Ai Mentors

Today's guest is Zachary Elewitz, Director of Data Science at WEX. Founded in 1983, WEX is a global leader in financial technology solutions. The company simplify the complexities of payment systems across continents and industries, with specialized solutions for fleet and mobility, corporate payments and employee benefits. With over 5,500 employees, WEX work with large and small companies in more than 200 countries and territories, and can tailor their services to meet the unique needs of their businesses. In the episode, Zachary will discuss: His background and current work he does with Wex, The working culture & day-to-day life of the team, Career advice on switching industries, Deciding what sort of Data Scientist you want to be, What he looks for when hiring into the team, Why to consider a career with Wex

Today's guest is Firas Lethaus, Head of the Deep Learning Expert Center at the Volkswagen Group. Headquartered in Wolfsburg, the Volkswagen Group is one of the world’s leading automobile manufacturers and the largest carmaker in Europe. Each working day, around 630,000 employees worldwide across the group's 12 brands are involved in vehicle-related services or work in the other fields within the business. The group's goal is to make mobility sustainable for our world today and for future generations. The Deep Learning Expert Center are responsible for the development and deployment of AI/data products within the Volkswagen group and their subsidiaries. These include  Elli, which develops solutions for private users and business at the many touchpoints between e-mobility and the wider transition underway in society to renewable energy, and CARIAD, which builds the leading tech stack for the automotive industry to make automotive mobility safer, more sustainable and more comfortable in a new way.

Today's guest is Danish Rafique, Head of Digitalization and Analytics at Bayer in Bavaria, Germany. Bayer is a global enterprise with core competencies in the Life Science fields of healthcare and agriculture. Their products and services are designed to benefit people and improve their quality of life. Bayer aims to create value through innovation, growth, and high earning power. Danish has over ten years of experience working in the ICT, automotive and healthcare industries. His key focus areas are within AI and cloud technologies, together with product management, strategic programs and commercial developments. He is passionate about leadership and mentoring, and he is always on the lookout for synergies across industries. In the episode, Danish will discuss: Key advice on making the move from academia into industry, Why Data Science in the Healthcare sector, The interesting projects they are working on at Bayer, The split between AI research and AI in production, The importance of decision-making and AI et

Today's guest is Nimish Parikh. Nimish is a strategic and results-oriented medical device marketing executive with over 16 years of industry experience working across some of the top medical device firms in the world. Earlier this year, Nimish founded Maiven, who are developing intelligent agents for healthcare. Prior to this role, Nimish was the Head of the global product management team for Philips Medical Digital and Computational Pathology Division. Nimish and his team were responsible for working with digital technology and artificial intelligence to revolutionize the treatment of cancer. In the episode, Nimish will discuss: Understanding the business side of AI, Interesting applications he is seeing within AI in Healthcare, The different complexities within the sector, The interesting work he did previously at Phillips, Commercialization of AI and The importance of the product management teams

Today's guest is Patrice Chaperon, Product Analytics Manager at Doctolib. Founded in 2013, Doctolib is now the leading eHealth service in Europe. Their aim is to simplify the life of physicians and healthcare facilities, as well as improve the healthcare access for patients. Patrice is an experienced Senior Analytics Manager with a demonstrated history of working in the internet and AdTech industries. He is a strong research professional skilled in Analytical Skills, Computer Science, Data, Reporting and Business insights. In the episode, Patrice will discuss: His journey to joining Doctolib, Doctolib’s work within the Healthcare sector, Interesting projects they are working on, Structuring the Data Analytics and Data Science teams, What it is like to work at Doctolib, Why he believes data science projects fail, and What the future of eHealth looks like

Today's guest is Michael Schrapp, Program Lead for Smart Fleet at Siemens Healthineers in Bavaria, Germany. Siemens Healthineers enables healthcare providers worldwide to increase value by empowering them on their journey towards expanding precision medicine, transforming care delivery, improving patient experience and digitalizing healthcare. A leader in medical technology, Siemens Healthineers is constantly innovating its portfolio of products and services in its core areas of diagnostic and therapeutic imaging and in laboratory diagnostics and molecular medicine. Siemens Healthineers is also actively developing its digital health services and enterprise services across the world. In the episode, Michael will discuss: How he got interested in AI and Data Analytics, Transitioning from academia into industry, Pros and cons of working with healthcare data, Interesting projects they are working on at Siemens Healthineers, How to add business value with Data Science & Analytics, and Challenges we n

Today's guest is Sanji Fernando, SVP of Artificial Intelligence and Analytics Platforms at Optum. Part of the UnitedHealthGroup, Optum is powering modern health care by connecting and serving the whole health system across 150 countries. They combine cutting-edge technology, the world’s largest health care database and vast expertise to improve health care delivery, quality and efficiency. They are on a mission to help people live healthier lives and to help make the health system work better for everyone. Sanji is responsible for leading the AI & Platforms team for Optum Enterprise Analytics in Massachusetts. His team develops AI solutions that predict disease progression, classify medical charts to support risk adjustment and models that recommend the next best action in care, as well as developing the E2E platform for analytics and AI development for OEA. Sanji also leads the education and community building for best practice and use of platforms tools for analytics professionals and data sci

