INFORMS News: Spring conference broadens scope to encompass analytics

By David R. Leonhardi

INFORMS’ spring “Practice Conference” has been re-branded and re-configured to encompass the emerging field of business analytics while keeping the core competencies of O.R. intact. Renamed the “INFORMS Conference on Business Analytics and Operations Research,” the 2011 meeting will take place April 10-12 at the Marriott Downtown in Chicago, located in the heart of Chicago’s Magnificent Mile.

Real-world applications of O.R., implemented by leading companies, nonprofits and government organizations, have always been the focus of the spring meeting. This year, the conference will provide enhanced services in line with findings from the analytics market study conducted by Capgemini Consulting for INFORMS. A new premier job placement service, called Analytics Connect, will help employers and experienced analytic professionals connect in a casual recruitment setting (see sidebar). The Executive Forum, introduced last year, will offer an expanded program to provide senior executives with a bottom-line understanding of how analytics is being used to drive better business decisions.

Analytics Process, SCM and the Public Sector

Enhancements to the educational program itself include a more vertical focus to many topics, including tracks that offer 10 sessions on supply chain management, the analytics process and public sector analytics. Michael Rappa, director of the Institute for Advanced Analytics at North Carolina State University, has designed the analytics process track, along with co-chairs Stephen Powell of Dartmouth’s Tuck School and James Williams, O.R. Manager at Land O’Lakes. The preliminary list of speakers includes professionals from Walmart/Sam’s Club, Teradata, Deluxe Corp., IBM, Deloitte, SAS and other companies that lead in analytics implementation.

The supply chain management track will emphasize integration from strategy to execution, with talks on procurement transformation, total supply chain visibility, integrated transportation and other key issues. Co-chairs of the SCM track are Grace Lin of World Resource Optimization, Eva Lee of Georgia Tech and Doug Meiser of The Kroger Company.

Another expanded 10-session track will focus on public sector analytics, covering federal and state government topics as well as military talks. This track has emerged from outreach efforts to government initiated by INFORMS President Rina Schneur of Verizon. Schneur co-chairs the public sector track with Arnie Greenland of IBM and Doug Matty, U.S. Army. Confirmed speakers include professionals from the U.S. Department of Defense, Metron Aviation, Department of Homeland Security and Carnegie Mellon University.

Soft Skills, DA and Forecasting

Soft skills for analysts, which have been the focus of a pre-conference workshop for the past four years, will now be integrated into the regular program. Freeman Marvin and Don Buckshaw of Innovative Decisions, who helped design the soft-skills workshop, are leading this track. The five sessions include talks on executive decision-makers and cognitive styles, project team building and problem framing.

A track on forecasting, developed by Michael Gilliland of SAS and Peter Buczkowski from Disney, will feature talks by analytics professionals at McDonald’s, Bank of America, Cisco and Accenture. Three other committee members are developing a five-session track on decision analysis: Frank Koch of Chevron, Stefan Karisch from Jeppesen and Paul Wicker from Decision Strategies.

Keynotes: UPS Vice President, Edelman Winner

Chuck Holland, VP of Industrial Engineering at UPS, will headline the conference in a special keynote presentation. On Tuesday, the winner of the prestigious Edelman Award will reprise their presentation, and a third keynote speaker (to be announced) will also make a presentation. A special high-level panel on growing an internal analytics capability will be featured Tuesday afternoon, promising a lively discussion among executives and thought-leaders. Thornton May, futurist and executive director of the IT Leadership Academy, will moderate the panel.

Select Presentations Draw Record Submissions

A record 88 proposals have been received (as of press time) for the Select Presentations from which the eight-member selection committee must choose 25. Chaired by Marius Solomon, professor at Northeastern University, the committee includes academics and practitioners from Princeton, IBM Research, Decision Strategies, Northwestern University, UPS and Polytechnique Montréal.

Poster Submission Deadline Feb. 15

While many conference speakers are invited by the committee, interested professionals can submit a poster presentation and receive a steep registration discount. Poster sessions provide a visual, brief-presentation option especially suited to analytics work that may not be extensive enough for a 50-minute talk. This includes projects that are still in progress, allowing presenters to benefit from direct feedback from colleagues.

The poster format also lends itself to corporate or consulting work subject to nondisclosure restrictions that can still be presented at a high level. In addition, the committee is interested in practitioners’ advice on soft topics, such as selling analytics to internal or client decision-makers, working with non-technical users, etc.

Special Programs

The conference also offers the following special programs for graduate students and young researchers, as well as learning and networking events for all attendees:

• INFORMS Professional Colloquium: Intensive career guidance for master’s and Ph.D. students interested in practice, held on April 10. Reduced conference registration rate $375; nominations due March 25.
• Richard E. Rosenthal Young Researcher Connection: Exclusive networking program for junior faculty and young industry practitioners. Reduced conference registration rate $375; nominations due March 25.
• Soft Skills Workshop: Half- and full-day workshops on the “soft” skills needed to partner with decision makers and users.
• Technology Workshops: In-depth training from leading solution providers. Free to conference registrations.
• Birds-of-a-Feather: Facilitated discussion groups that provide the opportunity to share common challenges and solutions.
• Analytics Connect: A new career event connecting top employers with experienced analytic professionals in a casual, relaxed atmosphere (see sidebar).
• Executive Forum: A VIP program that provides senior executives with a bottom-line understanding of how to use analytics to drive better business decisions.

For complete conference information, go to: http://meetings2.informs.org/Analytics2011/

David R. Leonhardi (David.r.leonhardi@boeing.com) is the chairperson of the 2011 INFORMS Conference on Business Analytics and Operations Research.

 Preliminary speaker list

• Chuck Holland, vice president of Industrial Engineering, UPS
• Scott Friesen, senior director of Analytics & Customer Insights, Best Buy
• Jeanne G. Harris, executive research fellow, Accenture Institute for High Performance, and co-author of “Competing on Analytics”
• Rainer Dronzek, director of Operations Research, McDonald’s Corporation
• Michael Rappa, director, Institute for Advanced Analytics, North Carolina State University
• Norm Fujisaki, chief strategy officer, Metron Aviation
• Daniel Thorpe, senior director of Advanced Analytics, Insights and Innovation, Walmart/Sam’s Club
• Russell Labe, director, Decision Support Modeling, Bank of America
• Patrice N. Knight, vice president, Global Supply Operations, IBM Corp.
• Stephen Bennett, assistant director, Office of Risk Management & Analysis, U.S. Department of Homeland Security
• David Yao, professor of Industrial Engineering, Columbia University
• Bhanu Gummala, director, Supply Chain Planning, Nash Finch Company
• Robert Clemen, professor of Decision Sciences, Duke University Fuqua School of Business
• Teri Kaslow, executive director, Research and Decision Science, Deluxe Corporation
• Radhika Kulkarni, vice president, Advanced Analytics R&D, SAS
• John Lucker, principal, Advanced Analytics and Modeling, Deloitte Consulting
• Jonathan Caulkins, professor of O.R. and Public Policy, Carnegie Mellon
• Margery Connor, senior operations research consultant, Chevron Information Technology Co.

Plus more than 30 other leaders in analytics and O.R.