Bringing data storytellers together to talk
about creating change and making things happen
Bringing data storytellers together to talk
about creating change and making things happen
Everyone wants to be someone that makes an impact but what does it mean to be someone who does that?
To us, it’s someone that makes things happen. Someone that believes in a better way. Someone that creates change.
So join us around the virtual stage for a jammed-packed, digital summit focused on what it means to be a change-maker in the data and analytics space.
Listen to sessions from both of our stages- without all the crowds and sweat of an actual festival. We've curated on-demand and live sessions for you to enjoy through these 3 days. Plus, we've got some actual music to listen up our sleeves as well!
Stage 1
This track is all about leaders in the data and analytics space giving you their advice and stories about how they have created change in their careers.
Stage 2
This track is all about the tools that can take you where you want to go. Whether it's creating a new process or perfecting your current one, learn about the companies that can help you get there.
Narrative Science CEO + Co-founder Welcomes you to the Data Changemakers Festival.
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10:50-11a CT
Join Narrative Science CEO + Co-founder for a quick welcome to our festival.
Narrative Science CEO + Co-Founder
The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly: How to Drive Disruptive Innovation at Large Enterprises
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11-11:30a CT
If you are in business today, you have no choice but to embrace transformation. Join this fireside chat with the CTO of Nokia + President of Bell Labs, Marcus Weldon hosted by Narrative Science VP of Marketing, Cassidy Shield, as they talk through what most leaders get wrong about driving innovation and how not to be left behind.
CTO at Nokia and President of Bell Labs
Marcus Weldon is responsible for coordinating the technical strategy across Nokia and driving technological and architectural innovations into Nokia’s end-to-end networking systems and software portfolio. In addition, as President of Bell Labs, Marcus is responsible for defining and creating the next disruptive innovations and the pioneering research that will form the foundation of the future ICT industry. Marcus is considered one of the luminaries in the ICT industry in terms of the clarity, depth and breadth of his vision. He combines his vision with the power of Bell Labs, to create a unique innovation engine whose goal is to ‘invent the future’ of the networking and communications industry.
Marcus holds a Ph.D. (Physical Chemistry) degree from Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, and a Bachelor of Science (Computer Science and Chemistry) joint degree from King’s College in London, UK. But more than these formal academic credentials, Marcus has a relentless curiosity that, coupled with a very analytical mind, drives him to continuously learn and to understand any problem from a wide array of different angles, and in remarkable depth, across a diverse array of disciplines.
Marcus has won numerous technical, scientific and engineering society awards for his work and technical vision and leadership throughout his career, but is arguably best known for his ability to distill complex, multi-dimensional problems into the essential ‘simple’ answer or solution that should be pursued. For this reason, he is highly sought after as an advisor to governmental agencies and departments in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and around the world, as well as to industrial and enterprise CxOs, to venture capitalists and private equity funds, and the larger investment community.
Humanize AI and Infused Analytics Everywhere
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11:45-12:15p CT
Hear from Guy Levy-Yurista, Chief Strategy Officer at Sisense, about humanizing data and revolutionizing how we interact with AI.
Chief Strategy Officer at Sisense
Guy leads Sisense corporate strategy. He is responsible for developing, communicating and sustaining key corporate initiatives. His experience spans Fortune 500, VC organizations and startups like AirPatrol and TrustDigital. He holds in-depth knowledge of analytics, social media, mobile, telecommunications, cyber-security, and optical technologies. As a thought leader and sought after speaker, Guy leads Sisense into new areas within the data and analytics industry.
Connect Data and Consumer Insights to Drive Real Business Transformation
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12:30-1p CT
Join Dr. Rajkumar Venkatesan, marketing analytics expert, to learn about real, easily implemented strategies to efficiently use both consumer and data insights to drive change at your organization.
Ronald Trzcinski Professor of Business Administration at the Darden Business School at the University of Virginia
Rajkumar Venkatesan is the Ronald Trzcinski Professor of Business Administration at the Darden Business School at the University of Virginia. Raj has written about and taught quantitative marketing to MBA and executive education students worldwide. At Darden he has taught a course on marketing analytics for more than ten years, and a course on marketing technology products for five years. His experience in these courses translated into the books, Cutting Edge Marketing Analytics, published by Pearson Education in 2014, and AI Marketing Canvas, published by Stanford University Press in 2021. More than 250,000 individuals have participated in his Coursera course on marketing analytics.
How to identify & break down Analytics Silos
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1:15 -1:45p CT
Organizations face 3 primary challenges when deploying advanced analytics – data silos, language barriers, & tooling. Making data science business-relevant requires bridging the analytics gap between BI and ML teams. In this session, we will show you how to identify the key characteristics of “analytics silos” and offer strategies for breaking them down.
