Five Years Back; Five Years Ahead

When I first received the call about the INFORMS executive director role in April 2020, the world was in the middle of unprecedented disruption. I wasn’t looking for a new position, but curiosity led me to research INFORMS and its mission, work and community. At that same time, the New York Times was reporting about the critical role of data in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Another defining event of spring 2020 was the murder of George Floyd. As the executive director search process unfolded, I paid close attention to how INFORMS responded. I knew that if the organization did not live its values, I would not want to be part of it. INFORMS did stand up then, and has continued to stand up, by advancing opportunity and fostering a culture of respect in all we do, for all.

With those events fresh in my mind, my immediate thought was these are the people who can change the world. Five years later, having come to know the breadth, depth and passion of our community, I feel this even more strongly. The world needs better decisions, and INFORMS is uniquely positioned to help build a more just, prosperous and sustainable future.

It has now been just over five years since I began my journey with INFORMS. Milestones like this invite reflection on how far we’ve come and, maybe even more importantly, where we’re headed.

Our Resilience and Growth

Our first challenge together was the COVID-19 pandemic. Like so many organizations, INFORMS faced sudden losses – in membership, meetings and finances, as well as our ability to connect in familiar ways. However, over the past five years, not only have we weathered the storm, but we’ve come back stronger. Membership has rebounded from the pandemic loss and has even surpassed some pre-COVID numbers – and we’re still growing.

That renewed energy is visible everywhere. Record numbers of members are submitting award nominations, underscoring both the prestige of our awards and the extraordinary work happening across our community. New members are finding their place more easily through enhanced onboarding, and long-standing members are staying even more connected. The creation of our new Senior Member program reflects and reinforces this momentum.

In 2022, we worked as a community to develop a tagline that captures our shared promise and what INFORMS members do every day: Smarter Decision Making for a Better World. It isn’t marketing; it’s our mission in plain language, and it guides how we prioritize, invest and communicate.

Expanding Our Global Impact

The peer-reviewed, high-quality research in our journals is about to reach new heights of influence. As of January 1, 2026, our subscription model will change, and EBSCO will begin providing institutions with access to the full suite of INFORMS journals. This means all INFORMS journals will be accessible in more than 30,000 libraries worldwide, up significantly from about 2,000 today. This will result in greater visibility, broader interdisciplinary connections, more discoverability and increased impact factors.

Over the past five years, submissions and readership have also risen to record levels, positioning us to take full advantage of this new partnership with EBSCO.

Our global influence is expanding in other ways too. The 2025 INFORMS International Meeting in Singapore in July was our most successful non-U.S. gathering to date, underscoring that our science and practice are truly global. With the Asia-Pacific now our fastest-growing membership region, we know we must strengthen our presence there to support members and advance open science.

Your Professional Pathways

The transformation of our Certified Analytics Professional (CAP®) program reflects both the maturation of our fields and what professionals seek in career-boosting certifications. What began more than a decade ago as a modest program has blossomed – adding another certification level in 2025 – and is poised to fully bloom in 2026 with the introduction of a third level. Together, these offerings now span the full career cycle of analytics professionals.

We have gone from offering one certification for the “cream of the crop” to providing a full ladder that maps to one’s career: CAP-Essentials (CAP-E) for early-career professionals, CAP-Professional (CAP-P) for those with greater experience and the crown jewel of CAP-Expert (CAP-X, which is the new name of the original CAP). Designed by members and grounded in rigorous industry best practices and standards, the CAP ecosystem is built for success.

Bridging Your Worlds

For decades, INFORMS has sought to expand and better serve our academic and industry members. This balance is essential: A robust and diverse mix of practitioners and academics strengthens our collective impact and creates more opportunities for collaboration.

While INFORMS has made progress toward this goal, we believe the new INFORMS Analytics Framework™, initially developed for CAP, will be a catalyst for more significant strides. Already, companies are using the framework to structure analytics projects for more successful outcomes, and academic programs are mapping their curricula to it for stronger alignment with practice.

Your Voice in Society

One of my greatest sources of pride has been watching members’ expertise gain recognition in the public sphere. During the COVID-19 pandemic, our community had an unexpected opportunity to provide the media and public officials with critical scientific insights and recommendations. Since then, we have built on that momentum by continuing to help members amplify their work through op-eds, media appearances and direct engagement with policymakers.

As an organization, we have also influenced U.S. legislation and federal policymaking, such as in the Mathematical and Statistical Modeling Education Act, the Data Science Literacy Act, and new legislation introducing operations research (O.R.) and analytics into the National Park Service. These efforts broaden INFORMS’ impact beyond our immediate fields to society at large. Better decisions at every level – local, national and global – require the rigorous, evidence-based insights INFORMS members provide every day.

Looking Ahead: Our Expanding Influence

As we look forward, I’m energized by an exciting question: How do we capture more of the tremendous growth happening in our fields (O.R., management science, analytics, artificial intelligence, data science, industrial and systems engineering, statistics, applied mathematics, economics, behavioral science, quantum computing, and related areas)? These fields have exploded in growth and impact, yet our membership has held to a familiar range, a clear signal of untapped potential.

INFORMS’ influence is undeniable through our products and services, but I’m eager to welcome more brilliant minds into this community. I believe every professional deserves a professional association to call home that offers a place for networking, intellectual exchange and lifelong development. INFORMS should be that home for more than 10,000-13,000 individuals we have historically served.

Now that INFORMS is in a stable position, I want to explore whether structural or process changes can unleash new opportunities to significantly grow our reach and impact. I know this will take bold thinking, but I’m confident that our community’s insight and creativity will help us seize this moment and shape our future together.

Closing Reflection

Over the next five years, we will:

• Build on the momentum of the CAP program to make it the global gold standard for analytics certification.
• Expand internationally, with particular emphasis on Asia-Pacific.
• Leverage the INFORMS Analytics Framework to strengthen industry and academic engagement.
• Leverage expanded publication access to boost our interdisciplinary impact.
• Maintain financial strength while investing in bold initiatives that serve our members.
• Elevate advocacy efforts to ensure our fields are recognized as essential to better decision-making everywhere.

For INFORMS, the journey began decades ago. For me, it began five years ago, when I first read about INFORMS alongside that New York Times article on COVID-19 and data. I felt a surge of optimism: This is a community of people who can change the world.

INFORMS is leading the way – saving lives, saving money and solving problems every single day. Together, we’ve accomplished a great deal in the past five years. And together, we will achieve even more in the next five.

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