Margaret Mason
The Culverhouse Business Analytics Symposium, presented by the Institute of Data & Analytics, serves as a dynamic intersection between industry and academia.
This premier event brings together professionals from both areas to create a collaborative environment where knowledge and expertise are shared. The symposium showcases current analytic practices used in various industries and highlights the latest methodological advances developed within academic research.
New for 2024 are pre-Symposium presentations, workshops, and panels on Thursday, October 3.
See below for more details about the schedule and speakers or register for the Symposium and panel discussions.
Learn more about the IDA’s Southern Regional Drug Data Research Center (DDRC), funded by the United States Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Assistance to help communities across the Southeast combat the opioid crisis.
Registration for these sessions is separate from the Symposium and not required. Let us know you’re coming or interested in finding out more about the DDRC!
Session One: Accessible Drug Data to Drive Contextualized Decision-Making: Introduction to the Southern Regional Drug-Data Research Center (DDRC)
In this session, discover the new Southern Regional Drug Data Research Center (DDRC), a centralized data repository focused on opioid and drug data across 17 states in the southern half of the US: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas. Learn about the DDRC’s mission to consolidate information, provide resources to communities, and serve as a central hub for data analysis and knowledge dissemination. We will explore the DDRC’s data frameworks and underlying theories, demonstrating how it integrates and analyzes drug data to support evidence-based decision-making, promote contextualized knowledge, optimize resource allocation, and inform public policy and community interventions.
Session Two: Harnessing DDRC Data: Practical Applications, Interactive Visualizations, and Research Opportunities
Dive into the practical side of the DDRC with this detailed session. Discover the range of data currently available through our platform and see how it is presented using interactive visualizations created with Power BI. This presentation will showcase the user-friendly tools designed for public engagement and demonstrate how researchers and the public can utilize this data for studies and informed decision-making. Learn about real-world applications and the potential impact of DDRC’s data on addressing drug-related challenges.
Workshop: Data Visualization Principles
In this 2-hour workshop, participants will gain a foundational understanding of data visualization principles and techniques. This session will cover which types of visualizations are appropriate for various types of data. Attendees will get hands-on experience with popular data visualization tools, learning how to transform raw data into insightful resources to support strategic decision-making. By the end of the workshop, participants will be equipped with the skills to create compelling visualizations that enhance data interpretation and communication.
Panel Discussion: Industry and Academic Applications of Generative AI
Generative AI is a branch of artificial intelligence that creates new data from training data. In recent years, we have seen dramatic advancements in the technology across numerous domains, such as natural language processing, computer vision, audio synthesis, and more. In this panel session, we will explore the opportunities and challenges of this cutting-edge technology in industry and academics.
| Time | Session Title |
| 9:30 – 10:00 A.M. | Morning Refreshments |
| 10:00 – 10:45 A.M. | Accessible Drug Data to Drive Contextualized Decision-Making: Introduction to the Southern Regional Drug-Data Research Center (DDRC) |
| 10:45 – 11:00 A.M. | Break |
| 11:00 – 11:45 A.M. | Harnessing DDRC Data: Practical Applications, Interactive Visualizations, and Research Opportunities |
| 11:45 A.M. – 1:00 P.M. | Afternoon Refreshments |
| 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM | Principles of Data Visualization Workshop |
| 3:00 PM – 4:00 PM | Panel Session: Industry & Academic Applications of Generative AI |
| 4:00 PM – 5:30 PM | Reception/Mixer |
Derek Camp is the Senior Manager of Operational Analytics for Milo’s Tea Company. During his 11 years at Milo’s, Derek has served in analytical roles providing actionable insights in the areas of replenishment, sales, logistics, supply chain, quality, production, and maintenance. He currently manages a team that provides analytical support for Milo’s Operations. He holds a B.A. and M.A. from The University of Alabama.
The Role of a Data Analyst and How They Impact An Organization
The exact role of Data Analyst can vary depending on the organization, but the tasks generally revolve around the following items: reporting, automating, and generating insights. These tasks allow the company to measure KPIs, save time and make improvements. But Analysts can multiply this impact by having technical skills, domain knowledge and soft skills. Technical skills provide speed, domain knowledge provides greater insights and soft skills provide the relationship for implementation. In this presentation, I will speak about these six items in greater detail and provide real world examples that show the impact of a Data Analyst.
Jeremy Dumond is the Senior Director of Research, Insights & Analytics for the Dairy Foods division of Land O’Lakes, Inc. Jeremy leads a talented team of over 50 professionals with expertise in a range of topics spanning the entire business cycle in today’s dynamic Consumer Packaged Goods world. Working in close partnership with Research & Development, Marketing, Sales, Finance and Information Technology, Jeremy’s team provides best-in-class Thought Leadership to a division with annual sales in excess of $4 billion providing market access for over 13 billion pounds of milk annually.