Today's guests are Sandro Phan, Senior Recruiter of Data & Tech and Jesus Martínez-Blanco, Senior Data Scientist at Flixbus in Berlin. Launched in 2013, Flixbus believe in a vision of offering smart and green mobility for everyone to experience the world. They are a young mobility provider offering a sustainable and comfortable journey through Europe and the United States with an ever-expanding network of more than 350,000 daily connections to 2,000 destinations in 29 countries. Flixbus provides customers with a green and comfortable means of transport that fits any budget. Together with their regional bus partners, their fleet of 2000 green buses offers state-of-the-art comfort with free WiFi, innovative ticketing-systems, flexible online booking, their own smartphone-app and CO2 compensation. Thanks to their unique business model and innovative technology, they have quickly established one of the largest long-distance mobility networks in the world. In the episode,  Sandro and Jesus will discuss: M

Today's guest is Lauren Moores, Head of Data Science Innovation at Flagship Pioneering. Lauren loves using dirty and disparate data to optimize business practices by revealing relevant metrics and insightful stories. With more than 20 years in data & technology strategy, science and data creation, she loves mentoring others to structure, 'speak' and think data. Flagship Pioneering conceives, creates, resources, and develops first-in-category life sciences companies to transform human health and sustainability. Since its launch in 2000, the firm has applied a unique, hypothesis-driven innovation process to originate and foster more than 100 scientific ventures, resulting in over $30 billion in aggregate value. In the episode, Lauren will tell you about: How she got involved in technology and Data Science, Her passion for applying data in Life Sciences, What a great Data Scientist looks like, Advice on moving into a leadership role, How to attract more diversity in Data Science, & Le

Today's guest is Alexander O’Connor, Lead Data Scientist at Autodesk in San Francisco. Autodesk makes software for people who make things. If you’ve ever driven a high-performance car, admired a towering skyscraper, used a smartphone or watched a great film, chances are you’ve experienced what millions of Autodesk customers are doing with their software. Autodesk gives you the power to make anything. Alex leads a team whose purpose is to help the customer to get the answer they need by allowing them to state their problem in their own words. The team is dedicated to enhancing support. They work in an agile fashion to deliver projects that leverage a variety of Machine Learning tools and have access to a fantastic store of data in many forms, all of which can be mined for insight, automation and prediction. In the episode, Alex will tell you about: Applying Machine Learning & Data Science at Autodesk, What he loves most about his job, Making the transition from academia to industry, The pote

Today's guest is Ian Macomber, Director of Analytics at Drizly, who are the world's largest alcohol marketplace and the best way to shop beer, wine and spirits. Their customers trust them to be part of their lives – their celebrations, parties, dinners and quiet nights at home. They are there when it matters - committed to life's moments and the people who create them. Drizly partner with the best retail stores in over 1200 cities across North America to serve up the best buying experience. Drizly offers a huge selection and competitive pricing with a side of personalized content. In his role, Ian is responsible for leading Drizly's Data Science, Analytics Data Engineering and Business Intelligence teams. In the episode, Ian will tell you about: The work he does at Drizly, the world's largest alcohol marketplace, How COVID-19 has impacted the business, The skills he has learned in his experience to date, Figuring out the real business problems you are looking to solve, Build vs Buy: the im

Today's guest is Kate Strachnyi, founder of DATAcated Academy & Story by Data. Kate is regarded as one of Linkedin's Top Voices in Data Science & Analytics. An author, podcast host and advisory board member, her focus is to provide custom Linkedin content strategy solutions for companies focused on innovating in the data science, machine learning and the AI space. Set up in March 2020, DATAcated Academy offers training data analysts on how to design effective and beautiful data visualizations. She is focused on delivering a visual best practices course that is product-agnostic. Additionally, they run the DATAcated challenge that includes crowd-sourcing information on various data-related topics, with a variety of prizes for select winners. In the episode, Kate will tell you about: Her contributions to the Data Science community The motivation for founding DATAcated academy Educating organizations on maximising their data Balancing the workload Upcoming projects and what’s in store for t

Today's guest is Doug Laney, Principal of Data & Analytics strategy at Caserta. Doug is an experienced thought leader, consultant, advisor, author, speaker and instructor on data and analytics strategy topics. He is the originator of the field of Infonomics and author of the best-selling book, "Infonomics: How to Monetize, Manage, and Measure Information for Competitive Advantage." He currently helps leading organizations conceive, architect and implements ways to innovate with their available data to drive increased business value from them at Caserta. Doug consults to chief data officers and other data/analytics leaders on best practices for managing, monetizing and measuring their information assets. In the episode, Doug will tell you about: Interesting projects he is working on at Caserta, Common trends they are helping organisations embrace within Data & Analytics, Key learnings from his best-selling book Infonomics, What he enjoys about working within Consulting, Advice

