DAMA UK Committee

Mary Drabble

Chair

Mary Drabble is the Head of Data Governance at Royal London, responsible for implementation of a new Data Governance Policy and associated framework.  Mary has a proven track record in master data management, data governance and data quality tools, methodologies, architectures and processes. With over 15 years of experience in data management, she has helped clients across all industries in a wide variety of engagements ranging from analytical to operational data and information management solutions.

Mary joined the DAMA UK Committee in 2020 and became a Director in 2023. Mary administers the DAMA UK Mentoring scheme, supports our Corporate Members and is the Regional Co-ordinator for Scotland.

Sara Higham

Vice-Chair

Sarah Higham is the Head of Data Enablement at Flutter UK&I and became a DAMA UK Committee member in 2023. Sarah has 15 years’ experience in Data Management roles across the Telecoms, Retail and Gambling industry and in managing large geographically distributed teams in the UK and India.

Sarah is also the founder of the Modern Data Community which is a network of data professionals in the UK who come together on a regular basis to knowledge share, collaborate and support each other throughout the evolution of the data world.

Sue Russell

Sue runs a small event management and business services company and supports DAMA UK and Team Defence Information.

Sue is responsible for managing DAMA UK. Her duties include managing membership, finance, the website, the design and layout of publications, and organising events. Please contact Sue in the first instance.

Sue Geuens

Sue is the proverbial “dataholic,” and it shows. Being able to assist organizations both large and small to not just understand their data and why it is so imperative to manage it, but to also work out their best route to achieve this, is the reason Sue gets up and “goes to work” each day. Whether she needs to dive into the weeds with the data analysts and quality auditors to look at their data or talk to the C-level team about their data challenges and successes, she enjoys each and every part of this growing professional industry.

Every time she “talks data,” she believes that she opens the eyes of at least one person to exactly why she is so passionate about what she does. That person takes this knowledge back to their organization and does exactly the same – sparking the passion in the next person.

She is currently the Director of Data Governance & Product Data at Elsevier.

Miranda Sharp

Miranda Sharp works with people to solve data problems and focuses on methods to create and capture different types of value from sharing data. 

She is part of the DfT College of Experts, a trustee to the Centre for Cities think tank and advises clients on financially sustainable and well governed ways of sharing data. Miranda has also acted as a NED at TRL (the Transport Research Laboratory), seconded to DSIT on the value of data policy, and worked with the National Digital Twin programme, Ordnance Survey, Royal Mail on data as infrastructure.  

For over 20 years she has been working as an independent facilitator supporting people and teams from diverse sectors through the Windsor Leadership Trust. Outside work, Miranda likes to believe she is an improving hockey player, her fourth sport after swimming, water polo and rugby (in that order). She maintains a position in the Amersham and Chalfont ladies’ 7th team by functioning as head of operations for the club.

Chris Bradley

Chris has over 44 years of Information Management experience & is a leading Independent Information Management strategy advisor. 

In the Information Management field, Chris works with prominent organizations including HSBC, Celgene, GSK, Pfizer, Icon, Quintiles, Total, Barclays, ANZ, GSK, Shell, BP, Statoil, Riyad Bank, SABB & Aramco. He addresses challenges faced by large organisations in the areas of Data Governance, Master Data Management, Information Management Strategy, Data Quality, Metadata Management and Business Intelligence. 

He is past VP Professional Development for DAMA International, past President of DAMA UK, a primary DMBOK 2 author, Chief editor of DMBoK2 revised edition, and member of the DAMAI certification council. In April 2016 he became the inaugural CDMP Fellow, and received the DAMA lifetime professional achievement award. He is an author & examiner for CDMP, a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Management Consulting (now IC), a Fellow of the BCS, member of several ISO Data Management Committees (8000, 27001, 55000), a member of the MPO, and SME Director of the DM Board.   

A recognised thought-leader in Information Management Chris is the author of numerous papers, books, including sections of the DMBoK, a columnist, a frequent contributor to industry publications and member of several IM standards authorities. He was also the chief editor for the DMBoK2 revised edition. 

He leads an experts channel on the influential BeyeNETWORK, is a sought after speaker at major international conferences, and is the co-author of “Data Modelling For The Business – A Handbook for aligning the business with IT using high-level data models”. He also blogs frequently on Information Management (and motorsport). 

Nigel Turner

Nigel is Principal Information Management consultant with Global Data Strategy Ltd., specialising in data strategy, data quality, and data governance. Overall, he has worked in data management for over 25 years. He spent much of his career in British Telecommunications (BT), where he led a company-wide data quality improvement programme and ran information management and CRM practices.

Since leaving BT, Nigel has worked in a variety of consultancy roles, providing help and advice to over 150 global companies. He is a regular speaker, trainer, and chair at information management conferences and events.

Sarah Burnett

Sarah has over thirty years of experience working with data. She started her career in cartography and implemented and managed Geographic Information Systems (GIS) for many years, before moving to data architecture. Most of her career has been in the public sector, working on data transformation delivery for central and local government. She has also given lectures for Portsmouth University on GIS. She ran her own data consultancy business before joining Civica, where she is now working as a Principal Data Architect.

She is based in Hampshire and enjoys all things vintage - especially fashion and cars - animals, travel, cooking, reading, films, music, and walking in the countryside. She volunteers for the Sunbeam Talbot Alpine Register, which encourages the use, restoration, and preservation of the Talbot, Sunbeam Talbot, and Sunbeam cars manufactured by the Rootes Group between 1936 and 1957.

