Carol DeZwarte, CAP
Carol is a data scientist who excels at developing a trust-based culture where scientists thrive, and improves effectiveness, efficiency, and sales through data. As a CAP and PMP, she has been delivering results for 20 years – from patenting an inventory method for the U.S. military that saved more than $400M to defining network strategy for a $10B online retailer.
ASK ME ANYTHING – Industry insights, career guidance, and real-world case studies
Mechie Nkengla, CEO & Chief Data Strategist,
Data Products LLC
The world needs dreamers that do – Success and significance!
Janine Kamath, Executive Director, Mayo Clinic International
Andrew Blake
Managing Director
Opening Bell Ventures
Success is NOT a straight line!
- The importance of building your personal "Board of Advisors"
- Identifying your strengths and building on them
- Enjoying the journey and taking risks
Andrew has more than 25 years of experience leading digital transformation in the financial services, insurance, and consumer sectors. Prior to joining Opening Bell Ventures, Andrew led data transformation efforts for Ally Financial, including the establishment of Ally’s award-winning Data-To-Intelligence Program, focused on enabling data to be a competitive organizational asset. Prior to Ally, Andrew led digital transformation initiatives at LPL Financial, Wells Fargo, and OneBeacon Insurance Group, dramatically improving the customer experience by empowering stakeholders to leverage data insights more effectively.
Nirmit Chetwani
Manager, Data Science
Amazon
Finding success in
e-commerce
- Cross-cutting data science and analytics concepts as applied to e-commerce industry (what you need to land a job in e-commerce/tech companies).
- Pros and cons of working as an analytics professional in a startup and tech giants (helpful for shortlisting what roles could suit you).
- Difference between identifying what your stakeholders want vs. what they need (in the context of science/analytics problems), which is critical to success in any role.
Nirmit is a scientist at Amazon with experience in analytics/data-science domain, both as a team leader and an individual contributor. He is passionate about applications of data science to the problems in e-commerce and likes working in a fast-paced environment. He is inspired by the work done at Code.org, and envisions an education system for the underprivileged in India that helps them rise beyond "making their ends meet."
Janine Kamath
Executive Director
Mayo Clinic International
Janine is the executive director at Mayo Clinic International. Over the last seven years, she served as chair of the Department of Management Engineering and Consulting, and is an assistant professor in Health Care Systems Engineering in the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science. Prior to Mayo, Janine was a manager in two large pharmaceutical companies. At Mayo, she has advanced and led multiple strategic initiatives. Janine is engaged with various Mayo national and international leaders and governance committees. She has a passion for entrepreneurship, diverse talent growth and driving results in a dynamic environment through empowered high-performing teams.
Mechie Nkengla
CEO | Chief Data Strategist
Data Products LLC
ASK ME ANYTHING - Industry insights: Gain valuable knowledge about current trends, emerging technologies, and best practices in data and analytics. Career guidance: Receive advice on essential skills, job search strategies, networking, and professional development to enhance your career prospects. Real-world case studies: Learn from my successes and challenges.
BIO
Mechie is focused on helping organizations improve performance, effectively leverage their data assets, and understand the possibilities of emerging technologies including data science, machine learning, artificial intelligence, big data, and the Internet of Things. Aligning technology vision and strategy with business goals and objectives in creating holistic continuous solutions that drive continuous ROI.
Kermit Threatte
Director, Operations Research
Shopify
Kermit is the director of Operations Research at Shopify and leads a team focused on strategic supply chain network design and the creation and automation of supply chain and call center decision engines, including call-center scheduling, inventory balancing, and inventory placement. Prior to Shopify, Kermit had a similar role at Wayfair, but spent most of his career (16+ years) as a consultant focused on optimization, machine learning, and analytics. The majority of his consulting experience was working on various aspects of retail supply chains.
Kermit holds an SM in Operations Research from the MIT Operations Research Center and an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management.
Doug Trent
Senior Data Scientist
NASA
Doug is a senior data scientist in the Office of the CIO, leading intern teams to accelerate adoption of AI technologies in support of NASA’s digital transformation strategy. Projects include data mining, machine learning, computervision, information retrieval, natural language processing, robotic process automation, model-based systems engineering, knowledge analytics, IoT devices, and augmented/virtual reality.