Today's guest is Bill Schmarzo, Chief Innovation Officer at Hitachi Vantara. Bill Schmarzo is regarded as one of the top Digital Transformation influencers on Big Data and Data Science. His career spans over 30 years in data warehousing, BI and advanced analytics. Currently, “The Dean of Big Data” guides Hitachi Vantara's technology strategy and drives “co-creation” efforts with select customers to leverage IoT and analytics to power digital transformation. Bill formerly served as CTO of Big Data at Dell EMC and as the VP of Analytics at Yahoo! Bill is passionate about teaching his students and followers how to Think Like a Data Scientist, an approach advocating the capacity to learn concepts and methodologies, enabling transferable skills in a world driven by the rapid introduction and adoption of new tools and open source frameworks. In the episode, Bill will tell you about: How he got interested in Data Analytics, What he learned during his time with Yahoo and Dell EMC, Balancing his day-to-

Today's guest is Adam Waksman, Director of Engineering at BlackRock. Adam is an Executive Technology Leader with a focus on enterprise software delivery, product strategy, data management and data science, as well as CTO experience and knowledge of organizational design. He is also an accomplished scientist and mathematician, having made scientific contributions across fields in computer science, data science and neuroscience. BlackRock is a global asset manager who helps investors build better financial futures. As a fiduciary to investors and a leading provider of financial technology, BlackRock's clients turn to them for the solutions they need when planning for their most important goals. Launching over 30 years ago, their founding mission was to establish a firm that thinks differently about managing investment risks to best serve our clients, and this is still at their core today. In the episode, Scott will discuss: Transitioning his career into leadership, Advice to academics moving into industry, What

Today's guest is Scott Taylor, who is commonly known as "The Data Whisperer." Scott has helped countless companies “calm data down” by enlightening business executives to the strategic value of master data and proper data management. He focuses on business alignment and the “strategic WHY” rather than system implementation and the “technical HOW.” He also acts as Principal Consultant for MetaMeta Consulting – A Data Story Boutique. An avid business evangelist and original thinker, Scott continually shares his passion for the strategic value of master data through industry events, public speaking opportunities, blogs, videos, whitepapers, podcasts, cartoons, puppets shows and all forms of thought leadership. He has also worked with global enterprises by representing some of the world’s most iconic business data brands including Dun & Bradstreet, Nielsen and Microsoft. In the episode, Scott will discuss: His interesting work in helping enterprises tell their data story, The role of Data Management within Da

Today host Mark Kelly speaks with Marco Morales, Senior Director of Data Science at NBCUniversal Media in New York. As part of the leadership of a corporate-level group that builds data products, develops tools and supports strategic decisions with data across all NBCUniversal business units, Marco is leading the integration of linear and digital forecasting in a unified platform to provide a comprehensive view of the total audience for all NBCUniversal's TV properties. Marco has successfully architected and led a team of data scientists, data engineers and consultants to migrate data and forecasting pipelines that feed the forecasting platform to open-source which reduced data and forecasting processing time by 50%. He also provided methodological guidance and led the development of novel methodologies to automate monitoring of 5K+ forecasts in production, including early indicators of changes in TV viewership. In the episode, Marco will discuss: Transitioning from Political Science into Data Science, Transf

Today's guest is Cameron Davies, former SVP of Corporate Decision Sciences at NBC Universal. Cameron was responsible for both the Corporate Management Sciences and their News Group Insights teams. His work included working on the development and execution of advanced analytics, data and research strategies, driving NBCU priorities such as leveraging Big Data, personalization of content, monetization strategies, alternative measurements and customer insights. In the episode, Cameron will tell you about: Transitioning from academia into industry, His amazing experience with Disney, The importance of empathy, Building trust & maintaining strong relationships, How AI is impacting the customer experience within media, and Advice to Data Scientists coming into industry

Today's guest is Wally Lo Faro, VP of Data Science at Mastercard. Wally has successfully built the data science capabilities and team in MasterCard Operations and Technology over the past five years. He is responsible for applying advanced techniques for improving and maintaining data quality of very large data sets, information product ideation and development as well as applying data science principles for process improvement. Wally has applied techniques from the areas of mathematics, machine learning, information retrieval, text analysis and statistics to design highly scalable approximate string matching systems, data quality monitoring and alerting systems, and fraud detection applications. He has also worked in designing marketing analytics and modeling environments, as well as building scalable and personalized recommendation engines. In the episode, Wally will tell you about: Interesting projects he is leading at Mastercard, How his role has evolved in his 13 years with the company, Transitioning&nbs

Today's guest is Gokcen Aygenc, Director of Analytics at Blue Apron. Founded in 2012, Blue Apron are reimagining the way that food is produced, distributed and consumed. Their core product is the cooking experience with original recipes designed along with fresh, seasonal ingredients directly to customers. They are building a better food system that benefits consumers, food producers and the planet. Gokcen leads a team of data analysts to coordinate demand forecasting related inputs (brand marketing strategies, programs, promotional calendar, launches) for a reconciliation to the financial forecast and procurement schedule. Prior to her current role, she served as an executive at various business analysis roles at Quontigo, Blackberry, Acer, and Hewlett Packard in Istanbul, Dubai and New York. In the episode, Gokcen will discuss: Developing her technical and people skills within different cultures, How to use predictive analytics effectively within your business, What to look for in hiring Data Scientist