Over the past several years, Jeremy’s team has driven a key initiative in partnership with the Land O’Lakes Foodservice sales and marketing teams to identify the highest opportunity sales targets for their highly valuable ‘Performance Cheese’ line of products. With hundreds of thousands of restaurants across the country, rapidly changing market conditions and a capacity constrained supply chain, it is imperative to optimize every Sales call and Marketing dollar invested. Additionally, new capabilities emerging in the Artificial Intelligence space offer exciting new opportunities to enhance these efforts and are underway in 2024. Jeremy will share the journey of this critical work, the impact that it has had on business results, and the exciting future ahead as technology and big data continue to drive opportunities for growth.
As the VP of Global Analytics at Paramount Pictures, Reeyaz Hamirani leads a multidisciplinary team that combines art with science to deliver insights that help the studio greenlight the most in-demand movies and maximize their potential in the marketing & distribution window.
Prior to joining Paramount Pictures – he built the analytics and audience intelligence practice within Lionsgate’s theatrical marketing department and served as Head of Creative Advertising for the Lionsgate Premiere slate of multi-platform films.
Before transitioning into entertainment – Reeyaz wore many hats at a marketing technology and identity management startup that has since been acquired by SAP, and flexed his early analytical muscles evaluating professional basketball prospects at a sports agency.
Passionate about diversity, inclusion, representation, and depiction within the entertainment and technology industries — Reeyaz supports several DEIA initiatives at Paramount Pictures and was one of the founding Executive Board members of Lionsgate’s Multicultural Employee Resource Group (MERG).
A Geo-“Political” Approach to Entertainment & Consumer Behavior
The Global Analytics & Data Science Team from Paramount Pictures has a unique approach to entertainment, which leverages a geographical strategy similar to how a political candidate would assess and optimize an election campaign. In this talk, Reeyaz Hamirani will shed light on how the team combines census data, box office data, content metadata, and more to establish correlative KPIs and identify “core” and “swing” markets for films. This approach gives the team an in-depth understanding of consumer behavior throughout the entire lifecycle of a movie, and unlocks the ability to produce impactful insights that aid greenlight, marketing, and distribution.
Coming soon
Coming soon
Jack is the Vice President of Global Solutions Operations responsible for delivering Xylem’s digital portfolio. He brings extensive experience in Cloud Services, Cyber Security, and outcome based solutions aligning to the utility sector. His team founded the smart metering Software as a Service business within Xylem which has grown to nearly 2000 unique utility customers in North American alone.
Topic: Utility adoption of Managed Solutions – a focus on cybersecurity considerations.
Jason Parton, Director, Institute of Data and Analytics / Associate Professor of Statistics
Kay M. Palan, Dean, Culverhouse College of Business
Janneke van Geuns, Head of Measurement & Analytics, Financial Services, Google
Complex problems, siloed departments, and lots of data make it difficult to make the right decisions. This is why Google and its customers embrace the power of measurement and analytics.
Charles Villarreal, VP, Director of Data Analytics, City Bank
Data is undisputedly one of the most valuable assets in business. The advanced analytics toolbox continues to expand at an incredible speed. Yet businesses consistently struggle to derive value from their data & analytics programs. This talk will explore how to drive business value with data & analytics by way of a systems thinking approach.
Ryan M. McKeon, Director, Office of Analytics, U.S. Department of State, Global Public Affairs
I will discuss the importance of open source information, how we gather it, and how our analysts use it to derive insights that improve senior decision makers’ understanding of events around the world.
Lance Roth, AI/ML Manager, Lockheed Martin Artificial Intelligence Center
Building AI solutions is hard. At Lockheed Martin, we are staying ahead of ready by applying artificial intelligence technologies and platforms to succeed in our customers’ mission. The Lockheed Martin Artificial Intelligence Center (LAIC) is setting the standard by being both the center of excellence and foundation for AI across the enterprise. The LAIC is providing the AI infrastructure, upskilling, and custom solutions that accelerate core competencies that are both inward and outward facing.
Krishna Cheriath, VP & Head of Digital Data and Analytics Zoetis
Since the advent of ChatGPT and the rapid acceleration of Large Language Models, Generative AI is at the peak of its hype cycle. Among the tech experts there are AI optimists and AI pessimists. There are those who are excited about the potential for creation of new business models, new ways of doing things and unlock further human productivity and creativity. But there are others who worry about the disruption and the displacement of the workforce, and the ethical and moral implications. This talk will focus on unpacking Generative AI, the potential, the risks and what are the essential building blocks that an organization will need to get right as the embark on a Generative AI journey.
Krishna Cheriath, VP & Head of Digital Data and Analytics, Zoetis
Since the advent of ChatGPT and the rapid acceleration of Large Language Models, Generative AI is at the peak of its hype cycle. Among the tech experts there are AI optimists and AI pessimists. There are those who are excited about the potential for creation of new business models, new ways of doing things and unlock further human productivity and creativity. But there are others who worry about the disruption and the displacement of the workforce, and the ethical and moral implications. This talk will focus on unpacking Generative AI, the potential, the risks and what are the essential building blocks that an organization will need to get right as the embark on a Generative AI journey.