Shuba Balasubramanian is a Principal in the Deloitte Risk & Financial Advisory. Shuba is a Certified Fraud Examiner with extensive experience in helping client manage Enterprise Risks in the Digital era. Some of key areas of focus include Enterprise fraud management solutions, Continuous monitoring, regulatory compliance testing, internal audit support, cost recovery and business process optimization by leveraging cognitive technologies.

Jodi Blomberg leads the Enterprise Analytics and Data Science teams at Schwab. Her teams build data science and machine learning models and applications that serve all of Schwab’s business lines, such as marketing campaigns, personalization models, and client journeys. Previously, she managed data science teams building software-as-a-service solutions at SAS in public and private clouds.

Justin W. Bundick currently serves as director of the enterprise data science center for Southwest Airlines. Over the last six years, Justin established this practice and is responsible for driving business value through the use of advanced analytic techniques. Justin is also responsible for enabling a community of practice for data scientists at Southwest. More recently, Justin’s focus has centered on the use of advanced techniques combined with design thinking principles to drive product development.

 

Justin developed his personal brand as an innovator in analytics by continually introducing the organization to opportunities where analytics and data science can be a competitive advantage for the Company. Over the past 13 years at Southwest, he led enterprise initiatives in multiple areas of the business including financial planning, portfolio management, business analytics, and enterprise performance management.

 

Prior to joining Southwest, Justin worked for EDS, an HP Company, focusing on long-term financial planning and corporate strategy. He is a graduate of The University of Texas where he studied finance and corporate communication.

 

In addition to his professional life, Justin actively volunteers for several non-profit organizations that focus on youth advocacy, health awareness, and HIV/AIDS direct-care services. Justin serves on the Board of Trustees of DIFFA/Dallas and served as Board Chair of the organization in 2016.

 

Justin and his Fiancé live in Dallas, Texas.

John Damalas currently serves as the Senior Director – Enterprise Data & Analytics for Walmart. In this capacity he is responsible for enterprise data strategy andoutcome-based data product development within the Global Business Services and Information Technology functions. Prior to joining Walmart, he held various roles within General Electric across EnterpriseData, Analytics, Data Science and Internal Audit functions.

Mike Flannagan is Vice President of Microsoft’s Customer Experience & Success group, responsible for designing and improving Customer Experiences using human-centered design principles, creating digital experiences that power employee and customer experiences, and leads global operations across the 30,000+ person organization.

 

Prior to Microsoft, Mike was Senior Vice President of SAP’s analytics software business, and Vice President at Cisco. Mike is an NACD Board Leadership Fellow and serves on several boards of directors. Mike earned his MBA from Auburn University, where he is a member of the Graduate Dean’s Advisory Council. He also serves on the Advisory Council for the University of Texas at Austin's McCombs College of Business.

 

Twitter: @mikeflannagan

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikeflannagan/

Terrick Green is the Sr. Director of Business Analytics for the YETI inc., joining January 2019. Prior to YETI, Terrick spent 8 years with the Hershey Company. His final role, Director of Transformational Analytics, was responsible for developing and deploying Hershey’s Hadoop Cloud environment as a scalable cloud data warehouse enabling the operationalization of Data Science. Terrick spent 10 years in Walmart’s IT Division where he implemented the first Business Intelligence Organization. Terrick is currently responsible for leading YETI’s Data Science Strategy while partnering with Infrastructure to utilize cloud capabilities to fast track the Corporate Strategy for Business Analytics.

Terrick reports to the CFO to transform YETI into a “Digitally Native” company. He works to establish the Data Science Capability and deploy operational Data Science in E-Commerce and Marketing to enable the company with standardized insights delivered through data visualization and dashboards. Terrick’s Data Science team is developing predictive and prescriptive analytics to transform how YETI engages and markets to our customers to grow sales, revenue, and overall brand awareness for YETI in all channels (E-Commerce, Amazon, Wholesale, and Yeti Retail Stores). Customer trends in the market drive DTC performance - YETI will be at the forefront of Consumer Trends and Analysis through our strategic Data Science capability.

As Director of Hershey’s Business Intelligence and Analytics Terrick was responsible for engaging directly with executives across corporate functions of Finance, HR, Supply Chain, Sales, Marketing, and R&D to integrate data and insights to grow sales through intelligent business decisions. Terrick was instrumental in delivering multiple strategies in Sales, CSI, IDP, Supply Chain, and Data Strategy. Terrick designed and implemented Hershey’s Data Lake environment that delivered key projects to enable End-to-End supply chain visibility. He directed his teams transition implementation of Market data from Nielsen to IRI’s UNIFY platform that drives Wall St. market share analysis.

