Twenty-five-plus years inside Data Governance and Master Data Management programmes — and three published books on what actually works, including the brand-new Don't Screw Up Your Data Governance (2026). Whether you need a single chapter, a paid masterclass, a fixed-scope Diagnostic, or a Fractional CDO seat — there's a way in.
Hi, I'm Harro Wiersma. I run a deliberately small expert practice from Switzerland — diagnoses, decisions, and acceleration sprints for executives who want a named expert on the recommendation, not a team of juniors with a methodology slide.
Twenty-five-plus years inside Data Governance and Master Data Management programmes at IKEA, Johnson & Johnson, UBS, E.ON, Lloyds, Alpiq, ista SE, Mayr-Melnhof and others. Along the way I've written three books that distil what I've learned in the field — they're a starting point for clients, not the credential. The practice exists because I wanted to spend more time on the work that compounds value for clients — Diagnostics, Acceleration Sprints, Retainers, and one Fractional CDO seat at a time.
Engagements are scoped, not hourly. The smallest piece of work is a paid masterclass. The largest is a Fractional CDO seat. Most live somewhere in between — and I'm happy to point you to whichever fits, including the books if that's the right starting point. The easiest next step is a short call.
One of only ~250 CDMP Master-certified Data Governance experts globally. View certificate →
A "Don't Screw Up Your…" trilogy on Master Data, Business Insights, and Data Governance — written for the people in the room when the programme goes wrong, not for a textbook.
Buying the book is the cheapest way to find out whether we'd work well together. Every Diagnostic client receives a signed copy on day one.
Every engagement is scoped, priced, and bounded up front. I don't quote day rates and I don't respond to RFPs. The Diagnostic is the entry point for most engagements — but the books and a paid masterclass are real entry points too. Start with whatever fits.
A fixed-scope, fixed-fee 2–4 week assessment that gives your executive sponsor an independent view and a prioritised 90-day action list.
Book a Diagnostic call →Harro's ability to quickly absorb our business model and combine it with profound industry knowledge resulted in very valuable, practical, actionable deliverables.
Conference keynotes and in-house masterclasses on a sharply defined DG or MDM theme drawn from the books.
Enquire about a date →He introduced me into the world of data and showed me how the use of data could transform the way we work in marketing, commercial and compliance.
An 8–12 week expert-led sprint to stand up a specific capability and lift it from baseline to enterprise-grade — DG operating model, MDM target architecture, S/4 data migration plan, or DQ baseline programme.
Discuss scope →We worked intensively with Harro to develop a company-wide data excellence framework. He brought profound know-how and helped our organisation excel in data.
Two ways to keep me close to the work after a Diagnostic or Sprint. Both are capped — three to five Retainers and exactly one Fractional seat at a time.
Check availability →Strategic perspective and leadership skills with impressive depth of knowledge and hands-on skill. An action-oriented leader, clearly passionate about his work.
A product, not a service. Automated DQ profiling, real-time monitoring, rule-based scoring. Used inside several engagements to give clients live visibility into their data health between programme cycles.
How it fits: standalone SaaS subscription — never a prerequisite for an engagement. Optional add-on in Establish and Execute when always-on monitoring is the right fit; the on-prem dashboard ships at no extra cost when it isn't.
Explore Optimise →The 5 E's aren't a methodology you buy. They're the operating system I run when I'm inside a Diagnostic or Acceleration Sprint — Engage, Evaluate, Evidence, Establish, Execute. Each phase has a defined output the executive sponsor can act on without me in the room.
I embed with your teams to understand your data landscape, business processes, and pain points first-hand. Stakeholder interviews, data audits, and current-state mapping — no assumptions, just evidence.
Together we assess business priorities, data maturity, and governance gaps. I deliver a clear-eyed assessment with a prioritised roadmap — what to fix now, what can wait, and where the quick wins are.
We build the business case with hard numbers: data quality metrics, cost of poor data, and ROI projections. Your leadership gets a compelling, data-backed vision of what good governance delivers.
Hands-on implementation of governance frameworks, data ownership models, policies, and tooling. I set up councils, define roles, configure platforms, and train your teams — not just document what should happen.
I stay to ensure adoption, running data quality sprints, resolving real issues, and coaching your data stewards. The goal: a self-sustaining governance capability that outlasts my engagement.
Harro is wise manager of change with great attitude and passion to shape an impactful ecosystem. He is a extraordinary expert with a strong balance of strategic thinking and down to earth implementation skills. It was an amazing pleasure to collaborate closely on regional level!
I was very impressed by Harro's ability to quickly absorb and consolidate information about our business model, internal structures, and way of working. Combining that with his profound industry and domain knowledge resulted in very valuable, practical, actional deliverables.
Throughout the engagement Harro demonstrated both strategic perspective and leadership skills, and an impressive depth of knowledge and hands-on skill with regard to data management. Harro successfully delivered a realtime security event feed integration.
We have worked intensively with Harro this year in order to develop a company wide data excellence framework for ista SE. Harro brought profound know how on data management to the table and helped our organisation to excel in data.
Harro has enormous practical expertise and willingness to react very flexible according to customer requirements. He has a very hands on mentality and it really makes fun to work with him. Even under extreme pressure it is possible to work with him in a very positive and creative way.
Harro helped a lot my team to set up right data governance. I wish we will had him on board from the beginning of the project — this would save us a lot of time and have proper data strategy. If you are thinking about implementation — don't forget about DATA.
Harro and I were cross-regional business partners in our medical technology sector, and I strongly valued his partnership and collaboration in tackling data strategy issues. Harro possesses and applies practical expertise across many dimensions of the data strategy and governance landscape. He is an action-oriented leader who is clearly passionate about his work.
Harro was my key partner in the business insights team on data strategy and data management. He introduced me into the world of data and showed me how the use of data could transform the way we work in marketing, commercial and compliance. He is able to bring it to life in areas of responsibility and trigger other ways of thinking that result in key programs.
It was fantastic to work together with Harro, who has a lot of knowledge, exceptional workflow, ingenuity, and skills. His approach to consulting and powerful personality made the projects a great experience for all of the staff. His enthusiasm and dedication brought the UBS ISE data warehousing to the next level. Harro earns my highest recommendation.
Harro is a man who gets things done. He has an impressive network in the Swiss and international business community. He has a quick conceptual grasp of new topics in IT and business, while maintaining a working helicopter-overview of the landscape. Harro is a great and easy guy to work with.
Harro is a true professional in his field. From the beginning, he demonstrated impressive skills in business analysis, project management, and data analysis. He's an intellectual — in any project meeting or business lunch one can enjoy his professional attitude, bright personality, and communication skills, which make any task an efficient and pleasant experience.
I met Harro on a project at Intrum Switzerland — setting up a consumer loan factory. He brought essential industry knowledge plus excellent project management and negotiation skills, continuously kept the larger vision in sight while managing the daily tasks at hand. I'm looking forward to the day I get to work with Harro again.
Harro has a passion for good data management and sees the big picture. His vision and ideas helped shape the data governance roadmap and journey we embarked on.
9 villages in Germany have the same postal code and each having a "Dorfstrasse". How do we cope from a data governance perspective?
Read on LinkedIn →Hardcover and ebook on Amazon. Practical frameworks, real-world lessons, and the dos (and definite don'ts) of MDM.
Read on LinkedIn →Creating master data records from multiple sources needs a process known as survivorship — here's the working version.
Read on LinkedIn →After my last visit to Kyiv, I read 'Management in Times of War'. It made me think of parallels with data governance leadership.
Read on LinkedIn →CH: Private Entrepreneur (Einzelfirma)
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