INFORMS President-Elect Candidate: Jonathan H. Owen

Candidate Statement

For decades, INFORMS and its members have transformed industries, government, healthcare, transportation, supply chains, and public policy. The strength of our profession has always come from combining rigorous methodology, systems thinking, and a focus on improving consequential decisions in complex environments. Today our field is experiencing a period of profound change. Advances in AI, data, and connected systems are reshaping how organizations make decisions and how society interacts with increasingly complex environments. Decision-makers now demand approaches that are not only technically sophisticated, but also robust, explainable, scalable, and capable of sustained real-world impact. I believe this moment is a defining opportunity for INFORMS and the OR/MS profession.

One conviction has anchored my entire career: practice does not merely apply research – it sharpens it. Some of the most important advances in OR/MS emerge when rigorous methods engage directly with hard, real-world problems, and the questions that arise in practice often reshape the research agenda itself. This is not a one-way pipeline from theory to application; it is a continuous exchange. The strongest organizations, universities, and professional societies create environments where researchers, practitioners, and students learn from one another, strengthening both research and practice in the process. That conviction shapes how I believe INFORMS can lead in this moment.

I have spent my career at the intersection where that exchange happens – across advanced analytics, AI, operations research, and enterprise decision-making. At General Motors, I led teams applying OR/MS and AI across manufacturing, supply chain, mobility, product development, and enterprise operations, while building the organizational capability and governance to support analytics and AI at scale. That breadth taught me that enduring impact requires more than technical excellence. It depends on developing talented people, building trusted relationships across disciplines and organizations, and understanding how complex systems actually behave – the constraints, incentives, implementation realities, and human responses that reshape outcomes over time. Repeatedly, the hardest problems sent us back to sharpen our methods, while better methods opened possibilities no one had previously seen on the factory floor or in the field.

OR/MS is uniquely positioned to lead because our field has always been about more than algorithms alone. At its best, it integrates mathematics, modeling, uncertainty, optimization, data, human behavior, and systems-level thinking to support better decisions. The most consequential dynamics in complex systems are rarely visible from any single vantage point. Revealing those interactions, and helping organizations act on them, is 
a defining strength of our profession, and an essential one as AI reshapes the decision-making landscape.

As President-Elect, I would focus on four priorities: advancing methodological excellence while strengthening the connections among academia, industry, government, and practice; supporting the integration of OR/MS with emerging AI and data-driven technologies; expanding opportunities for students, researchers, and practitioners to learn from one another; and increasing the visibility and influence of OR/MS in addressing consequential societal and organizational challenges. INFORMS should be the professional home where our community defines what trustworthy, accountable, high-impact decision-making looks like in the AI era.

INFORMS benefits enormously from the diversity of perspectives, backgrounds, and expertise across its membership. I have been fortunate to serve in many roles over the years – including the Board of Directors, the INFORMS Roundtable, and numerous committees supporting both practice and the profession – experiences that deepened my appreciation for the talent, commitment, and collaborative spirit of this community.

The systems shaping our world are becoming more interconnected, dynamic, and consequential. OR/MS has an essential role in helping organizations and society navigate that complexity. I would be honored to serve as your President-Elect and to help advance the long-term relevance, influence, and impact of both INFORMS and the profession.

For more information, please visit: linkedin.com/in/jhowen.

Bio

Jonathan H. Owen is Founder of Jonathan H. Owen, LLC, and former Chief Scientist for Operations Research and AI/Analytics and Head of Advanced Analytics at General Motors, where he led research across manufacturing, supply chain, product development, and enterprise operations. Over a 25-year career at GM, his teams translated rigorous analytical methods into operational and strategic decisions, generating over $10B in documented impact.

He is a Fellow of INFORMS and IISE, has held the INFORMS CAP (CAP-X) certification since 2014, and is a recipient of the Kimball Medal for distinguished service to INFORMS and the profession. His work has been recognized twice in the Franz Edelman competition, with the INFORMS Prize, and with the SME Donald C. Burnham Manufacturing Management Award.

A member of INFORMS since its founding, his service includes the Board of Directors as VP of Practice, the INFORMS Roundtable (twice President), and numerous committees. He holds a PhD from Northwestern University.