment gateway (WPG) that complied with the PCI standard requirements and reduced Sauder Finance’s operational time for the allocation and reporting of revenue received via card payments by 75%
• Managed the deployment of a FIPPA compliant e-newsletter tool (Industry Mailout) selected to achieve a standard for design and operational support while reducing expenses by $15k/year
• Planned and managed the development and release of a new service for personal/academic blogging through the use of the WordPress MU environment for faculty members and current Sauder students
• Managed the development of an improved content publishing process to account for 15 digital signs, each with audience specific content & emergency broadcasting capabilities
• Served as the internal project manager for the development and deployment of the Canaccord Learning Commons web presence comprised of a WordPress based website and a BuddyPress student interaction environment
• Developed solutions for integrating the business environment with web 2.0 technologies such as WordPress 3 based sites, online communities (Ning, Moodle), and collaboration tools (MediaWiki, Project Spaces, CoMapping) while providing expertise and system support for these platforms
• Identified customer requirements, analyzed and reviewed product features, integration, security, scalability and performance requirements for projects such as PPM Tool, a collaboration tool to be used between the Center of Health Care Management and BC health care authorities, Desktop Blogging Client Solution, ECM Society Online Presence, Faculty Master Calendar, Form Building Tool, Event Registration, PCI Payment Forms Conversions, and several online presences for different business areas and conferences

Project Manager / BA

Everest iTech

• Promoted to Project Manager for the Showtime Models website and web application and the All Ears accounting software development project due to excellent interpersonal, communication and leadership skills in the relationships with the client and internal development team
• Led the development of several e-commerce sites (ex: SkyHook Solar, Expressive Designs Florist, JT-Autotech) and dynamic websites (ex: Mailinglist System, Informant Zone) and also helped architect their databases
• Increased the employees' knowledgebase by developing e-learning modules and user manuals for the use of the company’s payroll and accounting software
• Enhanced the online awareness of the company’s brand by 40% by creating a new content strategy and redeveloping its website in a WordPress, SEO friendly environment
• Minimized the cost of online advertising by developing free distributed widgets that increased incoming traffic by 5k visitors/ month

Project Manager / Lead Web Developer

Event Technologies

• Developed customer support standards and procedures for the company’s e-store business and helped transition a staff of 12 to this new environment through training sessions and a knowledgebase wiki.
• Minimized the installation time of new systems by 80% by creating and managing standard desktop images based on the employees’ job roles.
• Reduced search time of hardware and software information by 50% by developing a standard for filing all the technical documentation on hardware equipment and software.

IT Consultant

WGOA

• Demonstrated strong leadership skills by acting as the team leader of a software developer group in order to successfully implement and deliver an interactive Go learning application two weeks ahead of deadline and within budget.
• Coded the backend interaction of a merchandise inventory application with a barcode scanner and also contributed to developing the MySQL database and reporting. 
• Facilitated the team members to work remotely by implementing a VPN solution and integrated the use of Subversion to enable software versioning and revision control.

Software developer

💬 Founder of LightsOnData.com and LightsOnData YouTube Channel
Focused on providing informative content such as ONLINE COURSES, templates, guides, best practices, articles, white papers, and other useful resources to help you with your data governance and data management questions and challenges

💬 Creator of online courses that are engaging, new, and thorough. 
Courses: Building an Award-Winning Business Glossary, Data Governance Maturity Models, Data Governance Fundamentals, etc. - check them out here: https://www.lightsondata.com/courses/

💬 Providing LinkedIn content strategy for data-focused companies and products, as well as those with a focus on artificial intelligence (AI), business intelligence (BI, data science, data management, and data governance areas.
Connect with me today and ask how I can help you reach the data audience.

💬 Host of Lights on Data Show - a podcast and LinkedIn Live weekly show that provides insights into the data world and showcases people that help to shape it.

