Speakers

Dean Abbott is an internationally recognized thought leader and innovator in data science and predictive analytics, with more than three decades of experience solving problems in customer analytics, fraud detection, risk modeling, text mining, survey analysis, and many more. He is frequently included in lists of the top pioneering and influential data scientists in the world. Mr. Abbott is the author of Applied Predictive Analytics (Wiley, 2014) and coauthor of The IBM SPSS Modeler Cookbook (Packt Publishing, 2013). He is a popular keynote speaker and bootcamp/workshop instructor at conferences worldwide and serves on advisory boards for the UC/Irvine Predictive Analytics and UC/San Diego Data Science Certificate programs. He holds a bachelors degree in computational mathematics from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a masters degree in applied mathematics from the University of Virginia.

Charlie Berger is Sr. Director of Product Management, for Data Mining and Advanced Analytics at Oracle. He has over 30 years of experience in data analysis software including Oracle, Thinking Machines Corporation, Bolt, Beranek and Newman, Palladian (expert systems), Automatix (robotics and machine vision), Honeywell Computers and IBM. He is responsible for product management and direction of Oracle's in-databases' data mining and predictive analytics technology including data mining, text mining and SQL based statistical functions. He holds a MS in Manufacturing Engineering and an MBA both from Boston University. He holds a BS in Industrial Engineering and Operations Research from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

Michael Berry is co-author of some of the most widely read and respected books on data mining including Data Mining Techniques for Marketing, Sales, and Customer Relationship Management which is now in its third edition. These best sellers in the field have been translated into many languages. Michael is an active practitioner of data mining. His books reflect many years of practical, hands-on experience down in the data mines. Michael is Director of Analytics at Tripadvisor for Business, the B2B side of Tripadvisor, the world’s largest travel-related web site. Prior to joining Tripadvisor, he spent many years as a data mining consultant and educator.

Lawrence is Senior Partner, COO and Customer Insights & Advanced Analytics practice leader with Cicero Group. Lawrence has spent the last decade building Cicero's analytics practice where he has experience helping Fortune 1000 firms solve real business challenges with data, including attrition, segmentation, sales prioritization, pricing, and customer satisfaction. He also leads the firm in predictive analytics and Big Data related engagements, applying Cicero’s deep expertise in strategy execution to ensure data delivers ROI.  He has partnered with companies to help them to shift from reactive to predictive analytics by collecting and analyzing real-time information and distributing it across the organization— allowing management to make better, faster decisions that move the business forward.

Lawrence holds a Master’s of Science in Predictive Analytics from Northwestern University, an MBA with an emphasis in Business Economics from Westminster College, and a BA from Brigham Young University

John Elder chairs America’s most experienced Data Science consultancy. Founded in 1995, Elder Research has offices in Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina, and Washington DC. Dr. Elder co-authored 3 award-winning books on analytics, was a discoverer of ensemble methods, chairs international conferences, and is a popular keynote speaker. John is occasionally an Adjunct Professor of Systems Engineering at the University of Virginia.

Victor S.Y. Lo is a seasoned Big Data, Marketing, Risk, and Finance leader with over 25 years of extensive consulting and corporate experience employing data-driven solutions in a wide variety of business areas, including Customer Relationship Management, Market Research, Advertising Strategy, Risk Management, Financial Econometrics, Insurance, Product Development, Transportation, and Human Resources. He is actively engaged with causal inference and is a pioneer of Uplift/True-lift modeling, a key subfield of data science.

Victor has managed teams of quantitative analysts in multiple organizations. He currently leads the AI and Data Science Center of Excellence, Workplace Investing at Fidelity Investments. Previously he managed advanced analytics/data science teams in Personal Investing, Corporate Treasury, Managerial Finance, and Healthcare and Total Well-being at Fidelity Investments. Prior to Fidelity, he was VP and Manager of Modeling and Analysis at FleetBoston Financial (now Bank of America), and Senior Associate at Mercer Management Consulting (now Oliver Wyman).

For academic services, Victor has been a visiting research fellow and corporate executive-in-residence at Bentley University. He has also been serving on the steering committee of the Boston Chapter of the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS) and on the editorial board for two academic journals. He is also an elected board member of the National Institute of Statistical Sciences (NISS). Victor earned a master’s degree in Operational Research and a PhD in Statistics, and was a Postdoctoral Fellow in Management Science. He has co-authored a graduate level econometrics book and published numerous articles in Data Mining, Marketing, Statistics, Analytics, and Management Science literature, and is completing a graduate level book on causal inference in business.