Terrick earned a Master of Business Administration from the University of Arkansas. He also completed his undergrad with Bachelor of Science in Computer Science through the University of Arkansas as well.

Dallas Griffin is the Director of Data & Analytics at Popspots, an Austin-based retail tech startup. At Popspots, Dallas leads the data & analytics team, which is responsible for managing company data, servicing analytics contracts, improving products and processes and generally supporting informed decision making. Dallas received both a BA in Finance and MS in Business Analytics from the University of Texas. Outside of work, Dallas enjoys hiking, travel and Longhorn football.

Jim Griffin is the Americas Director of Cartesian DataSciences, specializing in machine learning and advanced marketing analytics. He has twenty years of analytics, CRM, and loyalty experience in the USA, Latin America, Asia, and the Caribbean. He is also a part-time faculty member in the McCombs MSBA program.

Lynda Jarrett leads the Procure to Claims organization within PSO IT. Her organization has responsibility for Procure-to-Pay functions supporting supply chain operations, including Global Trade, Customs, and Returns. In addition, she manages the SAP integration team. Her organization manages the global buy-sell process, strategic costing for products, all manufacturing (inhouse and outsourced), transportation planning & management, and visibility of all carrier and logistics activity for HP. In this role, her organization runs the systems responsible for $10.9B of component spend, $3.5B of strategic buys, and $20M in savings from SC optimization tied to visibility. Her organization owns multiple systems critical to day-to-day supply chain operations at HP, including Velocity, XI, PI/PO, GTS, eClaims, iCost, GT Nexus, HP Supplier Portal, and WWCOA. She is also the Procure-to- Pay IT tower lead for the Simplify program currently rolling out the new SAP S4 ERP system.

Prior to moving to this role, Lynda was the Director of Information Management Architecture and Analytics. Her team had responsibility for the end-to-end information management strategy, enterprise architecture, new technologies, research and development, and data architecture. She was also responsible for starting and implementing the Advanced Analytics practice within HP IT, which deployed enterprise wide predictive and prescriptive analytics solutions and was considered an industry leader in this field.

Lynda has been with HP since 1997, and originally joined Compaq Computers as a consultant in the Information Services team, working for EDS. Since joining HP she has worked in multiple roles and teams within the IT organization, spanning both front-end and back-end functions. Prior to HP Lynda worked for Elliptus software and held multiple roles as a consultant, writer, and EDI developer.

Lynda attended Texas A&M University and holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration, a Stanford University certification in Innovation and Entrepreneurship, and a Master’s in Project Management from George Washington University. She is a certified Customer Advocate and a member of both PMI and Mensa. She currently resides in Houston, Texas. Outside of work, Lynda’s interests include running, reading, travel, water sports, and skiing. In addition, she spends time writing, spending time with family, and is involved in animal advocacy, and other charity work.

Amar Lingam, Vice President, Head of Enterprise Data Science and Advanced Analytics/AI

Amar Lingam is the leader of AI, data science and analytics for CDW. Amar is responsible for envisioning the overall strategy and direction of data science and analytics at CDW, building the AI vision and roadmap for data and insights throughout the organization and for CDW’s partners and customers.
Amar has rich experience in a variety of domains from Defence to Banking to Retail to Software to SAAS. Prior to joining CDW, Amar held several roles of increasing responsibility at software firm CA Technologies and most recently served as Chief Digital and Data officer. In this role, Amar was responsible for global, data-driven insights and leading the data delivery team in supporting the sales, sales operations, marketing, customer success and support organizations. Prior to that Amar was Product Enablement Leader for Snapfish and was instrumental in launching Snapfish in Europe and Asia Pacific. Amar has worked at Citibank before that in various capacities in Private Banking, Credit and Risk Management and led their ERP transformation. Before this, Amar worked in Defence in blending Software and Electronics for a better integrated design and development.
Amar earned a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from the Birla Institute of Technology and Science in Pilani (BITS-Pilani), India, and MBA in Marketing from the Xavier School of Management in Jamshedpur (XLRI), India. He is a regular contributor at industry forums and artificial intelligence conferences. He also published several industry articles and papers.