💬 Get some fun data merchandise here: https://shop.spreadshirt.com/lightsondata/all

💬 International key note speaker, conference speaker, and panelist (spoken at over 60 different conferences).

💬 I love being on camera, hiking, surfing, filming, and video editing
YouTube: @LightsOnData


🏛 My experience and specialties: 
• Expertise in data governance, information quality, business intelligence & data management
• Extensive background in web and application development with experience of the full life-cycle of a project
• Strong leadership capabilities, organizational and communication skills

Specialties: 
• Enterprise information management: Information quality, data governance and stewardship, master data management, business intelligence, business process improvement
• Development: Web and application development, relational database design and development
• Planning: Budget and resource planning, agile and waterfall project management, team development and leadership
• Tools and Applications: Collibra, Tableau, MS Visio, MS Project, Premiere, Photoshop

George Firican 💡

I’m at Collibra’s Data Citizens event and really enjoying the conversations and energy. The message is clear: 

Organizations need to move from BI-ready to AI-ready data, and governance has to evolve with it.

Here’s why:
✅ AI is increasing ecosystem complexity
✅ Structured and unstructured data both need visibility and trust
✅ Governance must scale everywhere across platforms, engines and workloads

So here are some available features to help with above that got me excited:

1️⃣ Data contracts for improving consistency and transparency across data products
2️⃣ Custom rules with Text2SQL to turn natural language into precise SQL data quality checks
3️⃣ Derived relations to visualize multi-hop connections and lineage
4️⃣ Semantic Model Generation Agent to automatically generate semantic layers from physical data
5️⃣ Model Context Protocol server to give copilots and AI agents real-time governed context
6️⃣ Data recommender to guide teams toward trusted, approved data
7️⃣ AI model registry for governed model lifecycle tracking
8️⃣ Automated AI traceability across Azure AI Foundry
9️⃣ Microsoft Teams & Slack integrations for better data collaboration 

A lot of impressive innovation on display today. Interviews with Collibra leaders and partners coming soon.

Until next time, let’s keep putting the Lights On Data!
-George Firican  

#data #AI #datagovernance

💡 Award Winning Data Governance Leader | Content Creator & Influencer | Founder of LightsOnData | Podcast Host: Lights On Data Show | LinkedIn Top Voice

Navigating data challenges be like…

That’s why I recommend following these people here:

Learn Data Analytics here: Avery Smith  
Learn AI here: Christina Stathopoulos, MSc and Steve Nouri  and T. Scott Clendaniel  
Learn GenAI here: Doug Sheley  
Learn Data Engineering here: Andreas Kretz and Pooja Jain  
Learn Cybersecurity and Risk Management here: Mary Carmichael  
Learn Privacy, Risk and Compliance here: Thaïs Ramos
Learn Statistics here: Joshua Starmer PhD 
Learn Excel here: Matt Brattin  
Learn Tableau here: Donabel Santos  
Learn Data Visualization here: Kate Strachnyi  
Learn Data Literacy here: Jordan Morrow  
Learn Data Storytelling here: Brent Dykes and  Mico Yuk  
Learn How to Tell Your Data Story here: SCOTT TAYLOR
Learn Data Classification here: Susan Walsh  
Learn Digital Transformation here:⚡Achille Ettorre, MBA  
Learn Data Community Building here: Scott Stafford  
Learn Data Analytics Career Upskilling: Albert Bellamy  
Learn Business Intelligence here: Alex Freberg  
Learn Apache Iceberg here: Andrew Madson
Learn Data Management here: LightsOnData  
Learn Data Strategy here: Vin Vashishta  
Learn Data Freelancing here: Benjamin Rogojan 
Learn Data Contracts here: 🎯 Mark Freeman II  

Who else am I missing?

(Post inspired from Avery Smith)

#data #AI #datascience

It was a pleasure delivering my presentation on “Data Governance in the Age of AI” at The University of British Columbia’s Symposium 2025.

