INFORMS Conference on Business Analytics & O.R. Davenport

For the past several years the INFORMS Analytics Conference has been setting records for attendance and presentation submissions. Now is your chance to see what all the buzz is about. The 14th Annual INFORMS Conference on Business Analytics and O.R., set for March 30-April 1 in Boston, will feature presentations by more than 100 speakers representing a broad range of industries and application areas. INFORMS expects more than 900 attendees this year, making it the largest analytics-focused event in the world. With special events ranging from career-building programs to world-class prize presentations, this conference is sure to offer valuable content for practitioners and academics alike.

Keynotes: Analytics Pioneer, Disney Senior Executive

Keynote speakers Tom Davenport and Kathy Kilmer will headline this year’s conference. Davenport will speak on Monday, March 31, while Kilmer will speak on Tuesday, April 1.

Davenport is the President’s Distinguished Professor of Information Technology & Management at Babson College, a Fellow of the MIT Center for Digital Business, co-founder of the International Institute for Analytics and senior advisor to Deloitte Analytics.

Davenport’s 2006 Harvard Business Review article and best-selling 2007 book, “Competing on Analytics” (co-authored with Jeanne Harris), launched the revolution that has made analytics the hottest business trend and “data scientist” the sexiest job profile. His most recent book, “Keeping Up with the Quants: Your Guide to Understanding and Using Analytics,” with Jinho Kim, has been called “the quantitative literacy guide” for managers. He has written or edited 16 other books and more than 100 articles for Harvard Business Review, Sloan Management Review, the Financial Times and many other publications.

Kilmer, director of sales planning and analytics at Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, oversees the teams responsible for providing analytical and technology integration support across the sales teams and contact centers. Prior to her current role, she was director of industrial engineering at Disney, overseeing more than 120 industrial engineers who serve as internal business consultants. She is on Purdue University’s Engineering Advisory board and INFORMS Analytics Certification Board, and she has been featured on the “Today in America” show.

Kilmer is a recipient of IIE’s Fellows Award, Purdue University’s Outstanding IE Alumni Award and Distinguished Engineering Alumni Award, and is in Purdue University’s Engineering Cooperative Education Hall of Fame.

Hand-Picked Topics and Speakers

The key to the conference’s ongoing success is its program committee, chaired this year by Freeman Marvin, CAP, vice president and executive principal analyst at Innovative Decisions, Inc.

“Attendees will have the opportunity to experience firsthand how the application of analytics is changing the way business is conducted across many industries and transforming everyday life for billions of people around the world,” Marvin says.

The 36 members of the committee include analysts and managers from companies such as Google, Target, IBM, Chevron, Amtrak, SAS, Intel and UPS, as well as leading universities and government agencies. The committee develops the topic tracks, selects speakers and organizes the presentations that comprise the heart of the conference.

This year the speakers will present talks that are organized into the following focused tracks: The Analytics Revolution, Healthcare Applications, Big Data, Marketing Analytics, Decision Analysis, Soft Skills and Supply Chain Management. New this year is a track organized by the INFORMS Roundtable that will feature world-class O.R. projects in established and mature analytics companies. The program will be rounded out by six tracks of contributed talks, plus tracks on software solutions.

Sixty-eight poster presentations will  augment the oral presentations. These visual presentations include case studies, best practice examples and academic research with a practitioner orientation.

Award-winning Analytics

On the evening of Monday, March 31, the winner of the 2014 Franz Edelman Award will be announced at the Awards Gala and Banquet. The Edelman Award is the highest international award for achievement in operations research. This year’s finalists are Twitter, The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, The Energy Authority, Grady Health System, Alliance for Paired Donation and NBN Company.

Other high-impact work will be showcased throughout the meeting in talks by finalists and winners of the INFORMS Prize, Daniel H. Wagner Prize, UPS George D. Smith Prize, Innovative Applications in Analytics Award, Gary L. Lilien Marketing Science Practice Prize and the coveted Spreadsheet “Guru” Prize.

Special Programs

The conference also offers the following special programs for graduate students and young researchers, as well as learning and networking events for all attendees:

• INFORMS Professional Colloquium: Intensive career guidance for master’s and Ph.D. students interested in practice, held on March 30.
  
  
• Richard E. Rosenthal Early Career Connection: Exclusive networking program for junior faculty and young industry practitioners.
  
  
• Soft Skills Workshop: Full-day workshop on the “soft” skills needed to partner with decision-makers and users.
  
  
• Technology Workshops: In-depth training from leading solution providers. Free to conference registrants.

March 17 Deadline for Early Conference Rates

Early rates of $965 for INFORMS members and $1,200 for nonmembers are available until March 17. Organizations can take advantage of the $827 team discount rate when they send three or more attendees. All meals for two days are included in the fees.

The conference venue, the new Westin Boston Waterfront, is located in Boston’s exciting waterfront area. This area is abundant with great restaurants, shops and public green space – plus easy access to all the history and attractions that make Boston such a fascinating city.

For additional conference information, click here.