I'm frequently asked by my clients: "Who should we put in charge of the database?" And my first answer is "The person who is most passionate about the accuracy of the data."

I've written before about how there is no stasis in data management and that associations must be proactive when it comes to managing their data. The way to ensure your data is as clean as it can be is to always be cleaning it.

And so it is that the person most passionate about having clean data is the person most likely to work proactively to keep that data clean.

And one more thing to keep in mind: this person may not necessarily be in IT or membership (the two most common places for database managers). Some of the best data managers I've seen were in other departments like events/meetings and HR/operations.

A passion for clean data is the key driver. Look for it.