Justin Lo leads Chevron’s Data Science Engineering Center of Excellence. His organization of data scientists and machine learning engineers focuses on scaling the use of data science solutions across the enterprise. This includes rapidly building and delivering the analytics portfolio and developing solutions across Chevron’s globally distributed business units.  Justin joined Chevron in 2013 as a data scientist in Drilling & Completions where he was responsible for applying modeling and analytica techniques to support Drilling & Completions and Chevron North America Exploration and Production IT strategies. He moved into technical leadership positions in 2016 and have held positions with increasing influence and scope in data science as part of Chevron’s digital acceleration journey.

Justin received bachelor’s degrees in biomedical engineering and liberal arts Plan II honors program from the University of Texas in Austin. He also holds a doctorate in biomedical engineering from Duke University.

Justin Lo leads Chevron’s Data Science Engineering Center of Excellence. His organization of data scientists and machine learning engineers focuses on scaling the use of data science solutions across the enterprise. This includes rapidly building and delivering the analytics portfolio and developing solutions across Chevron’s globally distributed business units.  Justin joined Chevron in 2013 as a data scientist in Drilling & Completions where he was responsible for applying modeling and analytica techniques to support Drilling & Completions and Chevron North America Exploration and Production IT strategies. He moved into technical leadership positions in 2016 and have held positions with increasing influence and scope in data science as part of Chevron’s digital acceleration journey.

Justin received bachelor’s degrees in biomedical engineering and liberal arts Plan II honors program from the University of Texas in Austin. He also holds a doctorate in biomedical engineering from Duke University.

Scott Meier is the Director of Data Analytics Service (DAS) at the Department of Veterans Affairs’ Financial Services Center (FSC) in Austin, Texas, where he directs and guides service activities in support of the Secretary of VA’s “Seek to Prevent Fraud, Waste and Abuse (STOP FWA)” initiative and the United States Congress’ Fraud Reduction and Data Analytics Act of 2015 by developing and implementing internal controls processes and procedures to eliminate or minimize the potential for fraud, waste, abuse, mismanagement, and inefficient use of government system resources via advanced analytics. His contributions to FSC’s entrepreneurial activities include planning, assessing, programming, budgeting, managing, executing, directing, and coordinating management activities for Data Analytics. In addition to his responsibilities as the Director, he is a key player on the FSC Executive Steering Committee. Scott led the formulation of FSC’s first 5-year Strategic Plan as a certified Balanced Scorecard Professional.

Prior to joining the FSC, Scott worked as the Chief of Budget Formulation for the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA), responsible for formulation, presentation and execution of the VBA’s general operating expense budget. This $2.9 billion budget provided funding to support approximately 21,000 employees who administer benefits and services to Veterans and their dependents, through VBA’s six programs at 56 regional and overseas offices. Additionally, he was an original member responsible for standing up the Office of Strategic Planning in VBA as the Executive Assistant to the Director and served as the Finance/Administration Officer at the St. Louis VA Regional Office.

Before beginning his service at the VA, Scott worked for 11 years at the University of Missouri Research Reactor, the nation’s highest powered university reactor, providing a wide range of nuclear products and services for worldwide industrial, medical and research applications. Overall, his career spanned 20 years in the nuclear field.

Scott holds an MBA from the University of Missouri with an emphasis on Public Management, a Bachelor of Science in Nuclear Technology from Excelsior College, and a Culinary Certificate from Seattle Culinary Academy. Scott proudly served in the US Navy for eight years in the nuclear propulsion program where he was a highly decorated operator and instructor.

Josh has been conceiving and building products for >15 years with deep experience in data and content where he has scaled technology solutions across categories from Internet Digital Media & Advertising (B2C) to Sales & Marketing Intelligence (B2B) to Enterprise Legal Management (B2B).

He is currently Head of Data Products at Levelset, a construction payment intelligence platform focused on empowering construction constractors get what they have earned. Josh is start-up junkie passionate about helping start-ups between $5M ARR to $50MM ARR to thoughtfully scale technology stacks and operational execution to achieve a growth flywheel.

He is also a committed father, husband, health nut, aging swimmer, thinker, Texan, and life long Texas Longhorn.

Ryan Maas is a Senior Data Scientist at NetApp, where he leads a data science team that is focused on creating actionable insights for sales and marketing. He graduated from the UT MSBA program in 2017, and prior to that he graduated from Texas A&M University with a degree in Industrial Engineering. In his spare time, he enjoys playing golf and cooking at home.