Great sessions, networking and knowledge sharing all around. 

Thank you again to the PrISM team for the invite and for putting together the month-long series of events to celebrate Cybersecurity Awareness Month.

Let’s keep putting the Lights On Data, Privacy, and Security!

—
Special thanks to Trevor Carpenter, Larry Carson, Zoe Armer and everyone involved behind the scenes to make this happen.

Thank you also to all the wonderful speakers and presenters such as Scott Baker, Maliheh Oliver, Salman Shahid, Dr. Gail Murphy, Mark Montgomery, Gráinne McElroy, Gurm Dhugga, Mawuena G., Waii Chow, Julie Le Hegarat, PhD, Tim Szigeti  and many others.

#data #privacy #AI

What if “data governance” wasn’t a checklist, but a way to ADVANCE your organization?
Here’s the 7-pillar framework I use to make it simple 👇

A – Accountability: Assign clear owners so decisions actually get made
D – Definitions: Create a shared language through glossaries and standards
V – Value Alignment: Tie every governance effort to business goals
A – Adaptability: Use governance as your engine for change
N – Necessity: Start where the value is highest and scale from there
C – Collaboration: Build cross-functional trust and shared goals
E – Education: Empower people to see governance as an enabler

If you could only strengthen one pillar right now, which one would move your organization forward the fastest?

And if you want to go deeper, my Practical Data Governance: Implementation course walks through how to apply each one (includes templates and examples): 
https://lnkd.in/gwBcYQg5

Let’s keep putting the Lights On Data.
-George Firican

#data #datagovernance #datastrategy

7 pillars of data governance

Great energy, amazing sessions, wonderful networking here at the Big Data & Analytics West Summit.

It was a pleasure catching up with the local data community, seeing old friends, and meeting new ones.

Let’s keep putting the Lights On Data!
-George Firican  

#data #ai

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There was a clear theme emerging at the Big Data and Analytics West Summit, and it showed up in the breakfast discussions, the keynote, presentations and every conversation. 👇

Reliable AI still comes down to one thing: the strength of your enterprise data foundation.

At the IBM breakfast, several roundtable discussions pointed to the same realization. As teams accelerate toward AI, the real bottleneck isn’t tooling. It is the clarity, quality, and accessibility of the data behind it.

Paul Zikopoulos, VP Technology Sales at IBM, reinforced this in his keynote. He talked about the curiosity tax that comes from gated or fragmented data, and how governance, lineage, sovereignty, and explainability aren’t administrative tasks. They are accelerators for AI.
When organizations know where data came from, how it can be used, and who owns it, the entire AI lifecycle becomes more reliable.

One point he shared stood out to me: GenAI is fundamentally an unstructured data problem. Most organizations haven’t even started unlocking the value in documents, PDFs, forms, logs, images, and everything that never makes it into a warehouse.

During my conversation with Paul, he also highlighted how leaders can start simply. Focus on automation and internal optimization use cases. Decide whether each AI initiative is meant to save money or generate money. Build from there.

Across the day, the message was consistent throughout peer discussions, panels, and other presentations. Data foundations are the reason AI works and we need to invest in getting those right. Governance, security, quality, stewardship and so much more... they all need to be in place.

How's your data foundation?

#ibmpartner #IBMCanada #data #AI

Key takeaways from Big Data Analytics West Summit

Did you know that AWS announced 60 AI Competency Partners across 3 NEW categories that will define the next era of intelligent systems:

✅ Agentic AI Applications
✅ Agentic AI Tools
✅ Agentic AI Consulting Services

These organizations represent innovation, scale and real world impact.
They are building autonomous systems, enabling smarter workflows, and helping enterprises activate their AI strategy with confidence and speed.

Do you have a favourite category or partner you are most excited about?

I will add the full list of partners in the comments so you can explore their work, follow their updates and connect with leaders who are shaping the future. 

