Home / Info Session Online June 30 2026
What data governance actually looks like day to day, what bad data costs a real organization in real terms, and why people with non-technical backgrounds are exactly what the field needs right now.
Most digital transformation projects fail. Not because of technology. Because of data.
When the underlying data is incomplete, inconsistent, or untrusted, no system will fix it. Data governance professionals are the people who know why this happens and how to stop it. They're in demand across every sector, they're often the highest-leverage hire an organization can make, and there aren't enough of them.
This session makes the case for governance as a career, and shows how the cross-functional experience many people already have translates directly into this discipline.
Tuesday, June 30, 2026
Date: Tuesday, June 30, 2026
Time: 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM MT
Platform: Online
Online attendance available — link sent after registration
Free to attend
Blaine Horner is a Calgary-based program and operations professional with over a decade running complex membership programs. He spent eight years at SPE International, a global engineering membership organization, progressing from section coordination to overseeing membership delivery and volunteer operations across Europe, Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, and North America, including two years in London. He later ran operations for a national accelerator placing mid-career energy professionals on teams building new enterprises.
HeidiLynne Balasch was previous an Upstream Energy Consultant with EPAM Systems, working on digital transformation projects across the energy sector. Before EPAM, she spent over a decade with a major IOC managing the global team responsible for deploying drilling and completions software across the company's operations, the kind of large-scale rollout where data problems turn into operational ones fast.
Sonia Utting is a Calgary-based data professional with 20 years of experience in data quality, master data management, and data visualization. Currently a Data Quality Specialist at Suncor, she has built her career across major energy and infrastructure organizations including Ovintiv, TransCanada, and Devon Energy — where she spent seven years shaping geoscience data management practices. Her technical range spans Power BI, Spotfire, SAP Information Steward, Informatica IDQ, and Oracle SQL, with a particular talent for making complex data accessible through compelling visualizations and infographics. Known equally for her analytical rigour and her ability to work across business and technical teams, Sonia brings both the governance expertise and the design sensibility to turn raw data into a trusted organizational asset.
People with industry experience across operations, IT, project management, or administration who want to understand where that experience translates. Anyone who has wondered why organizations keep having the same data problems.
Register for the kickoff and you’re in for the full series.
Email us: udc@ppdm.org