Pilar Odland is the Director of Data Science and Engineering at Whole Foods Market. She has over 15 years’ experience in advanced analytics, machine learning and Big Data platforms. She started her data science journey as a statistician, then moved into a leadership role where she has established and grown multiple data science teams. Her analytical experience spans consulting, B2B and B2C companies across a variety of industries such as Environmental Engineering, Manufacturing and Grocery Retail. Pilar received her bachelor’s in Mathematics from the University of Texas and an MBA in Management Science – Statistics at University of North Texas.

Joe Sagrilla is a Partner at Clearsulting and serves as the Chief Strategy Officer. He has extensive management consulting experience helping Fortune 500 companies implement transformational solutions to their most complex business problems, from strategy through execution. His areas of specialty include strategy, finance,analytics, business process automation,organizational design, M&A integration, systems strategy,project management, healthcare, and pharmaceuticals.In his current role, Mr. Sagrilla is responsible leading Clearsulting’s commercial business units and internal operations. Prior to Clearsulting, he held positions at PwC, Ernst & Young, and Booz Allen Hamilton.He also served as a Finance & Audit Committee member at The Free Medical Clinic of Greater Cleveland for seven years.Mr. Sagrilla holds a Bachelor of Science in Business from Miami University and an MBA from Cleveland State University. He is a Certified Public Accountant, Chartered Global Management Accountant, and Certified Healthcare Financial Professional.

Jake is a Senior Data Scientist at EOG, where he trains deep learning models for industrial IoT applications, such as anomaly detection.

 

Doug Shaver is the Director of Customer Insight Analytics at FedEx Services, which is the largest global customer analytics team serving the family of FedEx operating companies. Analytics range across customer segmentation and profiling, program and campaign analytics, targeting analytics, triggering process analytics, decision systems, lifecycle, enterprise contact analytics, real estate decision analytics and much more. He has been with FedEx for over 18 years. Prior to his role at FedEx, he worked in the engineering guidance, navigation, and control analytics field for 11 years. Doug holds an MBA from the University of Arizona, a M.S. in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Texas, and a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Alabama.

 

Michael Shepherd Distinguished Engineer

 

Michael is a Distinguished Engineer and recognized technical evangelist who speaks globally on the impact of emerging technologies.

 

With 25 yrs of experience in Technology backed by 14 years growing up in Asia, he currently leads AI Research for Dell Technologies Services and serves on the Pan Dell Patent Committee.

 

Michaels responsibilities include engaging with external researchers and collaborating internally across the Chief Technology Offices to envision and drive transformation as we prepare for the Age of AI.

 

As Augmented Intelligence improves the efficiency by which humans and machines work together, Michael focuses on “the possibilities” with Machine Intelligence and provides vision for how Data Scientists in Dell Technologies Services can help drive human progress and better outcomes for businesses and humanity.

 

Michaels experience as a sole proprietor and subsequent 20+ yrs at Dell in multiple organizations gives him a unique perspective of Dell’s entire product lifecycle. He serves on the MSBA advisory council for the University of Texas McCombs School of Business and has been granted thirteen hardware and software patents in eight countries.

 

Short List of Accomplishments

 

Awards:            Best Paper - IARIA Conference “Comparison of off-chip interconnect validation to field failures” System Dynamics Conference - Enhancing the Next-Gen of Data-Intensive Support Services

 

Patents:            13 - Software/Hardware Patents granted in 8 Countries Multiple pending AI Patents

 

Boards & Committees:

Advisory Council Member :                                     University of Texas - McCombs School of Business MSBA US Patent Committee Champion : Dell Technologies Services

 

Global Speaking Engagements have included talks at:

Gartner

Siemens Analyst Event AI World

BIS Group Berlin Xavier AI Summit

+ many more thru the years

 

Recent Authorship and Blogs:

Great Data Scientists Don’t Just Think Outside the Box, They Redefine the Box Connected Technology is Health Technology

Imagine a World without Wires

Keeping a proper perspective when facing AI

Barrett is PwC’s Greater Texas Advisory Practice Leader and an M&A Advisory Partner focused on operational aspects of divestitures, acquisitions and other strategic alliances. Barrett also oversees digital innovation within the US M&A Advisory practice and participates on a committee of partners responsible for refining PwC’s Global M&A approach. Barrett has completed over 200 transactions in his 25 year career including advising financial and corporate deal makers on due diligence, structuring, and enterprise-wide strategy and execution to maximize revenues, drive cost savings, and sustain ongoing operations within the context of large-scale M&A and corporate transformations.