You can also read more about all this here: https://lnkd.in/g-g7T22Z

Until next time, let’s keep putting the Lights On Data and Agentic AI.
-George Firican

#AI #agenticAI #partnerpost

Here is my recommendation for this week.
If Agentic AI is on your roadmap, checkout this ebook  👇

It breaks down what many overlook: AI success depends on the maturity of your data architecture.
Here's what else you can find in it:
• Clear explanation of what a modern, AI-ready architecture looks like
• Practical guidance on data quality, cataloging, lineage and governance
• A real example of how a bank scaled agentic AI by modernizing its foundation

So if you are leading data initiatives or planning for AI adoption, this is a good resource to read.

Until next time, let's keep putting the Lights on Data!
-George 
#data #AI #partnerpost

Modernize Data Architectures for  Agentic AI Success

What are your thoughts on AI generated videos or art?
Here’s a good example, in my opinion, on what happens when human creativity and AI-powered implementation come together.

Credit: Le Voyage (Paint World 28)


#ai #artificialintelligence

Data quality starts at the source… kind of  like good coffee.

I visited a shop that roasted its own beans, and the difference was undeniable. Fresh, intentional, crafted with care.

When we source data with the same level of attention, everything that comes after becomes smoother. Analytics flow better, insights become richer, decisions become clearer.

What do you think?
Happy weekend everyone! Let’s keep putting the Lights On Data!
-George Firican 

#data #dataquality

What do you think? Is AI making Master Data Management and Data Governance obsolete... or more essential than ever?

I’m looking forward to sitting down with Bruno Billy, President of APGAR North America, and Ken Brown, Head of Customer Success, to explore how AI is reshaping MDM and Data Governance, plus...

...how these disciplines influence the success of AI itself.

From practical examples of AI-augmented governance to rethinking stewardship roles and making MDM truly AI-ready, we will unpack how leading organizations are using AI to strengthen their data foundations, not replace them.

WHEN: Dec 11 at 8 AM PT | 11 AM ET | 4 PM GMT
WHERE: Here on LinkedIn and LightsOnData YouTube channel

More details in the comments.

#datagovernance #AI #MDM

how is AI reinventing MDM and data governance

Tomorrow I’ll be at the Big Data & Analytics West Summit, and there’s something I’m genuinely looking forward to:

I love conversations that bring clarity to where data and AI are headed next, and IBM is putting a spotlight on a topic I care deeply about:
 👉 How organizations can build reliable AI by strengthening their enterprise data foundation.

A major highlight for me will be hearing Paul Zikopoulos share practical lessons and thoughtful perspectives on:
✅ Preparing enterprise data for agentic AI applications
✅ Combining retrieval approaches to improve AI reliability
✅ Real-world strategies for scaling trusted AI across teams 

Paul consistently brings insights that elevate how we think about data and AI, and I’m excited to learn from his session.

These are the kinds of insights I’m excited to learn from, explore, and share.
And of course the discussions, networking, and the exhibitor lounge where there’s always something new to discover.

You can explore the agenda here: https://lnkd.in/gkDXmrnq

If you’re attending #BDW2025, please let me know as I’d be happy to connect.
You’ll find me capturing moments throughout the day, and yes, I’ll also be hanging out at IBM’s booth as their #ibmpartner for the event.

#data #IBMCanada

IBM Big Data Analytics West George Firican

Oh wow, what a day!
Excited to have been part of the Big Data Analytics West Summit in Vancouver as an #ibmpartner for the event.

Grateful for the energizing discussions and sessions, especially the great session on preparing enterprise data for AI from Paul Zikopoulos (VP, IBM Technology Sales).

It was great catching up with fellow data professionals and having a day of learning.
Thank you again IBM! 

#AI #IBMCanada #data

What are the biggest misconceptions business leaders still have about AI?

I sat down with Stijn (Stan) Christiaens, Co-founder of Collibra, at Data Citizens to unpack what AI readiness really means for organizations. 