Director of Product Marketing at Snowflake
Mike’s passion is data analytics and data storytelling. Mike joined Snowflake in early 2019 and currently oversees the Machine Learning technology partner ecosystem. Prior to Snowflake, he led product marketing at real-time monitoring and analytics startup SignalFx and enjoyed 5 years at Tableau teaching visualization best practices and data theory to journalists, led the technical product marketing team, and established Tableau’s Enterprise and IT positioning. You’ll find Mike out on the water most weekends exploring the Puget Sound and the San Juan Islands with his wife and two kids
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Proclaimed to be the “Bill Murray of rock n’ roll” for their ability to fit in on wildly diverse music festivals and bills, U.S.-based rock band, Ballroom Boxer, is all about the raw tones and swift melodies they formed together from their music rich hometowns of Akron, Chicago, and Nashville. Over the past 7 years, they’ve shared stages with the Whigs, Bastille, Dinosaur Pileup, Kodaline, AM Taxi, Brick + Mortar, and Waters and graced festivals including SXSW, Lollapalooza after shows and made tour stops in NYC, Chicago, Nashville, and Cape Town, South Africa. The band cut their first full-length album, Tides, at Steve Albini’s Electrical Audio with producers Gordon Raphael (the Strokes), Jon San Paolo (Foo Fighters), and Tim Rusin (three-time Emmy nominated engineer) on vinyl and available at all Reckless Records stores. They followed up with two more EPs, A Little Wild and their latest 2020 effort, Joyride, to local acclaim, tackling sharp subjects like inequality, culture, and economics. Joyride features new kinds of sonic brushes that include super-soaked 90s nostalgia lathered in pop, creating a dynamic album that ranges from the introspective grooves like “Lost in America” to Summer banger “Joyride” to building rock ballad “Dare Greatly.
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On Demand
Using curiosity and compassion to uncover the story is key to augmenting analytics strategy and maximizing the effectiveness of your results.
Some topics include:
Epidemiologist, Biostatistician, and data scientist
Uohna Thiessen is an epidemiologist, biostatistician, and data scientist. She works as a consultant providing data analysis, data science, and machine learning services for clients in many fields. She has worked with healthcare practitioners to develop models that predict the level of disease risk for their patient population. She has developed a new formula for predicting the risk of heart disease that dynamic and utilizes the power of the customer recommendation algorithms systems, and she is collaborating with cardiologists in creating a patient-friendly app based on this algorithm. Her many years of teaching high school math and statistics to graduate students were led to her consulting with graduate students and academic researchers in designing, analyzing and reporting their research findings in successfully defending their dissertation or submission for publication in professional journals. She has a passion for statistics and its application in the field of machine learning and has created several projects and has written about the benefits of applying ML in the field of public health and primary care medicine. She holds a PhD in epidemiology from Walden University and when not practicing, talking, or reading about data science, she enjoys learning about neuroscience and how the brain functions.
Teaching Machines to Tell Data Stories to Humans: the End of Self-Service Analytics
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11-11:30a CT
James Richardson, Research Director at Gartner, will answer the following questions:
– How can data storytelling techniques boost decision-makers’ engagement with data?
– What are the shortfalls in human-made data stories?
– How is literary criticism helping machines learn to tell data stories?
– How might automated ML/AI-based data storytelling change how analytics is done?
Senior Director: Analyst, Business Analytics & Data Science at Gartner
James Richardson is a Gartner Analyst, focusing on business analytics. This includes writing about and advising organizations on market trends, vendors and best practices. Of particular interest are the areas of analytic technology and practice that drive peoples’ engagement with data, including data visualization and storytelling, augmented analytics, and the ongoing consumerization of these techniques. Mr. Richardson first joined Gartner in 2007 and was with the company for six years. He rejoined Gartner in 2016 after four years in the marketing and products teams at software vendor Qlik. Before that, he spent 13 years with software vendor Hyperion Solutions in various roles, concluding his time with the company in a global market intelligence role, delivering competitive intelligence to field operations and strategic analysis to senior management. Prior to that, he worked in software development for a European system integrator on industrial control systems for industry. James is a published author and even spent some time as an advertising copywriter.
ETL Isn’t Just for Data Scientists: How to Solve Hard Data Problems with Simple User Experience
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11:45a-12:15p CT
ETL isn’t just for data scientists anymore. Customers, product teams, implementation teams, and more all need it. Join this fireside chat with the CEO of Flatfile, David Boskovic hosted by Narrative Science Sr Director of Customer Success, Teddy Griffin, as they talk through how to solve the hard data problems for the non-data scientists in your organization.