Barrett is a Chartered Financial Analyst, graduated Summa Cum Laude with a BBA in Finance and International Business from Loyola University. He earned the Kozmetsky Scholar Award while obtaining his MBA from the University of Texas in Austin, and currently serves as the Chair of UT’s Masters of Business Analytics Advisory Council.

Brian Tapperson works as a Finance Manager with 3M.

 

Ed Tonkon is President of Zebra Retail Solutions, a subsidiary of Zebra Technologies,

a $4B NASDAQ listed publicly traded technology company. Ed has over 25 years of senior executive leadership experience in the publicly traded and private equity corporate environments of retail and business-to-business outsourcing, with a substantial logistics component.  Ed was formerly CEO of Hart Systems, LLC which was acquired in December, 2013 by Zebra. Previously, Ed was CEO of Noble Logistics a leading national provider of time critical logistics services to the wholesale automotive parts industry.

From 1999 to 2005, Ed was CEO and member of the Board of Directors of WIS International, the world’s second largest physical inventory management and merchandising services business with over 14,000 employees. 

Prior to WIS, Ed’s background includes serving as President and General Manager of Huffy Service First, a former subsidiary of Huffy Corporation, and the only nationwide provider of product assembly services to retail.  He also held various management posts with Southland Corporation and Chief Auto Parts in Dallas, including Controller positions for the Chief Auto Parts stores division and distribution center.

Tonkon has been a featured speaker for annual conferences of The National Retail Federation Annual New York Conference on Omnichannel, Auto Team America, National Association of Chain Drug Stores, the American Logistics Association, The Lean Enterprise Institute and The Association for Manufacturing Excellence in the subjects of Inventory Management, Lean practices and Transportation logistics.

Tonkon is a 3^rd generation Longhorn and earned a Bachelors of Business Administration degree in Finance from the University of Texas at Austin. Ed serves on the University of Texas System's Chancellor's Council Executive Committee, the McCombs School of Business Masters of Science in Business Analytics Advisory Board, the Hicks, Muse, Tate and Furst Center for Private Equity Finance Advisory Board and served on The University of Texas McCombs School of Business BBA/MPA Alumni Advisory Board where he was Chairman from 2012-2104.  Ed also serves on the RILA Asset Protection Leaders Council and their Horizons Committee.

Ed and his wife Jamie (BA Education, 1978, University of Texas) have two grown daughters.

 

Robert is the Head of Data Science and Advanced Analytics at General Motors. His chief duty is creating products out of data streaming from connected and self-driving cars. Robert joined GM from USAA where he was the AVP for the Innovation, Data Scientist, Enterprise Data and Analytics Office. He’s been the feature of a Forrester Research case study and articles in MIT Technology Review and Forbes for his work in marketing and artificial Intelligence.

Robert’s work with the World Bank became a highly cited publication on University/Industry research partnerships. He still works with universities in turning research into solutions for General Motors. He’s a graduate from Texas A&M University and the University of California, San Diego. He lives in Austin with his wife and three children.

Michael Westerman is a senior data scientist for Phillips 66, a US based midstream and refining company. He specializes in solving complex business problems by leveraging advanced analytical methodologies and machine learning techniques. During his 20 years of professional experience, Michael worked in a number of quantitative analysis, finance, and operations roles in both the public and private sectors. He is a former United States Air Force Officer and veteran of Operations ENDURING FREEDOM and IRAQI FREEDOM. Michael holds master’s degrees in business analytics (MS), business administration (MBA) and agricultural economics (MS) as well as a bachelor’s degree in finance (BS).

Hunter Wilcox is a Senior Consultant in the Analytics & Cognitive practice of Deloitte Consulting; focused on harnessing the power of analytics, automation, and artificial intelligence (AI) to drive business value. With a background in statistical modeling, behavioral science and strategy development, Hunter helps his clients address a variety of key focus areas such as fraud detection, customer acquisition, AI strategy, and more. He has served a wide range of clients including federal government agencies, Fortune 100 organizations, and professional sports franchises.

 

Hunter joined Deloitte after completing a Bachelor’s degree in Business and a Master’s degree in Business Analytics (MSBA) both from the University of Texas at Austin. He currently serves as a Junior Member on UT’s MSBA Advisory Council.