Data Governance Professionals Organization

What Data Governance Professionals Organization does

The Data Governance Professionals Organization (DGPO) is a non-profit, vendor-neutral professional membership association dedicated to advancing the discipline of data governance. It serves individual practitioners (business, IT, and data professionals) and corporate organizations that need standardized guidance on policies, procedures, standards, roles, responsibilities, and accountabilities for managing data as an enterprise resource. The organization was founded in 2014 (with firmographic metadata indicating 2010) and is domiciled in New Jersey, USA, with a global member footprint evidenced by Best Practice Award winners from Canada, the UK, Uruguay, and Malaysia.

DGPO's core offerings are membership-based rather than software-based. The platform is a WordPress website with PayPal-integrated registration handling tiered annual subscriptions: Individual at $75/year, Corporate-10 at $250/year for up to 10 seats, Corporate-25 at $500/year for up to 25 seats, and Corporate-25 Plus with custom pricing. Member benefits include the DGPO Data Governance Best Practices Framework (a hexagonal model covering six domains — Fundamentals, Organization, Process, Metrics, Communication, Stewardship), more than 60 hours of webinar recordings, a proprietary data governance glossary, interactive teleconferences, working groups, quarterly newsletters, and member discounts on partner events (e.g., the DGPO15 code for DATAVERSITY's DGIQ conferences). The organization also runs the annual DGPO Data Governance Best Practice Award program and distributes content via email newsletters, Twitter (~2,290 followers), and conference presence. Revenue is generated from membership fees, conference sponsorships, and a DATAVERSITY affiliate referral program; no proprietary software, AI/ML products, or API surface is offered.

Governance is provided by a volunteer board drawn from member organizations: President Kira Chuchom (True Data Value / Chief Data Officer, City and County of Honolulu), Treasurer David Street (CGI), VP Professional Development Jimm Johnson (HireRight, also Lead Judge for the Best Practice Award), VP Membership Beth Barrett (Intel), Secretary Laina Worth (National Geographic Society), with David Loshin (Knowledge Integrity) as Advisor. The organization maintains partnerships with DATAVERSITY (event and affiliate), the EDM Council (DCAM framework access for members), and recognizes exemplary programs via its annual award — recent recipients include York University (2026), London Stock Exchange Group (2023), and St. Luke's Health (2024).

Name

Data Governance Professionals Organization

Legal name

Data Governance Professionals Organization

Website

https://dgpo.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2014

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

The Data Governance Professionals Organization (DGPO) is a non-profit, vendor-neutral professional association that provides tiered individual and corporate memberships ($75–$500+/year), a hexagonal best practices framework, 60+ hours of webinars, and an annual Best Practice Award, serving data governance practitioners and organizations globally.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Professional Membership Services

NAICS

Professional Organizations (81392)

SIC

Services-Membership Organizations (8600)

akta.pro primary industry

Data Governance Platforms (Policies, Stewardship, Workflows) (HDAEADAB)

akta.pro secondary industries

Data Sharing & Data Marketplace Governance (HDAEADAK), Reference Data Management (RDM) (HDAEADAE)

Keywords

• Data governance membership
• Data governance framework
• Data governance webinars
• Professional association services
• Data governance best practices

Headquarters

HQ city

Monroe Township

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Others

Revenue model

1. Individual Membership: Individual membership provides access to the DGPO community, best practices framework, webinars, teleconferences, newsletters, and member discounts. Priced at $75 annually with automatic renewal.
2. Corporate Group Memberships: Corporate group memberships allow organizations to enroll multiple employees at discounted rates. Corporate-10 tier ($250/year for 10 persons) and Corporate-25 tier ($500/year for 25 persons) provide bulk access. Corporate-25 Plus offers custom pricing for organizations with more than 25 members.
3. Conference Sponsorships: The DGPO generates revenue through sponsorship opportunities at its organized and endorsed events. Organizations can sponsor to gain visibility among data governance professionals. The Sponsors page invites inquiries via [email protected].
4. Affiliate Marketing: The DGPO participates in DATAVERSITY conferences affiliate advertising program, earning fees for clicks on links and purchases of certain products or services.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

DGPO is a vendor-neutral non-profit professional membership association that sells annual memberships to individual practitioners and corporate teams. Members gain access to the Data Governance Best Practices Framework, 60+ hours of webinar recordings, a Data Governance Glossary, interactive teleconferences, working groups, member discounts on training and conferences, and eligibility for the annual Data Governance Best Practice Award.

