February 2026 Newsletter 
President's Report
Well, we are on our way to a great 2026 Program for DAMA NYC. Sunil Soares gave us a fantastic event on January 15th with Aligning Agentic AI Governance & Data Risk. It was very entertaining and informative. We are looking forward to the rest of our Speaking program for 2026.
Here are the highlights for the January newsletter:
- DAMA NYC 2026 Program
- DAMA Day 2026
- Please note the start time: 10am for the Feb 19th meeting
- A Policy Notice
DAMA NYC 2026 Program
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Month |
Event |
Speaker |
Affiliation |
Presentation |
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15-Jan-26 |
Virtual Monthly Meeting |
Sunil Soares |
Tavro AI |
Aligning Agentic AI Governance & Data Risk |
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19-Feb-26 10 am late start time |
Virtual Monthly Meeting |
Danette McGilvray |
Granite Falls |
Data Quality; The Secret Sauce that makes Data Governance, Data Literacy, and Artificial Intelligence Taste so Good |
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19-Mar-26 |
Onsite Monthly Meeting |
Sanjay Pattni, Michael Ivie |
Eclipse Consulting |
Your Data Management Strategy Is Only as Strong as Its Weakest Link |
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16-Apr-26 |
Virtual Monthly Meeting |
Dan Power |
Hubdesigns |
Successful AI- avoiding the "Garbage-in Garbage-out Syndrome" |
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DAMA Day 2026: May 7, 2026 Bank of China 1045 Avenue of the Americas NYC "Unleash the power of AI in Data Management"
AI can revolutionize data management by automating mundane tasks, improving data quality, enabling deeper analysis, and bolstering security and compliance. Essentially, AI is only as effective as the data it processes, and data literacy ensures that this foundation is strong, leading to more powerful and trustworthy AI-driven outcomes. Here's how AI unleashes its power in data management: |
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· Enhancing Data Quality and Consistency- AI algorithms are adept at identifying and correcting errors, inconsistencies, and duplicates in data. AI-driven tools can perform data profiling to identify key attributes and statistical properties, as well as data lineage tracking to identify the origin and transformation of data, improving overall data quality and reliability. |
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· Automating Data Integration and Transformation- AI streamlines the often-complex process of integrating data from diverse sources and formats. Machine learning models can automatically map data fields, detect relationships, and suggest transformations, significantly reducing the manual effort involved in data integration. |
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· Revolutionizing Data Analysis and Insights- AI empowers businesses to extract actionable insights from vast datasets with unparalleled speed and accuracy. Automated Insights: AI-powered analytics tools can automatically uncover hidden trends and patterns that might otherwise go unnoticed. |
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· Strengthening Data Governance and Security- AI strengthens data governance by automating compliance monitoring, enforcing access controls, and identifying potential security threats. |
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· Optimizing Storage and Infrastructure- AI can optimize data storage by analyzing usage patterns and predicting future data access needs. AI-driven systems can suggest when to archive, replicate, or compress data, leading to reduced storage costs and increased efficiency. |
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· Enhancing Master Data Management (MDM)- AI strengthens MDM by identifying and resolving duplicate records, improving data consistency, and automating data matching and validation processes. |
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Join us at DAMA Day 2026 on May 7, 2026 and learn how each Sponsor is using their product or services to Unleash the power of AI in Data Management.
A Policy Notice (Virtual Meetings Procedure)
For Virtual meetings, the meeting details with the Zoom link will be sent out to all registered participants on the Monday before the meeting and on the Day before the meetings,
Upcoming Events
NOTE TIME CHANGE: February 19, Virtual Meeting, 10am - 12:30pm Danette McGilvray, Granite Falls, Data Quality; The Secret Sauce that makes Data Governance, Data Literacy, and Artificial Intelligence Taste so Good
February 19, 2026 Virtual Meeting - 10am - 12:30pm
Danette McGilvray, Granite Falls
Data Quality; The Secret Sauce that makes Data Governance, Data Literacy, and Artificial Intelligence Taste so Good
Abstract:
Have you ever heard (or thought) the following:
- What we really care about is AI – what’s the big deal about data quality?
- What is the relationship between data governance, data literacy, and data quality?
- We know our organization has a data quality problem, but where do we start?
Data quality really is the secret sauce that brings together all things data with what is really important to our organizations such as AI, customer satisfaction, efficiently providing products and service, managing risk, etc. Data quality is the underlying flavor that makes everything work better and taste so good, but too many people just can’t put their finger on it. Join us as Danette McGilvray answers these questions and shares key ingredients to preparing a delicious dish of high-quality data. Leave with practical tips and resources you can apply to what your organization really cares about.
Speaker Bio
An internationally respected expert, Danette McGilvray guides leaders and staff as they increase business value through data quality and governance. This data approach benefits focused initiatives (such as security, analytics, digital transformation, artificial intelligence, data science, and compliance) so that high-quality data will support whatever is most important to an organization, protect its data assets, and help manage risk.
Granite Falls helps connect business strategy with practical steps for addressing specific data quality/governance issues, implementing programs, and improving operational processes. As president and principal of Granite Falls Consulting, Inc., Danette is committed to the appropriate and effective use of technology and also to addressing the human aspect of data management through communication and change management. See www.gfalls.com.
Danette is the author of Executing Data Quality Projects: Ten Steps to Quality Data and Trusted Information™, 2nd Ed. (Elsevier/Academic Press, 2021), which shares a proven method used successfully by multiple industries in many countries. Her book is often described as a “classic” or noted as one of the “top ten” data management books in social media conversations. The book is used in university graduate programs and has been translated into Chinese and Japanese. The Spanish translation is currently underway.
Danette is a co-author of “The Leader’s Data Manifesto”, a document used to raise awareness about treating data as a business asset. She has overseen its translation into 24 languages. See www.dataleaders.org.