Founder + CEO at Flatfile
Coming Soon
Why People Aren’t Using Your Data Insights and What to Do About It
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12:30-1p
In order to drive change through data, you need people to both understand it and actually use it to make new, better decisions. Join Scott Francis, Solutions Architect at AWS, to learn how to put your data insights into a strategic narrative using the Hero’s Journey framework.
Solutions Architect at AWS
Scott Francis has over 20 years’ experience leading complex and technical products and services. He has spent his career in technology leading and transforming teams to solve real problems. He currently works as a solutions consultant at Amazon Web Services and has served at CTO at companies like Robert Half and THX Ltd.
Panel: Data Storytelling and Driving Change Through Data
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1:15-2p CT
A panel of business leaders share their advice on how they have driven innovation through creating a data culture.
CTO at Fike Corporation, COO for Otus, VP, Operations & Strategy at WhiteHat Security
Josh Batz:
Josh is the CTO of Fike Corporation. Fike Corporation is in its 75th year as a manufacturer of engineered safety systems designed to protect from catastrophic industrial hazards. Before becoming CTO, worked in other roles across the enterprise: operations, engineering, business systems, sales, and as a current member of the board of directors. He is currently engaged in a complete overhaul of all business systems that will result in a single Salesforce-based, cloud operating platform for Fike’s entire global enterprise. Josh received a Mechanical Engineering degree from the University of Missouri. He is a mentor at the UMKC Institue for Entrepreneurship & Innovation and an Advisory board member for STEM at St Teresa’s Academy and Rockhurst High School.
Keith Westman:
A lifelong educator, Keith Westman has spent his entire professional career working in K-12 education and education-related fields. After serving as a middle school principal, a technology coordinator, and a third-grade teacher, Keith became the fourth employee of Aspex Solutions (acquired by Frontline Education in 2014) and led the sales and marketing efforts which led to Aspex serving over 3,000 school district clients throughout the US, Canada, and Asia. Keith now serves as the Chief Operating Office at Chicago-based Otus. In addition to his day job, Keith serves as an adjunct professor in the Graduate College of Education at DePaul University in Chicago. Keith has a doctorate in curriculum and instruction from Loyola University Chicago, a master’s degree in education from DePaul University and a bachelor’s degree in elementary education from National-Louis University.
Tanya Gay:
Tanya Gay is responsible for Operations and Strategy at WhiteHat. She is a seasoned leader of Global Operations and Strategy, specializing in go-to-market identifying deficiencies, potential opportunities, developing innovative and cost-effective solutions to enhance competitiveness, revenues, customer service and company profitability. Prior to WhiteHat, Tanya held Strategy and Operational leadership position in cyber security-focused industries for over 10 years.
Hosted by: Mickey Rausch, Customer Success Manager at Narrative Science
Applying Agile Principles to Your Data Initiative
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On Demand
Real change doesn’t happen all at once. Especially in large organizations. Doug will share best practices as he’s applied agile principles to data work inside some of the world’s largest organizations to create change, faster.
Direct of Client Experience at RevUnit
Doug Mitchell is a director of client experience at RevUnit, a data technology studio. He has delivered a diverse range of digital products for Fortune 500 companies that focus on helping enterprise teams create change with their data, faster. When Doug isn’t ensuring client success or leading great teams, you can find him brushing up on the art of crucial conversations, negotiation, and collaboration. He also makes killer homemade peanut butter.
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Cannon Cooley and Marc Altimari, known as “MilcMan,” started collaborating in college. They found their voice playing at dive bars and in backyard parties in Madison, WI.
Then, Cannon Cooley jetted off around the country with his guitar in a converted 1988 ambulance, sharing his music with anyone who would listen, while MilcMan headed to medical school and continued to play in a family cover band with his dad and sister.
COVID-19 brought the duo back together to release the EP “Bad Breath” in 2020, which they recorded and produced virtually, 1,000 miles apart.
Their new single, “Cinnamon & Lemonade,” released January 2021, is a taste of summer in winter and pays homage to their college drink of choice: Fireball and lemonade.
The duo plans to release a new album in 2021 entitled Egomaniacs.
Driving Change Starts with Culture
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10-10:30a CT
Join Elissa Fink, Board Member, Advisor and former CMO of Tableau, to learn about how to truly drive a data-driven culture in your organization, and how that is what leads to real and tangible change.
