PRESIDENT'S DESK

INFORMS President
Susan L. Albin
salbin@rci.rutgers.edu

This is my last president’s column for OR/MS Today. My term as president has been completely engaging, challenging, exciting and satisfying, and I am grateful to have had this opportunity. For 2011, Rina Schneur will be our president, giving INFORMS the benefit of her sharp eye and keen mind and her persistence in pursuit of the logical. Terry Harrison will be president-elect in 2011 and I will continue on the Board as past-president following in the footsteps of Don Kleinmuntz. Don provided me with wise advice, and despite his major responsibilities in his day job, he was always available to discuss INFORMS with me. We were a good team, and I hope I can provide Rina with the support that Don provided me.

I would also like to thank Terry Cryan, the interim executive director, for her outstanding leadership. Many of us know Terry as the director of Meetings, a hat she also continues to wear. INFORMS directors and staff have worked willingly and ably, as usual, with volunteers and customers during this transition period. Terry, as part of a committee of volunteer leaders, is administering the search for a permanent executive director.

I would also like to acknowledge the Board members whose terms end in December and who have spent an enormous amount of time and energy in their work on behalf of the INFORMS membership. Thank you to Treasurer Steve Robinson who has completed his term, and welcome to Nicholas Hall. Thanks to Jay Swaminathan, VP Education, and welcome to Joel Sokol; thanks to Warren Lieberman, VP Information Technology, and welcome to Bjarni Kristjansson; thanks to Robin Lougee, VP Meetings, and welcome to Bill Klimack; thanks to Pinar Keskinocak, VP Membership and Professional Recognition, and welcome to Ozlem Ergun; thanks to Terry Harrison, VP Publications (for five years!), and welcome to Linda Argote; thanks to Ariela Sofer, VP Sections and Societies, and welcome to Barry Thomas.

After decades as a professor and researcher, it was a remarkable experience for me to climb the learning curve and become chairman of the board for an organization with many moving parts. To just name a few, we have an $8 million budget; a $7 million permanent reserve; 47 dedicated and hard working staff members; about 10,000 members; 12 highly respected publications; an annual meeting of 4,600 registrants (Austin set a new record!); our spring practice meeting with Edelman award ceremony; international, regional and special topic meetings; 38 spirited societies, subdivisions and forums; a comprehensive Web site; and professional marketing.

So what did the INFORMS Board do this year? The Board reviewed and evaluated present and future opportunities and threats, both external and internal to INFORMS. The Board concluded that it is imperative for us to create a new vision of ourselves in order to have a future. In past years, we depended upon publications to support the many moving parts that do not generate income. However, the world of publications is changing, and it is unlikely that publications can continue to sustain INFORMS financially. The regular membership (not students, not retired) has been declining by about 100 members per year for at least the last seven years. While our academic membership is satisfied with INFORMS and enthusiastically supports the meetings and publications, our practitioner members are far too few and not increasing given our current portfolio of activities. Our membership only includes 2,500 practitioners out of a total possible market of more than 100,000 operations researchers (according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics).

The Board’s deliberations have yielded a great plan. The architects of the plan are Anne Robinson, VP Marketing, Communications and Outreach; Jack Levis, VP Practice Activities; and Gary Bennett, INFORMS Director of Marketing, who provided input, guidance and project management. The team worked together to lead the Board to support a vision of INFORMS that continues to serve the academic community and protect INFORMS’ reputation for academic integrity, but that expands INFORMS to include analytics. Analytics – the practice of using quantitative methods to make decisions and solve problems – has become viral in the marketplace (at last, from my viewpoint). Depending on the organization, use ranges from none, to descriptive (where have we been?), to predictive (where are we going?) to and prescriptive analytics (what are new and perhaps optimal alternatives?). INFORMS will focus on advanced analytics – predictive and prescriptive activities – a good match for many of our current members.

Jack and Anne presented a vision for INFORMS 2015 that includes 30,000 members with 50 percent practitioners. INFORMS would be the leader in developing and disseminating analytics trends and in providing educational opportunities for analytics practitioners who may have backgrounds in a variety of fields such as business, engineering, math, statistics and others. INFORMS would be the source to help enterprises organize and find talent in analytics. INFORMS would be the premier source for advanced analytics.

The Austin meeting was abuzz with analytics as Jack and Anne took the show on the road to enthusiastic audiences. First, they presented the vision to the Roundtable. Roundtable members are organizations, not individuals, each represented by the ranking manager or executive in charge of all OR/MS activity. Then Anne and Jack conducted a session where more than 80 people signed a petition in support of forming the INFORMS Analytics Subdivision. I heard people talking about analytics in the hallways and in technical sessions. The Quality, Statistics and Reliability subdivision made plans to organize a track called “Analytics in QSR.”

Now the hard work begins. The Board has made a choice in direction, and now we have to make that choice a success. I am confident that we will, and that our often-stated ambition to serve academics and practitioners will become a reality.