What Data Governance Pros and Unicorns Have in Common?

DGX Monthly – June

Hey everyone,

Welcome back to another edition of DGX Monthly 👋

Most people know the old game show Jeopardy. In this show, the host shows the contestants some key characteristics and the contestants guess the answer. If this were Jeopardy and the category was Data Governance Mythical Creatures, the Jeopardy question might look like “What is rare, often misunderstood, and have a tendency to make the impossible possible?”

Answer: Data Governance Professionals & Unicorns

When you fully appreciate all that Data Governance Manager’s actually do, you quickly realise how much of a unicorn they are. Many of you had plenty to chime in on with this topic. (Unicorn post). It resonated because so many teams still see governance as a bottleneck, when really, the best governance leaders are enablers. They don’t just write frameworks and tick compliance boxes. They untangle data problems, drive data strategy, and help teams move faster with confidence.

And yet, we still see Gartner leaving Data Governance off their top roles list. Maybe because a good Data Governance Unicorn is hard to find, which is very true.

We were lucky enough to talk to one of those unicorns this month.

Data Governors in Cafes Drinking Coffees Recap

This month’s digital cuppa was with Diane Hicks from Essential Energy — the organisation responsible for keeping the power on across 96% of NSW’s geography.

Diane’s story is a masterclass in grounded, practical governance. Over five years, she’s built an enterprise-wide capability from the ground up in one of Australia’s most regulated sectors — introducing stewardship, classification, metadata management, and a strong culture of ownership.

Her perspective? Governance is about trust, safety, and operational excellence — not red tape. And when you’re managing critical infrastructure, it’s non-negotiable.

If you are a DG Unicorn, we’d love to get to know you: https://dgx.group/data-governors-in-cafes/

What are people talking about?

Here are more topics that the data governance community has been engaging with.

Gartner Left Data Governance Off the List, Why It’s a Big Deal: A post calling out the omission of Data Governance, Data Quality, and Data Literacy in Gartner’s list, and highlighting why this gap matters.
What Does Good Data Quality Actually Take?: A practical look at what it really takes to build a data quality program that works.
How to Clearly Explain Data Governance to Execs: A simple framework for getting your message across to leadership without the jargon.

Check them out and join the conversation.

We’ve also locked in more speakers for the AI & Data Governance Summit, and more great coffee chats with the community. Full details inside.

Let’s dive in.

MEME OF THE MONTH

🎤 AI & Data Governance Summit – Early Bird Ends 30 June

The countdown is on. The AI & Data Governance Summit lands in Sydney on 21 August 2025, and early bird tickets are nearly gone.

This one-day event is Australia’s first community-driven Data and AI Governance conference, built by practitioners for practitioners.

You’ll hear from real leaders doing the work. No fluff. Just practical stories, proven frameworks, and tools you can take back to your team and use right away.

We’ve just announced a new wave of speakers from Transurban, NAB, BT, Canva, EnergyAustralia and KPMG. These are the people shaping how governance actually gets done across AI, data and risk.

Whether you’re just getting started or scaling a mature program, this is your chance to learn what works and connect with others on the same journey.”

📌 Early bird pricing of $649 ends 30 June. Prices increase after that.

👉 Register now to secure your spot

👇 See some of the speaker lineup below.