How did they not have metrics for success and a team leader they were answerable to

Managerial stupidity and general nepotism in hiring, a la the "good 'ol boy" network. One of the hazards of working in the middle of BFE, even if the company you're working for is on the high end of the spectrum, is people don't get hired for their capability, they get hired because they know someone who knows someone.

My best guess is that the marketing VP caught wind of some buzzword-laden thing relating to Business Intelligence and she had the typical pointy-haired-boss reaction of "we don't have that... WE NEED THAT!", at which point job postings were put out for a data analyst for her department - never mind that we already have a department of developers who do that thing for the company. She picked this dude's name out of the pile, for whatever reason, and he pulled the wool over her eyes for about three years and got two of his buddies free rides for the same time period as well.

Funny enough, right about the same time all three of the supposed "data analysts" got fired, she was also let go, along with three other sub-managers that were under her. I'm guessing that more than just the "data analyst" fuck-up finally caught up with her, but since we never get any info on why people are canned we can only guess at the reason.