Product overview

The Data Governance Professionals Organization (DGPO) is a vendor-neutral, non-profit professional membership association that does not offer a software product, but rather provides a suite of membership-based services and resources for data governance professionals. The core offering consists of tiered individual and corporate memberships (Individual at $75/year, Corporate-10 at $250/year for 10 seats, Corporate-25 at $500/year for 25 seats, and Corporate-25 Plus with custom pricing). Members gain access to the DGPO Data Governance Best Practices Framework covering six core areas (Fundamentals, Organization, Process, Metrics, Communication, and Stewardship), over 60 hours of webinar recordings, the Data Governance Glossary, interactive teleconferences, working groups, and member content submission portals. The organization also runs the annual DGPO Data Governance Best Practice Award program and hosts webinars featuring award winners and industry experts.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Individual Membership Single-person annual subscription granting access to the DGPO Data Governance Best Practices Framework, the webinar catalog (over 60 hours), the Data Governance Glossary, interactive teleconferences, working groups, quarterly newsletters, member discounts on training and conferences, and eligibility for the annual Data Governance Best Practice Award. Designed for individual data governance practitioners, analysts, and data stewards seeking professional development and peer networking.
• Corporate-10 Membership Annual group membership for up to 10 persons at $250/year, providing team-wide access to DGPO resources, the Data Governance Best Practices Framework, webinars, glossary, teleconferences, working groups, and member discounts. Designed for small enterprise teams seeking cost-efficient access to shared data governance training and reference resources.
• Corporate-25 Membership Annual group membership for up to 25 persons at $500/year, providing bulk access to the full DGPO member benefits including framework, webinars, glossary, teleconferences, working groups, and member discounts at reduced per-seat cost. Designed for mid-sized data governance teams and enterprise units standardizing practices across multiple practitioners.
• Corporate-25 Plus Membership Custom-priced annual group membership for organizations with more than 25 members, with pricing and terms negotiated on a per-engagement basis. Designed for large enterprise data governance programs requiring multi-seat access, custom onboarding considerations, and dedicated engagement volume.

Quantifiable outcome

• York University, using DGPO's framework and guidance, achieved institution-wide data governance adoption and won the 2026 Best Practice Award
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers9 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered flagship, core and minor.

• York UniversityflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerYork University won the 2026 DGPO Data Governance Best Practice Award, demonstrating excellence in data governance implementation. Their Director of Data Strategy & Governance, Patrick Cernea, presents the award-winning program at DGPO webinars, contributing to the organization's knowledge-sharing mission and providing a case study for the DGPO community.
• DATAVERSITYcoreGTM or Marketing PartnerThe DGPO maintains an affiliate relationship with DATAVERSITY conferences, participating in their affiliate advertising program. DGPO provides a discount code (DGPO15) for DATAVERSITY events including DGIQ West+EDW and the Data Governance and Information Quality Conference. The DGPO Best Practice Award is presented at DATAVERSITY conferences.
• EDM CouncilminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe DGPO provides its members access to the EDM Council's Data Management Capability Model (DCAM). The EDM Council makes copies available to DGPO members for review. DCAM was constructed based on collaboration of practitioners from leading financial institutions and defines capabilities for data management programs.
• Virginia Office of Data Governance and Analytics (ODGA)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerODGA was named as finalist for the 2026 DGPO Data Governance Best Practice Award, demonstrating high standards in government data governance. As a finalist, ODGA represents exemplary practice in the public sector data governance domain.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• TDWI (Transforming Data with Intelligence): Long-standing education and research community for data and analytics professionals. Comparable content-led, vendor-neutral positioning with conferences, research, and member programs targeting the same data practitioner audience.
• ASQ (American Society for Quality): Large US-based non-profit professional association focused on quality. Comparable membership and certification model with overlapping relevance in data quality, which is a core subdomain of data governance.
• IAPP (International Association of Privacy Professionals): Large non-profit professional association for privacy professionals. Comparable governance, certification (CIPP/CIPM), and global chapter model, but focused on the adjacent privacy domain rather than pure data governance.
• ISACA: Global non-profit association for IT governance, risk, security, and audit professionals. Comparable membership, certification (CISA, CISM, CDPSE), and chapter structure, with significant overlap on governance subject matter.
• IIBA (International Institute of Business Analysis): International non-profit membership association serving business analysis professionals. Highly comparable operating model (tiered memberships, certifications like CBAP, chapters, conferences) with adjacent practitioner focus on data-driven decisioning.

Direct peers

• EDM Council: Global non-profit organization focused on data management and analytics best practices. DGPO partners with EDM Council (members get DCAM access) and competes for the same enterprise data governance practitioner audience with overlapping framework offerings.
• IAIDQ (International Association for Information and Data Quality): Non-profit professional association focused on information and data quality. Closely comparable membership model and vendor-neutral positioning, appealing to the same data governance and stewardship audience with overlapping certification offerings.
• DAMA International (Data Management Association): Long-established non-profit professional association for data management professionals worldwide. Directly comparable to DGPO as a vendor-neutral membership body serving the same audience, with overlapping focus on governance frameworks, certifications, and chapters.

Regional players

• Data Management Association United Kingdom (DAMA UK): UK chapter arm of DAMA International. Comparable data governance professional association operating in a specific geography overlapping with DGPO's UK award winners and global footprint.

Others

• ICCP (Institute for Certification of Computing Professionals): Non-profit certification body for computing professionals offering credentials such as CCP and CDP. Adjacent to DGPO in certifying data practitioner competence, sharing the non-profit, vendor-neutral operating posture.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/dgpros

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Data Governance Professionals Organization