Saw an interesting article by McKinsey titled Analytics Translator. They made the point that someone needs to know how to tie all the pieces of analytics together (data structures, statistics/machine learning, business strategy, programming, …). Their recommendation was that a role titled Translator be used to cross/integrate all these into a cohesive direction/plan for success.
Personally I believe this should be the role of the business analyst. But I guess the title isn’t as important as the role, and perhaps many business analysts do not have sufficient breadth. However, their background should provide them with the ability to pull in those who do have the knowledge. Sort of a facilator role.