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  1. Home
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  3. George Firican
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George Firican

Principal
LightsOnData Consulting & Training
Country or state 
Canada (British Columbia)
Available to 
Global
City 
Vancouver
Fee 
Ask for pricing
Languages 
English,
Romanian
Volunteer
No

Personal Details

Bio

George is a passionate advocate for the importance of data, a frequent conference speaker and a YouTuber, being ranked among Top 5 Global Thought Leaders and Influencers on Big Data, Digital Disruption, Top 15 on Innovation and LinkedIn Top Voice in Data Governance.

His innovative approach to addressing data challenges received international recognition through award-winning program and project implementations in data governance, data quality, business intelligence and data analytics.

George advises customer organizations on how to treat data as an asset, and shares his practical takeaways on social media, at conferences, and various industry sites and publications.

George has been a data professional for over 15 years. One of his passions is to create informative, practical and engaging educational content to share with individuals such as yourself, and help organizations get more visibility on social media. George is the proud founder of LightsOnData.com and co-host of the Lights On Data Show.

Current position (2)

Principal

LightsOnData Consulting & Training

The University of British Columbia

Director, Data Governance & Business Intelligence

Achievements (1)
Top 20 Data Management sites in 2019

My website LightsOnData.com has been selected by the panelist from Feedspot as one of the Top 20 Data Management Blogs on the web in 2019.

Degrees (2)
MM Business Management
UBC Sauder School of Business
2008 to 2009
Bachelor, Computer Science
The University of British Columbia
2001 to 2006

Presentations

Presentations (8)
Data Driven Organization 101: 3 Must-Have Artifacts

Join us for an eye-opening session on the 3 of the most important tools any organization should be using if they want to be data driven. In this session you will learn what a business glossary, a data dictionary, and a data catalog are, the benefits they bring, and what the relationship between all 3 is.

How to tell a great story using data

Storytelling has earned its place as the most important tradition humans possess. How can we become great storytellers when those stories rely on data? What are those best practices on data visualization that we should follow and what are the pitfalls we should avoid?
Attendees will learn what data visualization and data storytelling is all about, why it is an important skill to master, and what are those steps and best practices to follow in telling their data story. The webinar is catered to anyone wanting to pick up their data storytelling skills, regardless if they want to create data visualizations or just consume them.

Putting the Lights On Dark Data

We've heard of big data, small data even, but what is this concept of dark data? This session will what dark data is and why we should all care about it.

Data quality can get us to Mars or to jail

From Columbus' discovery of America to reaching Mars, the importance of data quality is impacting all kinds of journeys. This session explores the heightened importance of data quality in our work and personal lives, and why you should care and start advocating for more emphasis on data quality and data governance - they are more important than you think.

3 Foundational Blocks for a Successful Data Governance Program

Many organizations agree that data governance is needed, but it can be a daunting program to undertake all at once. What steps do you need to take to ensure adoption and a sustainable program? What should your initial focus be? What foundational blocks should you put in place to build a data governance program and start managing your data as an asset? This session will provide potential solutions to all these questions.

Peeking Behind the Curtain of the Big Data Buzzword

The term “Big Data” can be a bit misleading as it’s making us focus on its size and miss the most important nature of the medium, and that’s its complexity. We’ve all heard about its volume, velocity and variety attributes, but what about its other defining characteristics? Join us for an eye-opening and highly visual session to get a new and empowering perspective of Big Data while discovering its benefits and immense potential through real-world examples.

How to Establish a Successful Data Governance Program with Limited Resources

Is your data being treated as an asset? Not having a data governance program will lead to poor data quality, decreased level of trust in information, revenue and opportunity loss, higher risk of fines and a bad reputation, and much more. So, data governance is absolutely needed, but we know it can be a daunting program to undertake all at once. What if you have very little or no extra resources to commit to it from the start? What should your initial focus be? What foundational blocks should you put in place to build a data governance program and start managing your data as an asset? Join us for this enlightening session that will provide solutions to all these questions and provide you with practical takeaways on:

• How to build a business case
• Different methods of funding the program
• The most important deliverables and artifacts
• Best practices for setting up a strong foundation
• Data governance operating and maturity models

The Ultimate Guide to Creating Your Business Glossary

It’s estimated that the average information worker spends 9.5hrs/ week searching for information and 42% of middle management reported accidentally using wrong information once a week. Business glossaries are an effective solution for improving communication and productivity, ensuring a common understanding of business terms, and increasing information and data trust. So, what do you need to do to create an efficient business glossary or improve the one you have? I’ve created award-winning business glossaries and I want to provide you with the knowledge to do the same.