Tony Cole

Tony is a Data Governance & Data Quality Lead with 25+ years of experience driving data and performance excellence across energy and healthcare. At the NHSBSA, he leads a team recognised for proactive engagement and award-winning data quality work. He has pioneered data profiling into the NHSBSA and supported his team to launch a data stewards’ community, complete their first data maturity assessment and publish their data governance framework. The team have implemented a data quality benefits model, delivering improvements across 30 data profiling projects.

Tony will shortly begin to co-host the Government Data Quality Community meetings with focus on sharing data quality issues and resolutions to help maximise taxpayer value. Tony is currently delivering a Data Catalogue to help strengthen data management capabilities at the NHSBSA. Tony previously held senior roles in finance, IT, governance, and performance and believes that transferrable skills are key for transitioning careers into data. 

Helen Bartlett

Helen is passionate and deeply committed to the field of geospatial data, focusing on delivering well-managed data to empower consumers in making informed decisions. She has designed and delivered governance frameworks using DAMA best practices to ensure data is discoverable, usable, and accessible. Helen leads data governance activities across the enterprise, balancing compliance with policies and standards to support strategic objectives and corporate decision-making, including an AI policy and ethics framework. 

With experience in both the private and public sectors, most recently with the Met Office, Helen is delighted to join the DAMA committee at a time when Artificial Intelligence (AI) mandates the need for high-quality, well-governed data across all sectors. 

Helen holds certifications as a Data Management Professional (CDMP) and a Chartered Geographer, CGeog (GIS). She serves as a final assessor and is a member of the RGS Professional Practice Committee. 

Through her committee work, mentorship, and peer support, Helen is dedicated to developing and empowering individuals to be the best they can be.  

Residing in Devon, Helen enjoys long-distance cycling.

Sara Boltman

Sara Boltman is the Founder and CEO of Butterfly Data, a Cardiff based data and analytics  solution provider. She has spent the last 20 years advising banks, insurance companies and government departments on how best to harness their data to support better, fairer decisions.

Sara is also the chair of I am Woman business club and a keen advocate of levelling the playing field for Women in Data. She regularly writes about bias and data science on LinkedIn and has contributed to whitepapers for the Digital Health Society and the Ministry of Justice. 

Caroline Bishop

Caroline is a strong senior leader and has over 25 years experience as an International Group Data Protection Officer (DPO) within the gas, electricity, water, telco and gambling industries. Starting her data protection career at the Information Commissioner’s Office she has provided professional compliance guidance under all three of the UK’s Data Protection Acts (1984,1998 and 2018) as well the UK GDPR & PECR. 

During her career, Caroline has developed, implemented, and maintained compliance frameworks for the changes brought on by both the Data Protection Act 1998 and the Data Protection Act 2018 (UK GDPR) including raising awareness, establishing compliance levels, addressing risk appetites as well as managing regulatory challenges.  She has a degree in Technical Communication and a Master of Laws degree in Data Protection from Northumbria University, is a GCHQ approved National Cyber Security Centre GDPR Practitioner and holds an Institute of Leadership and Management (ILM) level 5 accreditation.

Zoe Kelly

Zoe is an experienced data leader with a passion for building scalable data products and high performing teams. She currently works as Head of Data and Insight, Growth UK&E at Serco, looking after their Sales Enablement data products and analytics.  

Zoe's background spans both public and private sectors, leading delivery-focussed teams across data engineering, BI and product. In addition to her job, she is a mentor through various programs and is incredibly passionate about supporting mental health in the workplace. She advocates for people-first leadership and psychologically safe environments to encourage personal growth.  

Outside of work, Zoe plays golf and serves on her clubs' handicap committee and ladies committee.

Simon Downes

Simon has extensive experience from the past 20+ years, spanning many domains, holding roles across database operations, data engineering, enterprise data architecture and data governance in government, financial services, consulting and cultural institutions. Throughout his career, he has focused on connecting technical disciplines with business value - developing architecture patterns, standards and frameworks that help organisations make better, more informed use of their data. His work supports improvements in overall data maturity and the adoption of good practice in the responsible use of AI.

He holds professional certifications including DAMA CDMP and TOGAF, reflecting his commitment to recognised best practice. Simon is particularly dedicated to mentoring and supporting data professionals at all stages of their careers, and brings to the DAMA UK committee a practical, people-centered approach grounded firmly in DAMA-aligned principles.

Ben Clinch

Ben Clinch is the Chief Data Officer and Partner at Ortecha, having previously held senior leadership roles at HSBC and BT Group, including Global Head of Business Data Architecture. With deep expertise in data architecture and data management, he has successfully led major enterprise transformations centered around federated semantic platforms, knowledge graphs, and digital twins. His strategic approach focuses on scaling data ecosystems, automating compliance, and aligning data initiatives with core business goals.

In thought leadership, Ben advocates for leveraging semantic technologies and metadata to maximize AI value. He champions neuro-symbolic AI to make Large Language Models (LLMs) explainable, safe, and context-aware. He actively promotes decentralized models like Data Mesh and guides organizations in transitioning from siloed systems to dynamic, graph-based enterprise architectures, including Data Fabric.

A recognized voice in the global data community, Ben frequently shares insights through high-profile speaking engagements at premier industry events, including Big Data LDN, Gartner, Knowledge Graph Conference, the Data & AI Conference Europe, and Knowledge Management World - Europe. Covering complex topics from generative AI to practical ontology implementation, he educates executives and data professionals on building sustainable, AI-ready data ecosystems.