Jim Bander

Title

  • Founder, Optimal Data Science

Education

  • Ph.D., Industrial & Operations Engineering, University of Michigan
  • M.S., Systems Engineering, University of Virginia
  • B.A., Mathematics, University of Virginia

Professional Experience

  • 2018-2025: Analytics Market Lead & Data Scientist, Experian Financial Services and Data (formerly Decision Analytics)
  • 2010-2018: National Manager, Decision Science/Risk Management, Toyota Financial Services
  • 2008-2010: Vice President, Solution Management & Research, Response Analytics, Inc.
  • 2006-2008: Assistant Vice President, Financial Planning & Analysis, Wells Fargo Bank
  • 2002-2004: Operations Research Specialist, Norfolk Southern Railway
  • 1999-2002 and 2004-2006: Visiting Lecturer, University of Florida Warrington College of Business Administration

Selected INFORMS and Related Activities – Member since 1995

  • Current member of the INFORMS Investment Committee
  • Past member of the INFORMS Finance Committee
  • Past president, INFORMS Financial Services Section (now the Section on Finance)
  • INFORMS Early Career Professionals Network Volunteer, Analytics+ conference 2026
  • Panelist on “Generative AI & Your Career” for the INFORMS Analytics Society and INFORMS Practice Section, a virtual session (webinar) in August 2025

Selected Professional Honors and Awards

  • Drexel Lebow/CIO.com Analytics 50 Award
  • Gartner Analytics Excellence Award
  • FICO Decision Management Award
  • President’s Volunteer Service Award
  • Information Week Elite 100 “Best in Analytics”
  • Auto Finance Excellence Award

Selected National Service Activities

  • 2026 Co-chairman, Technology Association of Georgia Data Challenge
  • 2026 Arizona State University Data4Good initiative partner
  • 2023-present, Tempe Community Council Community Involvement Committee
  • 2008-2016 board member and president, Power Paws Assistance Dogs

Selected Publications

  • My recent work has generally been proprietary or unpublished, including studies for bankers, credit union professionals, and other consumer lenders that use analytics and AI to manage credit risk and to understand financial or economic trends. I have often spoken on the impact on consumers, and in particular on Generation Z, of Student Loan Forbearance and of the COVID pandemic.
  • My older work (a patent and several academic papers) is listed on Google Scholar (https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=8SiRx5AAAAAJ).

Candidate Statement

First, let me thank the last two Treasurers for the honor of collaborating with them by serving on their committees. Working with Susan Martonosi on the Investment Committee and with David Hunt on the Finance Committee has given me a deep look at INFORMS’ finances. Thanks to the leadership of the Treasurer and the entire Board, as well as the highly capable Executive Director and staff, INFORMS is in a very strong financial position. We generate margin the same way we achieve our mission: through publications, membership, and meetings. With a new vendor arrangement securing long-term stability for our publications budget, INFORMS is well positioned to invest in operational and strategic initiatives.

The Treasurer is the Board Member most focused on the financial well-being of INFORMS. To fulfill our mission – advancing and promoting the science and technology of decision making to save lives, save money, and solve problems – requires not just financial stability, but also investing for the future. Our ongoing operations–and new initiatives–need to make us the preferred professional home for both academics and practitioners in an age of disruption.

What will it take to be that preferred home? For scholars, it means journals that publish leading research and an academic community that recognizes their contributions. For practitioners, it means tools, continuing education, recognition and certifications, and opportunities for career growth. For both halves of our community, it means access to knowledge and networking opportunities that can’t be found elsewhere.

In September I stepped away from my corporate career – helping leading financial institutions manage risk in multi-billion dollar portfolios – and have focused on “Data For Good” projects with INFORMS members and with local human service organizations. I attended both the Annual Meeting and the Analytics+ conference because I believe INFORMS is the place where scholars and practitioners ask not only “what can we do” but “what should we do.”

The field is shifting. Who would have imagined a decade ago well-attended talks at INFORMS about quantum computing, or five years ago that the Economist would suggest students might “Study Plato not Python” to improve their career prospects? Today, faculty members are rethinking research and educational programs in response to changing metrics of impact, reduced funding, dramatically changing public policy, and student pipelines. Early Career Professionals and even senior practitioners are uncertain about where their careers are heading.

In this pivotal moment, INFORMS is leading, not following. Other organizations credibly claim to be the home for engineers, management scientists, data scientists, AI professionals, and others. But only INFORMS brings together the scholars who advance the science and the practitioners who apply it to save lives, save money, and solve problems. Our unique assets – the CAP certifications and The INFORMS Analytics Body of Knowledge, in addition to our journals, subdivisions, and meetings – all play a role. As Treasurer, I will be asking what investment and promotion each program needs so that we make the most of it. Because for mission or for margin, friends don’t let friends make suboptimal decisions.

For more information, please visit: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimbander/