Data & AI Governance Specialist

Building AI systems people can trust.

I turn responsible-AI principles — fairness, transparency, accountability, and explainability — into practical controls that keep data and AI systems well-governed and compliant with the EU AI Act, NIST AI RMF, and ISO 42001.

Tolu Omidiji
5+
Years in data & AI governance
300+
Colleagues upskilled on data & AI literacy
3
Frameworks applied — EU AI Act, NIST, ISO 42001
4+
Functions aligned on AI policy

Governance that makes responsible AI possible.

I design and operationalise governance frameworks that improve data quality, metadata integrity, lineage visibility, and responsible AI deployment. My work sits where policy meets practice — translating high-level responsible-AI principles into the workflows, documentation, and controls teams use day to day.

Using Collibra, I embed governance standards and automated workflows that raise data governance maturity and organisational readiness for AI. Across banking and data-products environments I've authored AI governance policy, built governance-first onboarding and approval gates, introduced model and dataset metadata for traceability, run AI vendor reviews, and delivered literacy programmes to 300+ colleagues — turning governance from a policy document into embedded organisational practice.

FairnessBias awareness & equitable outcomes
TransparencyDocumentation & disclosure
AccountabilityClear ownership & oversight
ExplainabilityAuditable, understandable decisions

Key Governance Achievements

Governance initiatives I've designed and delivered — each one laying a foundation that responsible AI governance builds on, from approval gates to named accountability and contract-to-data traceability.

Governance by Design

Governance-First Data Onboarding

Redesigned the data lake onboarding and publishing process into a governance-first workflow in Collibra — structured intake forms with governance approval required before infrastructure onboarding begins.

Impact: established the approval-gate pattern AI use-case intake and model registration depend on.
CollibraApproval GatesWorkflow Design
Enablement

Data & AI Literacy Programme

Created and delivered a literacy programme to 300+ colleagues, covering data governance as a shared responsibility and the case for governing AI models — building the AI literacy foundation now expected under EU AI Act Article 4.

Impact: 300+ colleagues upskilled; governance moved from policy to practice.
EU AI Act Art. 4TrainingChange Management
Oversight

Monthly Data Management Group

Established and co-chair a cross-functional forum bringing together data owners from technology, product, and business teams to cover data quality issues, roadmap decisions, and escalation of domain risks.

Impact: a standing oversight body that mirrors an AI governance committee.
Governance CommitteeCross-functionalRisk Escalation
Accountability

Data Stewardship & Ownership Model

Contributed to the enterprise rollout of Cirium's ownership and stewardship model — defining domains, steward responsibilities, and named accountability with data owners, and embedding the roles in Collibra.

Impact: the named-accountability foundation for assigning AI model owners.
Data OwnershipStewardshipCollibra
Third-Party Risk

Vendor Contract & Data Restrictions Catalogue

Catalogued vendor and third-party contracts in Collibra, linking each contract to the data products it underpins and documenting vendor-imposed usage restrictions — making permitted-use conditions visible in the catalogue.

Impact: the foundational control for assessing whether third-party data can train AI models.
Contract TraceabilityPermitted UseVendor Risk
Policy & Standards

Enterprise AI Governance Policy

Partnered with Legal, Privacy, Security, and Product to author Cirium's AI Governance Policy, defining ethical data use, transparency requirements, documentation standards, and risk-assessment steps for all AI-enabled data products.

Impact: one cross-functional standard for responsible AI across the business.
EU AI ActRisk AssessmentCross-functional

Experience

Data & AI Governance Analyst & Collibra Product Owner
Cirium (LexisNexis, UK)
May 2024 – Present
  • Partnered with Legal, Privacy, Security, and Product to design Cirium's AI Governance Policy — defining ethical data use, transparency requirements, documentation standards, and risk-assessment steps for all AI-enabled data products.
  • Redesigned data lake onboarding into a governance-first workflow in Collibra with structured intake forms and approval gates — the same pattern used for AI use-case intake and model registration.
  • Contributed to the enterprise rollout of Cirium's data ownership and stewardship model, defining domains, steward responsibilities, and named accountability, and embedding roles in Collibra.
  • Set up and co-chair a Monthly Data Management Group — a cross-functional forum of data owners across technology, product, and business focused on roadmap, data quality, and risk escalation.
  • Created and delivered a Data & AI Literacy Programme to 300+ colleagues, supporting the AI literacy expectations under EU AI Act Article 4.
  • Catalogued vendor and third-party contracts in Collibra, linking each to the data products it underpins and documenting usage restrictions — giving contract-to-data-product traceability, including for AI training.
  • Introduced AI-relevant metadata (risk level, sensitivity, provenance, model linkage) and redesigned Collibra workflows to embed AI lifecycle checkpoints and explainability expectations.
  • Conducted AI vendor governance reviews and strengthened audit readiness through clearer documentation and traceability standards.
Data Governance Analyst
Lloyds Banking Group
October 2021 – December 2023
  • Partnered with Data Owners to define domains, critical attributes, and governance requirements, building foundations for trusted analytics and future AI use cases.
  • Established and facilitated data governance councils and working groups that drove policy adoption across business units.
  • Implemented data classification and protection controls for secure, ethical data handling; supported Collibra and SAP adoption.
  • Delivered training and maintained glossaries, dictionaries, and taxonomies for consistent business definitions.
Data Entry Analyst
Liquor Room
October 2013 – June 2020
  • Ensured accurate entry, verification, and management of data assets for reporting and operational analytics.
  • Supported data integrity checks and quality validation that built early metadata-management discipline.

Skills

Where governance principles, tooling, and people come together.

Governance & Ethics

AI Governance FrameworksModel Risk ClassificationFairnessAccountabilityTransparencyExplainability

Frameworks & Standards

EU AI ActNIST AI RMFISO 42001

Metadata & Controls

Data ProvenanceModel CardsBias Assessment AwarenessAI System InventoryAI Risk Registers

Governance Tools

Collibra — Data CatalogCollibra — Policy ManagerCollibra — Workflow DesignConfluenceJira

Collaboration & Oversight

AI Governance CommitteesCross-functional Risk ReviewStakeholder EngagementChange Management for AI Adoption

Awareness & Training

Data & AI Literacy ProgrammesEthical AI CommunicationPolicy Awareness Campaigns

Certifications & Education

Completed
AI Governance Professional Course
Completed
RELX Risk Data Literacy — Voyager
Postgraduate
M.Sc. Industrial Relations & Personnel Management

Let's talk about responsible AI.

Open to Data & AI Governance roles and conversations with teams building trustworthy AI. Email is the fastest way to reach me.