As Practice Advisor Merrill contributes to the firm’s Organization Development practice area with consulting and training support for data management, process engineering, quality controls, program management, and AI readiness programs. Merrill focuses her efforts on helping companies better manage their data to drive value from it.  She works throughout the data management capabilities, such as data quality and metadata.  She specializes in data governance, helping companies establish their own data governance organizations to effectively manage their data.  She can educate teams to understand data management and give them confidence to take over when her role is complete.

In 2023, Merrill published Crimes Against Data – 101 true crime stories of people abusing and misusing data.  This book helps people understand data management through real-life stories of what happens when data is mismanaged.  She is currently working on her second book, diving into the detail behind managing data properly.

Merrill has spent her entire career working in data across all industries.  After almost a decade at a Big 4 helping clients with their data management needs, Merrill established a data governance practice at a biopharma and led it for several years.  Merrill worked for a consulting company where she led the data management practice, developing new service offerings and delivering to clients.  She believes in understanding the business needs to solve the problem.  She’s passionate about companies having the right data, used compliantly, to make appropriate and timely decisions.

Merrill holds a BMath from the University of Waterloo, with a major in Operations Research and a minor in Computer Science.