Valuable content, dynamic speakers await conference attendees

The 2019 INFORMS Conference on Business Analytics and Operations Research, recently named one of the top analytics conferences to attend this year by Solutions Review, will be held April 14-16 in Austin, Texas. The conference will bring together more than 1,000 leading analytics and industry professionals to share ideas, network and learn about the possibilities that can be generated by analytics. Attendees from more than 400 companies and virtually all industries will convene to hear 150 carefully chosen talks from the best in the business.

If you are a leader in the analytics profession, lead analytics projects (traditional analytics, O.R., data science, etc.) or are just starting out in your analytics career, you will find valuable content and a great opportunity to network and advance your career. Professionals with tried and true experience will tell you how analytics has worked for them, the impact on the success of their businesses and how you can apply analytics more effectively. 

Diverse, Dynamic Speakers

Analytics experts from industry, academia and consortia hand-picked industry giants and diverse, dynamic speakers for nine tracks each day created to give you useful techniques, new approaches and practical information regarding all aspects of business analytics. Topic tracks include: Analytics Process, Decision and Risk Analysis, Revenue Management and Pricing, Supply Chain, Marketing Analytics, Unstructured Data, Analytics Leadership, Emerging Analytics and Analytics in the Public Sector.

This year, owing to the importance of information security, conference organizers have included an exclusive track on Security to cover all aspects of security with focus on operations research and analytics.

Due to popular demand, the opening keynote will be a data analytics panel on the topic, “How Data Science is Revolutionizing the Future.” Panel members include Viju Menon, group president at Stryker, and Dr. Nada Sanders, author, data science leader and distinguished professor of supply chain at Northeastern University. The panelists have unique experience, views and thoughts on data, analytics and the future of data science. The panel moderator, Noha Tohamy, is the distinguished vice president of Analytics Research at Gartner.

The second day keynote speaker, Anju Gupta – Head of Sustainability at Syngenta – is an industry recognized analytics leader with diverse experience and a renowned speaker.

Austin, the capital of Texas, is the fastest growing large city in the United States and the live music capital. The JW Marriott, situated in the heart of the city, will serve as the conference venue. Conference attendees are sure to enjoy the hospitality of the Marriott and the warmth of Austin. 

Key Areas of Interest

As the general chair for this year’s conference, I am extremely honored to be working with experienced, successful and respected analytics professionals to help select key areas of interest and exciting speakers. Our knowledgeable volunteer members come from Deloitte, Accenture, Intel, FICO, Disney, Dell, Walmart, Avnet, AIAI, GM, American Airlines, Gartner, Kroger, Kromite, MITRE, academia and the government.  

To give you an idea of the level of our speakers’ analytics ability combined with excellent communications, a few of the speakers we have confirmed include: Tom Maher, Dell; Karl Kempf, Intel; Roger Burk, U.S. Military Academy; Dimitris Bertsimas, MIT; Janine Kamath, Mayo Clinic; Ellen Coppersmith, Decision Frameworks; Wedad Elmaghraby, University of Maryland; Stefan Karisch, The Boeing Company; and Pavithra Harsha, IBM.

In addition, we offer an Analytics Career Fair that brings dozens of top employers right to Austin, all looking for topnotch analytics and data science professionals. Starting on Sunday, April 14 from 1-6 p.m., bring your resume and meet these companies. They will be interviewing during the entire three days – good luck!

Among many special events, this year’s conference will host a Freestyle O.R. Supreme Data Hackathon co-sponsored by Analytics2Go and the INFORMS Data Mining Section. The targeted audience for the hackathon is students in fields that fall under the large umbrella of analytics and business, as well as early career professionals (less than five years post their analytics-related degree). The expectations are to design and deliver an analytics solution with an open source tool/software component and sell how their solution could be operable and scalable to support a business problem and a company’s customers.

One of the annual highlights of the conference, the 2019 Edelman Gala and presentation of the Franz Edelman Award for achievement in operations research, will take place on Monday evening, April 15. This truly international award has been presented since 1972 and has celebrated and honored outstanding applied work in business and government from around the world. This year’s finalists include: Boston Public Schools, IBM, Louisville Metropolitan Sewer District and Tetra Tech, Microsoft, the Spanish National Aviation Authority and Vattenfall.

Collaborative, Comprehensive Approach

Nowhere else will you find such a collaborative, comprehensive approach to analytics, data science and operations research practice than the INFORMS Conference on Business Analytics and Operations Research. From talks involving real-world case studies to networking with industry giants, you will gain the necessary insights to solve the pressing business problems in every sector. Join us April 14-16 in Austin at the beautiful JW Marriott. The early registration rate of $1,175 for INFORMS members and $1,470 for nonmembers ends March 4. If you’re a newcomer, we encourage you to check us out and enjoy a further discounted rate of $1,070.

This is an exciting time for those of us in the analytics and operations research profession. Nearly every company and government organization are considering how to improve its use of data, analytics and operations research. The Edelman competition plainly shows how people and the environment are being helped throughout the world through better use of resources, more effective distribution of medicine and food, and overall better decision-making.

As we move into Industry 4.0, the phrase “Data is the new oil” is taking significant meaning, and everyone in industry and academia are embracing data analytics in all aspects of life. There is a greater need for all of us to go from data to insight to value. The wide range of opportunities available make this conference a unique event for anyone looking for insight into helping decision-makers understand and utilize analytics to their highest potential.

For more details and information or to register for the conference, visit: www.2019analytics.com.