Here are 5 takeaways from our chat:

1. Many leaders still see AI as “a chat in the cloud.”
2. Organizations need the right foundations around AI
3. AI ready data requires more than quality
4. Unstructured data is no longer optional
5. Unified governance is becoming essential

If you want a clear picture of what it truly takes to prepare your organization for AI, this interview delivers.
Full conversation in the video below.

Until next time, let’s keep putting the Lights On Data.
-George Firican

#data #datagovernance #AI

I took a photo of my latte this morning.
A simple image…
Completely unstructured, yet full of information if you know how to look at it.

Here is the interesting part…
Unstructured data is everywhere in our organizations:
- Images
- Screenshots
- Videos
- PDFs
- Logs
- Messages

All of them packed with value
But without metadata, that value stays hidden.

Metadata tells us:
- Who created the content
- When it was captured
- What it represents
- How it should be used
- Where it fits in our ecosystem

Suddenly an image is not just an image.
It becomes
- Searchable
- Discoverable
- Reliable

This is why unstructured data is such a huge opportunity.
The insights are already there.
Metadata is what turns those insights into something we can trust and act on.

Curious to hear from you:
Where do you see the biggest metadata gaps today?
- Search
- Ownership
- Retention
- Context
- Priority
Or something else entirely

Let’s keep putting the Lights On Data and its Metadata!
-George Firican 

#data #metadata #dataquality

Why are we still managing data on week-long cycles while our AI expects answers every second? 
As a data management professional, that mismatch is the bottleneck I see most often. That is why I’m paying attention to Acceldata’s Agentic Data Management.

Here’s what stood out to me after watching some of their demos:
✅ Natural language use to diagnose data quality issue AND trigger the proper fixes
✅ Autonomous agents that observe, reason, and act across your data pipelines, lineage & policies
✅ Dynamic and context aware governance that interprets regulations and applies controls to the right data
✅ A reasoning layer (xLake Architecture) that turns metadata into business meaning
✅ Learns from incidents so issues don’t repeat

If you are exploring how to make data AI ready, this is worth a look. Start here and tell me what you think of the agent driven workflow:
https://lnkd.in/gVwUQQwy

Question for you: where do you lose more time today:
1. Detection or 
2. Resolution?

Let’s keep putting the Lights On Data!

#datamanagement #AI #partner

Every December I look ahead… and this year, one prediction feels very safe:

I'll be attending Subsurface Live on December 10, coffee in hand, curious about how Agentic AI and open lakehouse patterns will shape 2026.

The agenda lines up well with questions many of us are exploring right now:
➡️ How will agent-based execution reshape data workflows?
➡️ What signals are emerging around performance, formats and multi-cloud patterns?
➡️ Where is the Apache Iceberg ecosystem pushing innovation next?

For anyone designing data systems or planning next-year priorities, this feels like a valuable moment to absorb ideas and future direction.

Registration is free: https://lnkd.in/gmDPiaES
Where: Virtual
Date: Dec 10, 2025 
Time: 8AM - 2PM PT / 4PM - 10PM GMT / 5PM - 11PM CET

See you there!

#data #AI

As organizations deploy AI, how should master data management and data governance programs evolve, or be reinvented, to stay relevant?

Join George Firican and Bruno Billy, President of APGAR North America, and Ken Brown, Head of Customer Success as they will explore how MDM and Data Governance are being redefined for a world shaped by machine learning, generative models, and data products.  
Drawing on APGAR’s experience helping organizations define, build, and run their enterprise data programs, Bruno and Ken will share how AI is transforming the purpose and practice of master data management and data governance.
Tune in to hear how leading organizations are using AI to strengthen their MDM and Data Governance foundations. And why these disciplines could be even more important than before.

#datagovernance #AI #MDM

How Is AI reinventing MDM and Data Governance?