Mr. Mlakar is Co-Founder and Managing Partner of R2M Solution with a unique career as a former military officer, a Fortune 100 Division Vice President, and CEO of BiologicsMD. Mr. Mlakar has a B.S. Civil Engineering degree from the United States Military Academy and a M.B.A. from the University of Arkansas.

Bin Mu is the Vice President, Data Science of MetLife. In this capacity, he is responsible for applying advanced analytics to identify and explore business opportunities, increase topline sales, and improve operation efficiency and effectiveness. He currently leads a team of 20 data scientists that supports MetLife’s business across all the product lines. Before joining MetLife, Bin was the Global Head of Data Analytics at Cigna, responsible for all the analytics to support group business. Prior to that, Bin Mu held various analytics leadership positions at Deloitte, Limited Brands, and The Hackett Group.

Bin Mu is a competitive marathoner and active triathlete.

Steven J. Ramirez is the chief executive officer of Berkeley, Calif.-based Beyond the Arc, Inc., a firm recognized as a leader in helping companies transform their customer experiences by leveraging advanced analytics.

In addition to developing and executing the vision for Beyond the Arc, Ramirez leads teams of data and strategy consultants committed to client success. They analyze customer and social media data, combined with text analysis, to drive customer growth, improve customer retention, understand service breaks and build stronger customer loyalty.

Prior to leading Beyond the Arc, Ramirez served as an executive with Time Warner, where he was responsible for creating and successfully implementing marketing and corporate development strategies.

Ramirez earned a bachelor's degree and master's in Business Administration from the University of California at Berkeley. He as also created and taught courses in business management for UC Berkeley and been a guest speaker at the university's Haas School of Business.

Karl Rexer founded Rexer Analytics in 2002. He and his teams have built an outstanding reputation providing predictive modeling and analytic consulting to clients across many industries. Recent clients include OneBlood, PwC, Boston Scientific, Redbox, ADT Security, Interamericana University, MIT, Forward Financing, SharkNinja, and many smaller companies. In addition to leading client engagements and hands-on data work, Karl is a predictive analytics evangelist, frequently speaking at conferences, colleges, and other events. He also serves on Advisory Boards for the Business Analytics programs at both Babson College and Bentley University. Since 2007 Rexer Analytics has conducted surveys of analytic professionals, asking them about their algorithms, tools, behaviors and  views. Summary reports from these surveys are available as a free download from the Rexer Analytics website. Prior to founding Rexer Analytics, Karl held leadership positions at several consulting firms and two multi-national banks. Karl holds a PhD from the University of Connecticut.

Kim Scott is a Data Scientist at Elder Research who consults with commercial and retail clients to help them address their business needs. She graduated from the University of Evansville with a BS in Physics and Mathematics, and earned a PhD in Astronomy at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Prior to joining Elder Research, Kim studied the formation and evolution of galaxies by mining large astronomical data. Some of her successes include developing customized data processing software using advanced analytics for millimeter-wavelength cameras, creating algorithms to identify galaxies from astronomical images, and testing novel calibration techniques to reduce overhead and increase efficiencies for data collection.

As Chief Data Scientist at Hopper, Patrick Surry analyzes flight data to help consumers make smarter travel choices. Patrick is recognized as a travel expert and he frequently provides data-driven insight on the travel industry and trends.

Patrick’s research and commentary have been featured in outlets such as New York Times, USA Today, Bloomberg Businessweek, TIME, and many others. Patrick also regularly appears on various broadcast stations to offer travel insight and tips.

Patrick holds a PhD in mathematics and statistics from the University of Edinburgh, where he studied optimization based on evolutionary algorithms, following an HBSc in continuum mechanics from the University of Western Ontario.

You can also follow Patrick on Twitter at @PatrickSurry.

Chris Wiggins is   an associate professor of applied mathematics at Columbia University and   the Chief Data Scientist at The New York Times. At Columbia he is a founding member of the   executive committee of the Data Science Institute, and of  the Department of Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics as well as  the Department of Systems Biology, and is  affiliated faculty in Statistics. He is a co-founder and co-organizer of hackNY (http://hackNY.org), a nonprofit which since 2010 has organized once a semester student hackathons   and the hackNY Fellows Program, a structured summer internship at NYC startups. Prior to joining the faculty at Columbia   he was a Courant Instructor at NYU (1998-2001)   and earned his PhD at Princeton University (1993-1998) in theoretical physics. He is currently writing a book on the history and ethics of data   with Professor Matt Jones (Columbia)   forthcoming from W. W. Norton & Company in 2021.He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society   and is a recipient of Columbia's Avanessians Diversity Award.