Past talks (16)
How to Establish a Successful Data Governance Program with Limited Resources
Featured speaker (DGIQ Conference)
San Diego, CA, USA
June 8, 2020
Revealing Data Governance Maturity Models
Featured speaker (ThinkLinkers Conference)
Berlin, Germany
April 23, 2020
Faculty Panel on Gift Processing & Donor Records Workshop
Panelist & Workshop instructor (CASE Workshop)
Portland, OR, USA
October 26, 2018
Big Data in Alumni Engagement
Keynote (Data Driven Advancement Conference)
Vancouver, BC, Canada
February 22, 2019
The Ultimate Guide to Building an Award-Winning Business Glossary
Workshop instructor (DG Vision Conference)
Washington D.C., USA
December 9, 2019
Data Governance and Driving the Business Through Data
Panelist (SINC Conference)
San Francisco, CA, USA
October 7, 2019
Using BI to audit data quality
Podcast guest (Data Talks)
Online
May 14, 2019
Data management myths
Podcast guest (ThinkLinkers)
Online
January 14, 2020
How to Start a Big Data Analytics Project
Speaker (Infonex BigData Conference)
Edmonton, AB, Canada
October 20, 2016
Big Data in Fundraising
Speaker (CASE Conference)
Vancouver, BC, Canada
February 13, 2019
Contact Data Accuracy (from bad to great)
Speaker (Data Driven Advancement Conference)
Vancouver, BC, Canada
March 7, 2015
Data Governance & Quality at UBC-DAE
Speaker (DGIQ Conference)
San Diego, CA, USA
June 25, 2014
The Importance of Data Governance & Data Quality
Speaker (DAMA chapter)
Vancouver, BC, Canada
Business Glossaries - The what, the why, and the how
Webinar speaker
Online
October 10, 2019
The Business Glossary, Data Dictionary, Data Catalog trifecta
Webinar speaker
Online
November 12, 2019
The Foundational Attributes of the Business Glossary
Webinar speaker
Online
January 22, 2020
  • All (1)
  • Videos
  • Photos (1)
This speaker hasn't uploaded any videos yet.
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Books & Articles (10)

The pros and cons of the 4th industrial revolution
Comparing data governance with HR and Finance
5 key reporting structure considerations for data stewards
What is fault tree analysis?
What are the business glossary benefits?
3 things you didn’t know about the role of the data governance sponsor
5 Data Quality Myths (IQ International Journal)
Best practices for powerful dashboards (TDWI Business Intelligence Journal)
How business intelligence and data governance support one another (Information Governance World Magazine)
10 guiding principles every data governance program should follow (Information Governance World Magazine)

Expertise (12)

Technology
Leadership
Education
Business
Data Governance Data Data Management Data Quality Management Information Quality Big Data Analytics Big Data Big Data and analytics

Awards & certifications (16)

Prix d'Excellence for Data Analytics Project-GOLD
Canadian Council for the Advancement of Education
2019
#8 Thought Leader & Influencer on Digital Disruption
Thinkers 360
2019
Circle of Excellence Awards for Business Glossary - Platinum
Council for Advancement and Support of Education
2017
#11 Thought Leader & Influencer on Innovation (2019) - Thinkers 360
Thinkers 360
2019
#11 Thought Leader & Influencer on Big Data (2019) - Thinkers 360
Thinkers 360
2019
Best Practices Award for Tracing Lost Contact Data program-BRONZE
Council for Advancement and Support of Education
2015
Quality & Productivity Award for Business Glossary-BRONZE
Canadian Association of University Business Officers
2019
Chief Data Officer (CDO)
Collibra
2019
Certified Collibra Expert I
Collibra
2017
Collibra Data Steward Certification
Collibra
2017
Certified Data Steward
eLearningCurve
2014
Certified Data Steward
eLearningCurve
2014
Certified Information Management Professional (CIMP) in Data Governance
eLearningCurve
2014
Master Data Quality Manager (ISO 8000-110:2009)
ECCMA
2013
Business Analysis Certification
ExpertRating Solutions
2010
Certification in Sitecore CMS 6 Website .NET Development
Sitecore
2009
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