Data Futurology - Leadership And Strategy in Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Data Science

Mike serves as Head of Data Science at Uber ATG and lecturer for UC Berkeley iSchool Data Science master’s program.  Mike has led several teams of Data Scientists in the bay area as Chief Data Scientist for InterTrust and Takt, Director of Data Sciences for MetaScale, and Chief Science Officer for Galvanize he oversaw all data science product development and created the MS in Data Science pro...

David Niemi is Vice President of Measurement and Evaluation at Kaplan, Inc., where he oversees efforts to improve the quality of measurement across all education units, evaluate the effectiveness of curricula and instruction, and study the impact of innovative products and strategies. Previously he was Vice President Evaluation and Research, at K12 Inc., where he directed assessment development an...

Kjersten Moody joined State Farm in July 2017 as Vice President and Chief Data & Analytics Officer in Bloomington, Illinois.  Previously, Kjersten led Data & Analytics and IT groups at global companies, such as FICO (Braun), Thomson Reuters and Unilever. She has a record of delivering tangible, positive business results, and a depth of experience in scaling operations, planning/execut...

In this episode I talk to Matt Kuperholz. Matt currently works for PWC as a Partner in their Analytic Intelligence Area and is their Chief Data scientist. As a kid, Matt was fascinated by computers and while training to be an actuary started developing his computer science skills. This led to working as a data scientist and consulting with top tier companies. In this episode Matt and I talk about...

In this episode, I talk about data scientists and ways you can attract the best talent to your team. Instead of telling your employees what they can do better, make them curious as to what they could do better. Then, I reveal the three things to look for when analyzing your pool of applicants. Once you have your team, now what? Once you have a decent pay settled, I explain the three things you wil...

In this episode I talk to Kristen Sosulski who is the Data Visualization Professor at NYU Stern School of Business. She has just written the book Data Visualization Made Simple: Insights Into Becoming Visual. An interest in using technology to help students learn has led to helping people to understand how to use data visualizations to communicate insights to others. Kristen and I discuss guidelin...

A lot of listeners have asked what have been my takeaways from the 30+ discussions with the guests on this podcast so far. To launch 2019 I’ve done a look back at all episodes from 2018. This is part 2 where I discuss episodes 19 to 34. I hope you enjoy my recollection of these conversations. I’d love to hear what were your favourite takeaways! Support Data Futurology on Patreon!  https://www...

A lot of listeners have asked what have been my takeaway points from the 30+ discussions with the guests on this podcast so far. To launch 2019 I’ve done a look back at all episodes from 2018. This is part 1 where I discuss episodes 1 to 18. I hope you enjoy my recollection of these conversations. I’d love to hear what were your favourite takeaways! Support Data Futurology on Patreon!  https:...

Sally is the General Manager of Insights at the Australian Motoring Services. She previously spent 10 years working in banking and today she shares her story. We speak about: * Fraud analytics in big banks * End to end analytics * Importance of fast feedback loops * Shocks of early working life * Balancing speed & accuracy * 80/20 vs 95/5 * Exposures in strategy & politics * Helping the business a...

Graeme started in actuarial science and developed a love for algorithms and automation. He worked in data warehousing before moving into data analytics. He spent 16 years in several Head of Data roles at The Automobile Association (AA) before joining Addison Lee as their Chief Data Officer, where he is today. We speak about: * What is actuarial science * Data warehousing & GIS systems * Overview o...

Carole had an unusual path into data science. She's worked as a content project manager, in strategic planning and in sales before getting into data through Business Intelligence at Fyber where she eventually became their Head of Analytics. Today she is the Head of Data Science & Analytics at Tenjin. We speak about: * The strengths of being a generalist * Upskilling throughout your career * Focus...

Scott started his career pushing trolleys at Woolworths. In his career he rose to management levels in retail with Woolworths, consumer goods with Kraft Foods, Fonterra SPC and PZ Cussons, then in media with 21st Century Fox. He then became the CEO of iSelect, a role he left earlier this year to start his own AI company Wilson AI. We speak about: * Focus on customer needs * Digitising industries t...

