Strategic Advisory

The Senior Governance Advisor Your Team Needs — Without Adding Headcount.

You don’t need another framework. You need someone who has led governance across banking, healthcare, government, and manufacturing — and who shapes the global DAMA-DMBOK® 3.0 standard — working alongside your leadership to make governance produce business results.

Sound familiar?

  • You’ve invested in governance — committees, policies, tools — but adoption is stalling across business units.

  • The board is asking about AI risk and the EU AI Act — and you’re not sure what “ready” looks like.

  • Shadow data teams are popping up in business units because central data can’t move fast enough.

  • You need a senior sparring partner who gets the politics, not just the frameworks.

A Different Kind of Advisory

You’ve Worked with Large Firms Before. This Is Different.

The question isn’t whether you can find governance consultants. The question is whether you’ll get someone who stays long enough to understand your organization — and senior enough to change the outcome.

WHAT YOU’RE USED TO

  • A partner sells the engagement. Analysts deliver it. You brief the team repeatedly.

  • A proprietary framework is applied to your context. The deliverable is a deck your team can’t run.

  • Scope creep extends the engagement. Value is measured in slide counts, not business outcomes.

  • When the team leaves, governance goes back to where it was — or worse.

WHAT YOU GET WITH ME

  • One senior practitioner. I advise, I facilitate, I coach. Same person, every conversation.

  • Your operating model, your culture. Built with your people, tested on real scenarios, owned by your team.

  • Value, not volume. We agree on outcomes upfront. Progress is measured by what changes in the organization.

  • Capability transfer. The goal is that your team runs governance independently — not that I become indispensable.

What Changes When I Get Involved

Real Situations. Measurable Shifts.

These are the kinds of problems CDOs, CIOs, and CEOs bring to me — and the outcomes that followed.

01

“We appointed data stewards but nothing is actually changing on the ground.”

Stewardship without decision rights and embedded workflows is just a title. I redesign the operating model so governance connects to how people actually work — then pilot it on a high-impact slice to prove it.

  • At a major bank and insurance company: implemented stewardship roles and a governance operating model across both Banking and Insurance divisions — governance became embedded in daily operations.

02

“The EU AI Act deadline is approaching. We don’t know where to start.”

I map your AI landscape against the Act’s risk categories, build a governance flow covering conformity, documentation, and human oversight — and train your team to run it.

  • Delivered AI governance training for a consortium of Dutch banks, energy companies, and rail operators — covering lifecycle controls, risk classification, and AI Governance operationalization.

03

“Our governance officer needs a senior sparring partner, not a replacement.”

Sometimes the right person is already in the seat — they just need a trusted advisor who has seen this before. I coach data governance leaders on stakeholder management, board facilitation, and translating governance into business language.

  • At a national HR services provider: coached the Data Governance Officer, restructured the governance board, and revamped a previously stalled program through use-case-driven rollout.

04

“Our data quality is blocking our AI ambitions.”

AI amplifies whatever your data is — including the mess. I scope a minimum viable governance foundation tied directly to your AI use cases, and build the data quality process around what matters most.

  • At a national public transportation company: developed governance capabilities supporting a new data quality program for critical data assets — from maturity assessment through tool selection to operational rollout.

05

“We’re setting up a new Data Office and need governance right from the start.”

A new Data Office is a rare window to do governance right. I design the charter, operating model, quality policies, and change management approach — so your CDO launches with momentum, not months of framework debates.

  • At a Belgian insurer: advised the CDO, shaped the newly created Data Office, defined the governance framework and operating model, and coached each member of the data team.

06

“We need to understand where we stand before we can decide where to go.”

You can’t build a roadmap without knowing your starting point. I run structured maturity assessments using DAMA-DMBOK® — combining surveys, focus groups, and workshops to produce a gap analysis your leadership can act on.

  • At a leading university hospital: delivered a comprehensive maturity assessment, facilitated cross-functional focus groups, co-created a future-state vision, and presented a strategic roadmap to hospital leadership.

How We Begin

You Don’t Need a Project. You Need a Trusted Advisor.

This isn’t a project engagement with milestones and status reports. It’s a senior advisory relationship — the kind where you can pick up the phone and think out loud with someone who has seen this before.

The Conversation

A candid, 30-minute discussion about your governance reality — what’s working, what’s stuck, and where leadership pressure is highest. You walk away with a clear perspective on your situation, whether or not we work together.

The Diagnostic

A focused assessment of your governance maturity, organizational readiness, and the specific outcomes that would transform your program. We define what success looks like together — in business terms, not governance jargon.

The Advisory Partnership

A quarterly engagement scoped around agreed outcomes. I work alongside your leadership — coaching, facilitating, designing, challenging — until governance becomes an organizational capability your team owns and runs.

Who You’ll Work With

One Advisor. Every Conversation. Every Decision.

Mathias Vercauteren

Founder & Principal · Data & AI Governance Partners

I’ve spent 16+ years making governance work in organizations where it previously hadn’t — across banking, insurance, healthcare, government, logistics, manufacturing, and retail. I lead the global DAMA-DMBOK® 3.0 initiative, co-developed the ADGP® certification at DATAVERSITY, and conduct PhD research on data governance at Antwerp Management School. I’m also the author of two forthcoming books on my methodologies, the Data Governance Sprint™ and the AI Governance Sprint™, and an internationally recognized thought leader and speaker at leading conferences.

I work with CDOs, CIOs, and executive teams across Europe and the United States to make data and AI governance practical, adopted, and measurable. My mission is simple: governance should accelerate value, not slow it down.

DAMA-DMBOK® 3.0

Global Project Manager — A whole new Data Management Body of Knowledge

ADGP® Co-Developer

Co-designed Dataversity’s Applied Data Governance Practitioner certification

Executive PhD

Academic Data Governance research at Antwerp Management School

12+ International Keynotes

DGIQ · EDW · Data Modeling Zone · DW&BI Summit — across the US and Europe

Forthcoming Author

Data Governance Sprint™ book (Technics Publication, 2026) — turning a proven methodology into a practitioner playbook

CDMP® Certified

Certified Data Management Professional — grounded in the same DAMA-DMBOK® framework I help shape globally

Industry Depth

8 Industries. 16+ Years. One Focus.

I don’t need to study your industry first — I’ve already worked in it. From a global chocolate manufacturer to a university hospital, from a national central bank to a public transit operator, I understand the specific regulatory pressures, data complexity, and organizational culture each sector brings.

Banking & Insurance

Governance frameworks, operating models, and data stewardship across banking and insurance divisions — including central banks

Healthcare

Maturity assessments, data governance roadmaps, and AI governance in university hospitals and health insurance providers

Retail & E-commerce

Data-driven business transformation, DMBOK training, and governance advisory for major European retailers and e-commerce platforms

HR & Professional Services

CDO coaching, governance board restructuring, and use-case-driven governance rollout for HR service providers and consulting firms

Energy & Utilities

AI governance training and data management for Dutch energy companies and rail infrastructure operators

Logistics & Ports

Data governance strategy, CDO coaching, business glossary, and metadata management for port terminals and logistics operators

Government & Public Sector

Governance for public transportation, government health departments, and municipal data management programs

Manufacturing & FMCG

Master data management, global data governance on Collibra and SAP platforms for international chocolate, construction, and automotive companies

START HERE

One Conversation. One Honest Perspective.

Book a 30-minute conversation. You’ll walk away with a clear read on where your governance program stands and what would move the needle most — whether or not we work together.

Book a Conversation