Merrill Albert Data Consulting

Data Advisor.
•	Advisory, coaching, consulting, and fractional CDO services to companies in all aspects of data management to build the data management foundation that enables analytics and artificial intelligence
•	Author, trainer, webinar presenter, podcast speaker, and content creator to help people and companies better understand and explain data management
•	Published Crimes Against Data, a book of stories of people abusing and misusing data, through Technics Publications and Amazon
•	Creator of #CrimesAgainstData
•	Clients:  Salt River Project, Veritux, Advanced Management Services (AMS)

Data Advisor

Technics Publications

Crimes Against Data - 101 true crime stories of people abusing and misusing data

Author - Crimes Against Data

Trellance

Data Management Practice Lead.

•	Authored e-book to help companies establish their own data management practices
•	Created all content to deliver data management services in the marketplace
•	Developed new service offerings for data governance, analytics, data quality, metadata, data privacy, and data architecture
•	Conducted client training seminars and public webinars on data principles to improve data understanding
•	Developed data governance, data management, and analytics thoughtware for brand attention
•	Authored thought leadership to bring awareness to data management

Consultant with a focus on data, helping clients better manage their data to derive value from it.

•	Partnered with clients in a learn-by-doing approach to develop their own data management practices
•	Delivered data governance and data management solutions for clients to improve data
•	Developed and operationalized data governance organizations at clients to make them self-sufficient
•	Evaluated client data management practices through data management maturity and gap assessments
•	Developed data management project roadmaps for strategic planning

AVP, Data Management Consulting

Data Advisor.

•	Advisory and consulting services to companies in all aspects of data (data strategy, data governance, data management, MDM, metadata, data quality, data standards, data architecture, data modelling, processes)
•	Brought data governance to a company simultaneously across 3 data domains (customer, product, and location) for 3 data management capabilities (MDM, data quality, and metadata)
•	Overall Program Manager, including oversight of all program deliverables
•	Guided staff through introducing good data governance and data management practices into the company
•	Analyzed data governance practices and recommended improvements
•	Developed process taxonomy, templates, and training
•	Clients:  Wawa, Delta Airlines, M&T Bank, Puget Sound Energy

International Institute for Analytics

Member of the Expert Network.

•	Counseled companies in the area of data management and the intersection of data management with analytics
•	Developed content based on expertise in the data management area

https://iianalytics.com/about/expert-network/merrill-albert

Data Management Expert

Head of North American data, Coordinator of global data interactions, and Advisor to European data management practices.

•	Led operations of a cloud-based data warehouse, customer master, product master, Data Stewards, data sharing, and appropriate use of the data
•	Developed the data strategy roadmap
•	Transformed an IT-led data program to business-led
•	Designed and implemented data management to place decision rights over data in the appropriate hands
•	Led teams to implement a new data management program, including a new data architecture, data warehouse, MDM, and enhanced Information Governance, supporting stakeholders as varied as executives, sales reps, researchers, and Data Scientists
•	Implemented MDM for a customer master to reconcile data from multiple sources and developed Data Steward business rules and processes for queue resolution, resolving a significant number of data issues
•	Led compliance to data privacy, security, industry regulations, and legal restrictions for data nationally and globally
•	Resolved compliant use of data through tracking data lineage
•	Key team member negotiating multi-year multi-million dollar outsourcing projects to bring analytics capabilities and technical support to UCB
•	Introduced data governance by structuring and implementing a data governance organization comprised of business staff with the support of technology, totaling 50 individuals
•	Supported $15 million per year of purchased data
•	Defined and implemented data quality rules and processes to be proactive in resolving data quality issues from over 30 sources
•	Established data operations processes and reports to proactively identify issues and monitor performance
•	Guided team through the process of transparency in documentation of policies, processes, definitions, business rules, data flows, and data lineage

Associate Director, Information Management, Data Governance

Deloitte

Consultant with a focus on data, helping clients govern their data and strategically use data management.