Aaron started his career working in accounting and building management information systems (MIS). He had his own company, worked in multiple industries and then got into biology and genomics. Today he is the Chief Data Officer at the Inova Translational Medicine Institute. We speak about: * How to take research into scaled applications * The importance of sharing your knowledge and helping others...

Klaus started his career doing internships at Yahoo! and the port of Hamburg. He worked as a consultant and completed a PhD in Quantitative Marketing. Today he is the Chief Analytics Officer at YAS.life We speak about: * The importance of getting applied experience as early as possible * Defining KPIs for businesses * Using data to change organisational behaviour and increase safety * How to navig...

Jennifer started her career as a particle physicist before becoming a data scientist. After gaining experience in many fields including high frequency algorithmic trading & advertising, she was Atlassian's first Chief Data Scientist. Today she is the VP of Machine Learning at Figure Eight and an Expert and Advisor at the International Institute for Analytics. We speak about: * How to see the resul...

Mark used to be a statistics lecturer at Nelson Mandela University in South Africa. He then joined First National Bank as a quantitative analyst where he climbed through the ranks to Head of Advanced Analytics and beyond. Today he is the Chief Analytics Officer at FNB. We speak about: * Predicting what the customer is calling about * Improving compliance in banking through analytics * Creating and...

Sam's background is in sports & exercise science. He has an accomplished career in sport analytics. Today, he is the Head of Research and Innovation at the Western Bulldogs and an Associate Professor at Victoria University. We speak about: * Using ML to help people see the non-linerarity in their problems * Common misconceptions of ML * Interpretability of ML * Using ML to improve athletes perform...

Ben started his career as a chemical engineer. He developed an interest for computer vision early on. He worked for Intel, then at a hedge fund and then became the Chief Data Scientist at HireVue. A couple of years ago he started his own AI startup called Ziff.ai where he's is building a Deep Learning platform for product visionaries and software engineers. We speak about: * How computers amplify...

This is a different type of episode! This episode is a presentation I recently did at a large financial services institution. I presented on 5 Mistakes and Lessons Learned in Driving Business Value with Data Science and the Cloud. I talk about: - Using Lean Startup and Design Thinking principles in Data Science - The importance of staying close to your end customer and what that looks like in prac...

Mario is an Electrical Engineer from Colombia. He went to Silicon Valley to do his Masters at Stanford University and stayed to build a career in Marketing Analytics. He has incredible experience and has worked at Intuit, Google, HP, Symantec and Facebook. He currently works at Uber as Marketing Analytics and Data Science Manager. We speak about: - Starting in marketing analytics without knowing a...

Kshira has been with the Analytics/Decision Sciences industry for almost a decade now having worked across Americas, Asia, Europe and Australia. He is the Head of Analytics and Data Science at The Iconic. We speak about: -Why he moved from analytics consulting to building data products -What a data driven product should do and how to prioritise your efforts -How to make analytics less intimidating...

Antony stumbled into his love of predictive modelling at the tender age of 10. He started his professional career in biostatistics and then made the switch to corporate Australia to work as Head of Analytics in banking before joining Seek; where today he is the Director of Global Matching and Analytics. We speak about: how analytical thinking adds value both in research and in corporate why you sh...

David studied applied physics and began his career as a consultant. He’s had his own company where he created a video asset management & workflow software in the 90s!. Then worked in the education/not-for-profit sector and then went into the finance sector as VP of BI & Data Analysis. Today, he is the Senior Vice President and Head of Data, Analytics and Research at BankMobile. We discuss: - the i...

Vlad started his career in visual effects & computer graphics. He worked on Hollywood blockbusters such as Avatar, Dark Knight, Happy Feet. He currently is Head of Data Science at Wooga which makes June’s Journey (Facebook Game of the Year 2017), Pearl’s Perils, Diamond Dash and many more. We speak about: - why it’s important to follow your curiosity and what that looks like how to keep learning a...

Ahmed started his career at Siemens research, worked in startups, at Google, PayPal, SAS and JPMorgan and has his own machine learning company and now he runs data science at Equinor We speak about: - benefits of simulations in research and data science how he went from “equation-driven” to “data-driven” - the role of simulations in optimisation, decision-making and automation - uses of simulation...