Board Member, Advisor and Former Tableau CMO
Elissa Fink was Tableau Software’s CMO for over 11 years and retired at the end of 2018. She is credited with driving marketing strategy and execution through all stages of growth, taking the company from a small startup with ~$5 million in revenue to a publicly held industry leader with over $1 billion. Elissa built the Tableau brand and cultivated the enthusiastic Tableau fanbase from just a few hundred to hundreds of thousands. Now, she serves on corporate boards including Talend (NASDAQ:TLND), Pantheon, Qumulo and Uberflip, as well as not-for-profit boards Salmon-Safe and Operation Fistula.
It’s not the tool, it’s the relationship.
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10:45-11:15a CT
Hear from Donald Farmer, Principal; at Treehive Strategy, about why and how your vendor relationships can make or break your success.
Principal at TreeHive Strategy
Donald Farmer is an internationally respected speaker and writer with over 30 years of experience in data management and analytics. He advises investors, software vendors, and enterprises on data and analytics strategy. In addition to working with startups, Donald led teams at Microsoft and Qlik, building some of the most important and innovative analytics platforms on the market.
His consultancy, TreeHive Strategy, works globally with teams from the newest startups to some of the worlds largest businesses. In addition to data and analytics strategy, Donald frequently consults on governance and compliance issues, particularly for companies implementing self-service architectures. His workshops on innovation strategy have helped to drive significant changes in numerous businesses in fields as diverse as fashion design and high-tech manufacturing.
Data + Analytics Career Growth Panel
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11:30a-12:15p
A panel of leaders in the data and analytics space share their learnings about how they have navigated their careers and what they have learned along the way.
Data Journalist and Creator of #BuffaloBusinessIntelligence, Sr. Director, Insights & Data Storytelling @ Blast Analytics, Founder of Data Story Academy & Co-Founder of Decisive Data, Founder of DATAcated
Kimberly Herrington:
Kimberly has a wealth of experience getting hands-on with data in the health world and is excited to find stories in numbers. She stays on top of health analytics trends to create clever data stories and content that bring value to a variety of organizations. She currently holds the world-wide title of “2020 Data Literacy Advocate of the Year” and has also been recognized as one of 20 Emerging Influencers in 2020 for Big Data, Data Science, & Analytics. Kimberly is the inaugural Data Journalist at a large healthcare organization & loves helping others identify and communicate their dream job roles. An innovator and super-connector, Kim Herrington has been building her local analytics community in Buffalo, NY through her networking group #BuffaloBusinessIntelligence since 2017.
Brent Dykes:
Brent Dykes is the Senior Director of Insights and Data Storytelling at Blast Analytics. He is also the author of Effective Data Storytelling: How to Drive Change with Data, Narrative, and Visuals. Brent has more than 15 years of enterprise analytics experience at Omniture, Adobe, and Domo. His passion for data strategy and data storytelling comes from consulting with many industry leaders including Nike, Microsoft, Sony, and Comcast. He is a regular Forbes contributor and has written more than 35 articles on different data-related topics. In 2016, Brent received the Most Influential Industry Contributor Award from the Digital Analytics Association (DAA). He is a popular speaker at conferences such as Strata, Web Summit, Shop.org, Adtech, Pubcon, RISE, Crunch, and Adobe Summit. Brent holds an MBA from Brigham Young University and a BBA in marketing from Simon Fraser University.
Zack Mazzoncini:
Zack Mazzoncini is the Founder of Data Story Academy and a Co-Founder of Seattle-based data and analytics firm Decisive Data. Over the years Zack has helped hundreds of organizations and individuals develop data-driven cultures centered around data storytelling. Zack graduated from the University of Washington with a degree in communications, rhetoric, and public speaking. He is considered one of the most entertaining and informative speakers in the analytics industry.
Kate Strachnyi:
Kate Strachnyi is the founder of DATAcated; a media partnership company that helps companies in data analytics, AI, and ML, to reach the data community. She’s also the founder and instructor at the DATAcated Academy, and host of the DATAcated Conference. She regularly hosts live shows with great leaders in the data & AI space. Kate was named LinkedIn Top Voice in Data Science & Analytics in 2018 & 2019. She has 2 kids and enjoys reading books and running.
Moderated by Narrative Science Chief Scientist, Nate Nichols.
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On Demand
Despite today‘s data-rich business environment, analytics often doesn’t drive meaningful organizational change. Join Bonsai Data Solutions co-founder Matt Butler for an honest conversation about why great data science and analytics fails to influence decision making, and some simple, practical steps to improve the “changemaking” impact of data at your company.