•	Led the design and implementation of data governance frameworks to transform the business
•	Led the creation and support of an international data governance user group
•	Team Lead to design master data management strategies, policies, standards, processes, job aids, and accelerators
•	Mastered data domains of customer, vendor, employee, product, location, and chart of accounts
•	Led the development of document management strategies and metadata strategies
•	Developed taxonomies, analytics lineage, and financial data lineage
•	Analyzed needs of analytics and developed an organization to govern analytics integrated with the organization’s existing data governance program
•	Designed data architectures and enterprise data models to manage data more effectively across applications
•	Designed ETL and managed daily progress of development and testing
•	Led requirements gathering sessions and documented gaps with existing programs
•	Developed a metadata strategy and conducted interviews to collect metadata on 100 applications planned for retirement
•	Mentored staff in good data practices and eminence building
•	Developed training courses and user manuals
•	Conducted training sessions, including writing extensive documentation of data model standards and techniques
•	Recognized eminence across the globe in good data practices as a published author of whitepapers and points of view
•	Clients:  Life Technologies, Mettler Toledo, USDA, Land O’ Lakes, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Merck, Sun Products, Target, The Walt Disney Company, QBE, Bell Helicopter, Bank of America, TIAA-CREF, Tennessee Valley Authority, Health Care Service Corporation, Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, FDIC, The Limited, Sara Lee, HealthSouth, Sun Trust Mortgage, Kaiser Permanente

Manager

Daugherty Business Solutions

Consultant with a focus on data, helping clients better utilize their data assets.

•	Led Data Team members in good data architecture principles
•	Developed conceptual, logical, and physical data models using CASE tools, followed by implementation in Oracle
•	Designed data marts for finance systems using star and snowflake design patterns in ERwin, followed by implementation in SQL Server with reports in Business Objects
•	Analyzed Finance department needs to fulfill requirements of the business intelligence project
•	Designed strategy and performed analysis on integrations and conversions between systems in acquisitions
•	Performed business analysis and data mining for redevelopment of an in-house supply chain management system
•	Wrote training documents and mentored staff: CASE tools, data modelling, and quality assurance testing
•	Clients:  Bell South, General Electric, Washington Mutual

Senior Consultant

Defender of data.  Data crimefighter.  I prevent #CrimesAgainstData.

I am a lifelong data person with a combination of industry and consulting experience.  I know both theory and how to apply it.  I've lived data problems and know how to solve them.  I believe in understanding the business needs to solve the problem, keeping a tool-agnostic view.  I'm passionate about companies having the right high quality data, used compliantly, to make appropriate and timely decisions.  I help companies better manage their data to drive value from it.

•	Top data role in the organization (Chief Data Officer functions), governing all company data to facilitate business value
•	Data Governor, Head of Data, Data Governance Officer, Data Evangelist
•	Expert in designing and operationalizing data governance organizations, promoting collaboration between the business and IT
•	Created new consulting service offerings in data governance, analytics, data quality, metadata, data privacy, and data architecture
•	Designed and developed strategies for data management, data governance, MDM, data quality, and metadata
•	Delivered data management consulting services, specializing in data governance, to clients across all industries
•	Implemented MDM solutions for multiple data domains, including regular maintenance operations
•	Partnered with clients in a learn-by-doing approach to develop their own data management practices
•	Data leader blending practical and theoretical knowledge in strategy and tactical implementation
•	Coach, mentor, manager, webinar presenter, podcast guest, and author, including a data management book on Amazon

merrillalbert.wordpress.com

Specialties: Information management and enterprise data management
Data strategy
Data governance
Data architecture
Data modelling
Master data management
Metadata management
Data standards
Change management
Data quality management
Data cleansing
ETL
Data analytics
Business process improvement

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George Firican 💡

Merrill Albert

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taplio

The Battle

George Firican 💡

Merrill Albert

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}George Firican 💡's LinkedIn Performance

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