Overview
While data analytics has become a hot topic in industries, it has also fundamentally changed how schools think and deliver their MBA education. Many schools, including Lehigh University, have incorporated business analytics into their curriculum. From a manager’s perspective, data analytics has become an essential and fundamental skillset for improved decision making. For MBA students (different from computer science students) who have years of experience and are moving toward top management, their understanding of data analytics must be combined with business domain knowledge to be meaningful, for example marketing analytics, healthcare analytics, etc.
This symposium introduces and focuses on the idea of “data analytics + domain”. The symposium is to provide corporate partners an opportunity to engage with leading expert thinkers at the cutting edge of this topic to discuss the impact 0f “data analytics+” over the next 5-10 years.
Theme: Thriving in Data Analytics+ Era
Date: Friday, March 26, 2021
Time: 8:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
Location: Virtual
Format
Five expert speakers from academia and industry will present how data analytics could change the field they are in over the next 5-10 years. After hearing from the experts, the second half of the symposium will focus on how Lehigh's MBA Program can take on these challenges.
Schedule
- 8:30 a.m. - Morning Coffee Topics
- 8:45 a.m. - Welcome from Georgette Phillips, Kevin L. and Lisa A. Clayton Dean of the College of Business
- 9:00 a.m. - Expert Presentations
- 5 speakers (15 minutes each including Q&A)
- 10:30 a.m. - Break
- 10:40 a.m. - History, Present and Future of the Lehigh MBA
- Associate Dean Oliver Yao’s Presentation (30 minutes)
- Breakout Session (30 minutes)
- Summary and Discussion (30 minutes)
Registration
The Symposium is free! Reserve your virtual spot here
Detailed agenda and Zoom information will follow once you register.
Meet the Expert Speakers
Ash Buonasera, Director of People Analytics, Principal Financial Group
Dr. Ash Buonasera recently joined the Principal Financial Group, where he leads the People Analytics team, focusing on answering high-profile talent-related questions. As a human resources leader, he believes a strategic and analytic approach to human capital can turn programs traditionally viewed as cost burdens into valuable levers that improve business performance. Dr. Buonasera brings a Ph.D. mindset with experience managing and analyzing workforce metrics, to ensure investments in people are made with rigor, discipline, and an understanding of their intended business impact. With experience in talent analytics, talent management, human capital reporting, and program evaluation, he helps organizations develop a rational framework to manage their human capital assets in a disciplined and structured fashion, similar to its approach to its financial assets.
At Principal, Ash leads a team which is responsible for conducting analysis that provides insights to enhance management’s investment in the people who support the organization’s drive to achieve its objectives. Such work leverages cutting-edge data science techniques and methods that touch upon all aspects of the employee lifecycle. Ash is also a lecturer at Columbia University, School of Professional Studies, where he teaches People Analytics and Decision-Making, as well as Digital HR and the Digital Workplace, that are both parts of the Human Capital Management Program.
Dr. Buonasera’s educational background includes a Ph.D. in Quantitative Psychology from the University of Kansas and an MS in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from Baruch College, City University of New York. Prior to joining Principal, Ash held talent management and talent analytic positions at Gartner, Liberty Mutual Insurance, DaVita Healthcare Partners, and Marriott International.
Eric Fang, Lehigh University
Professor Fang is Professor of Marketing and Iacocca Chair of Marketing. He is also the founding director of Center of Digital Marketing Strategy and Analytics. Before joining Lehigh University in August 2020, he spent 12 years at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, as Assistant Professor (2008-2012), Associate Professor (2012-2016), and Professor of Marketing and James Tower Fellow (2016-2020). Professor Fang’s research focuses on digital marketing strategy in data-rich environment, and international business. He has more than 30 articles in leading marketing and management journals such as Journal of Marketing, Journal of Marketing Research, Marketing Science, MIS Quarterly, Organization Science, and Journal of International Business Studies. His research includes online community, user generated content, online advertising, digital customization, and online platform strategy. His research has been focused on and sponsored by digital companies such as Alibaba, Tencent, JD, Netease, among others. From 2007-2017, Eric Fang was ranked 9th worldwide in publications in leading marketing journals such as Journal of Marketing and Journal of Marketing Research.
His research has won best Journal of Marketing and Journal and Retailing Best Paper Award, AMA Service Paper Award and has been featured several times in the Economist, Advertising Age, and other publications. He was awarded Marketing Science Institute (MSI) Young Scholar in year 2011, and AMA Varadarajan Award for Early Career Contributions to Marketing Strategy Research in year 2015.
Ricky Tan, Tulane University
Yinliang (Ricky) Tan is the Executive Director of Goldring Institute of International Business and an Assistant Professor in the A.B. Freeman School of Business at the Tulane University. He has rich teaching experience in operations management and business analytics at both undergraduate and graduate levels. His work has been accepted for publication in several premier academic journals. Currently, he is a Senior Editor at the Production and Operations Management and Associate Editor at the Decision Science Journal. He is recognized as one of the 40 Most Outstanding Business Professors Under 40 worldwide by Poets & Quants. He has also received the Carol J. Latta Emerging Leadership Award for Outstanding Early Career Scholars by Decision Science Institute.
Sidd Bhattacharya, Director, Healthcare Analytics & AI, PwC
As part of Sidd Bhattacharya's work, he advises and leads healthcare/life sciences companies through AI enabled transformations. He conceptualized and delivered industry first products on AI enabled automation & analytics in a FDA validated domain area. He led multiple life sciences companies from designing an AI enabled business strategy to building & implementing products (incl. value accrual). Sidd is currently leading industry first implementation of MLOps and responsible AI at enterprise level. He manages a team of over 40 resources globally to deliver AI enabled projects & products. Sidd is a speaker at multiple conferences on cloud, AI and has a patent pending invention.
Troy Adair, Lehigh University
Dr. Adair received his BS degree in computers/information science from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, his MBA from the University of North Dakota, and his PhD in business from Indiana University. Prior to joining Lehigh University, his previous positions included managing research computing infrastructure and support services for Harvard Business School; acting as a senior business intelligence consultant in the financial services industry to HSBC, JP Morgan Chase, and the United Services Automobile Association (USAA); serving as the banking/risk management professor for the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan; and overseeing a variety of academic functions as the Associate Provost/Associate Vice President for Institutional Effectiveness at Berkeley College.
Dr. Adair is a vocal advocate for the use of technology to enhance business processes, and is the author of numerous textbooks leveraging technology in the business decision-making processes, including Finance: Applications & Theory (5th ed, McGraw-Hill), Corporate Finance Demystified (2nd edition, McGraw-Hill), Business Analytics (forthcoming, John Wiley and Sons, Inc.), and Investments (forthcoming, Cengage Learning).