A process owner is a responsible person who creates a process in such a manner as to bring the company added value in terms of quality products, service, profit, loss elimination, and so on. They can be managing the process while, gradually, making it more efficient. However, they do not need to perform the process´s individual operations. It is good, though, when they know the process both in theory and especially in practice.  

Practically speaking, it is appropriate that the process owners are managers. A manager controls departments, teams through processes. When they have set up a process, they show their team that they are the first to know how to perfort their work correctly.  The subsequent supervision of its performance then gets easier. 

A manager should principally be remunerated for the results they have achieved in the processes they are in charge of. By separating the manager from the process owner the company gets in trouble as it will find it difficult to determine who is responsible for eventual loss. Interconnection between processes and teams gets harder too.