The word on the street, or at least in the high-stakes corridors of the Nordic Data and AI scene, is that we are about to witness total reconstructive surgery for Data Governance. For years, we’ve been whispering about how old-school “policing” models are failing, but the gossip has reached a fever pitch: Winfried Etzel, the Data Governance lead at Equinor and host of the DAMA Norway podcast, is putting the finishing touches on a book set to drop just in time for the Data Innovation Summit 2026 (DIS26).
I’ve been tracking this “Data Governance in the Wild” movement, and frankly, it’s about time someone had the guts to call out our collective stagnation. We’ve spent two decades hiding behind technical checklists while the real world which is now supercharged by agentic AI has moved on. In the interview he gave us earlier this week, Winfried elaborated that he isn’t just giving governance a new coat of paint; he’s giving it a new soul. He’s moving us away from being the “gatekeepers” of data and into the role of “orchestrators” of a sociotechnical system.
The real “secret” being teased in the book? It’s his take on who should be leading this charge in the new organizational layer. Etzel suggests that governance is moving from a reactive IT function to a directive, tactical layer that sits squarely between Strategy and Operations. What’s particularly juicy is his insistence that we stop treating Data Goverance, Corporate Governance and AI governance as separate, shiny objects. Instead, he views them as coherent parts of a single, unified governance strategy.
This isn’t just for the ivory tower; it’s a survival guide for the CDO. By the time he takes the stage in Stockholm this May, the community won’t just be looking for a book. They’ll be looking for an exit strategy from the “New School” trap of doing the wrong things perfectly.
You can watch the exclusive interview here.
