Inspiration, Innovation, Impact

I write my first OR/MS Today column as INFORMS president with humility. It is an honor to serve our community.

As the start of my term approached, priorities and opportunities emerged, and the path ahead became more clear. The words inspiration, innovation and impact kept coming back to me, and that theme has been circulating in my head as I think of the year ahead.

My primary objective in the coming year is to work with the board of directors to help INFORMS make progress on its strategic plan. My term lasts for a single year, so it is crucial to take actions that support continuity and are sustainable. I plan to take a broad, strategic approach to problem solving and decision making and be intentional about creating meaningful change for members and our community.

INFORMS members have an important role in making strategic change a reality. In this column, I will outline a few specific items that we can accomplish together in the year ahead. You will learn more about many of these items throughout the year.

INFORMS Connect. If you haven’t visited INFORMS Connect in a while, I urge you to visit and reply to a post or create a new one. The improved INFORMS Connect experience is geared toward helping members network and form communities. INFORMS will continue to improve the Connect experience in 2023, and your feedback is welcome. Keep an eye out for my upcoming president posts and video segments on Connect, which I will produce in addition to this “President’s Desk” column in OR/MS Today – playfully renamed “Presidential Punk Rock O.R.” for my term.

Meetings. I left the fully in-person 2022 Business Analytics Conference and Annual Meeting inspired, and I know I wasn’t alone. As we emerge from the global COVID-19 pandemic, the future of meetings may be different than what attendees have seen in the past. The Annual Meeting organizing committee experimented with the program for the 2022 Annual Meeting, leading to a new format on Wednesday that showcased advocacy and introduced the “Freestyle O.R. Supreme Expo,” a live game show. Your help is needed for additional experimentation, which offers the potential to improve our meetings to stimulate innovation, enable new collaborations and inspire the next generation.

Membership. Membership is essential for the long-term financial health of INFORMS. It is crucial to enhance the membership experience, especially for practitioners. A current effort is underway to identify ways to improve the membership experience for early career professionals. Stay tuned for more. More broadly, improving member value can also increase participation among students, international members and the developing world.

Publications. It is crucial that INFORMS publications are widely available to scholarly researchers and practitioners throughout the world. INFORMS publications are available through university library subscriptions, and can be purchased together in a publication suite package, but it is not uncommon for universities to subscribe to only a portion of the suite. A grassroots effort to increase our market share will enable us to more easily broadcast our achievements to the world to stimulate further innovation.

Artificial Intelligence (AI). Building on previous AI efforts will ensure that INFORMS members have a seat at the AI table to support the next generation of scientific advances. One effort this coming year will emphasize communication with funding agencies and government leaders to ensure that operations research (O.R.) is included in funding priorities. Another area of emphasis is to nominate INFORMS members to serve on relevant national boards and committees to influence AI policy. Your help in nominating our colleagues is appreciated.

Advocacy. INFORMS members have risen up to address our world’s greatest problems in public health, supply chains, artificial intelligence, security, transportation and many other areas. We have the knowledge to make a difference, and our community is poised to make meaningful change by tackling societal challenges that will continue to emerge in the future. Helping our community realize this impact is one of my biggest priorities. Advocacy can create a virtual cycle that will help INFORMS become a destination for OR/MS and analytics expertise. There will be new opportunities to participate in the advocacy initiatives in 2023.

Tagline. Operations research, management science and analytics should not be a well-kept secret, and a tagline will help INFORMS communicate its member expertise and what we have to offer to the world. Without a tagline, we have to work harder to explain our expertise to others. Work is underway to create an INFORMS tagline, which offers the potential for others to understand that INFORMS is the place for analytics expertise. Better branding can help us amplify our impact. Please help us choose a tagline this year!

Diversity. Diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) require the same vigor and commitment we apply to achieving every other dimension of OR/MS excellence. It is important that INFORMS continues to move forward on DEI. The new Military Veterans and pending PRIDE fora are exciting developments, and I urge members to add these groups to their membership (if interested, email [email protected]). As chair of the board, I will support constructing equitable processes and policies. Together, our community can reach new heights when we create a community in which everyone has opportunities and is valued.

The Strength of INFORMS

The greatest strength of INFORMS is you – its members. You are why our community has stayed on the cutting edge. More than ever, I am proud to be part of a profession that has always stepped up to tackle the world’s biggest and thorniest problems. I look forward to giving back to the community that has given me so much throughout my career. Enabling INFORMS and its members to innovate, grow professionally, connect with others and make meaningful change – in academia, government and industry – motivates me. We are all in this together, and I look forward to working with you more closely in 2023 so our community can reach greater heights.