Co-founder of Bonsai Data Solutions
Matt Co-founded Bonsai Data Solutions in 2020, an analytics firm dedicated to eliminating the waste and complexity generated by today‘s marketing technology ecosystem. Bonsai currently serves clients large and small, including Ancestry, Transformco, Capital Brands, Propswap and SecureCircle. Ex-Googler of 12 years, Matt served as the exclusive digital analytics adviser for companies such as Procter & Gamble, Coca-Cola, and Kohl’s while authoring the ad auction curricula for Google’s global analyst teams. He’s served as panelist & keynote speaker at academic and industry events across three continents. Proud Michigan Wolverine & avid baseball fan, Matt resides in Wheaton, IL with his wife Deirdre & three-year-old daughter Aubrey.
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Ron Artis II & The Truth are power Funk/Soul trio from Hawaii.
Led by singer/guitarist Ron Artis II. Also featuring Stevon Artis – Drums (Heavenly) & Ernie Ecraela Jr – BassThe group performs all original music, with a strong focus on positive/constructive lyrics. They’ve just in 2016 started to tour the world, surprising audiences at festivals and venues everywhere they go. “Growing up in Hawaii gave us a very unique perspective” -Ron Artis II. The band has strong church roots as well.
Refusing to sing any “destructive lyrics”. They’ve worked with artists such as: Jack Johnson, Mick Fleetwood, Jake Shimabukuro, Booker T Jones, Mike Love, Eric Krasno, Soulive, and others. Their self-produced debut EP project ‘Little People’, has traces of Soul, Blues, Funk, and softer songwriting side (Battered or Bruised).
Data Changemakers
February 23-25, 2021
A virtual festival bringing the analytics community together to drive real change at their organizations. Sign up via the form to the right to get on the list.
CTO at Nokia and President of Bell Labs
Marcus Weldon is responsible for coordinating the technical strategy across Nokia and driving technological and architectural innovations into Nokia’s end-to-end networking systems and software portfolio. In addition, as President of Bell Labs, Marcus is responsible for defining and creating the next disruptive innovations and the pioneering research that will form the foundation of the future ICT industry. Marcus is considered one of the luminaries in the ICT industry in terms of the clarity, depth and breadth of his vision. He combines his vision with the power of Bell Labs, to create a unique innovation engine whose goal is to ‘invent the future’ of the networking and communications industry.
Marcus holds a Ph.D. (Physical Chemistry) degree from Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, and a Bachelor of Science (Computer Science and Chemistry) joint degree from King’s College in London, UK.
Chief Strategy Officer at Sisense
Guy leads Sisense corporate strategy. He is responsible for developing, communicating and sustaining key corporate initiatives. His experience spans Fortune 500, VC organizations and startups like AirPatrol and TrustDigital. He holds in-depth knowledge of analytics, social media, mobile, telecommunications, cyber-security, and optical technologies. As a thought leader and sought after speaker, Guy leads Sisense into new areas within the data and analytics industry.
Professor at the Darden School of Business
Rajkumar Venkatesan is the Ronald Trzcinski Professor of Business Administration at the Darden Business School at the University of Virginia. Raj has written about and taught quantitative marketing to MBA and executive education students worldwide. At Darden he has taught a course on marketing analytics for more than ten years, and a course on marketing technology products for five years. His experience in these courses translated into the books, Cutting Edge Marketing Analytics, published by Pearson Education in 2014, and AI Marketing Canvas, published by Stanford University Press in 2021. More than 250,000 individuals have participated in his Coursera course on marketing analytics.
Senior Director: Analyst, Business Analytics & Data Science at Gartner
James Richardson is a Gartner Analyst, focusing on business analytics. This includes writing about and advising organizations on market trends, vendors and best practices. Of particular interest are the areas of analytic technology and practice that drive peoples’ engagement with data, including data visualization and storytelling, augmented analytics, and the ongoing consumerization of these techniques. Mr. Richardson first joined Gartner in 2007 and was with the company for six years. He rejoined Gartner in 2016 after four years in the marketing and products teams at software vendor Qlik. Before that, he spent 13 years with software vendor Hyperion Solutions in various roles, concluding his time with the company in a global market intelligence role, delivering competitive intelligence to field operations and strategic analysis to senior management. Prior to that, he worked in software development for a European system integrator on industrial control systems for industry. James is a published author and even spent some time as an advertising copywriter.
Solutions Architect at AWS
Scott Francis has over 20 years’ experience leading complex and technical products and services. He has spent his career in technology leading and transforming teams to solve real problems. He currently works as a solutions consultant at Amazon Web Services and has served as CTO at companies like Robert Half and THX Ltd.
VP, Operations & Strategy at WhiteHat Security
Tanya Gay is responsible for Operations and Strategy at WhiteHat. She is a seasoned leader of Global Operations and Strategy, specializing in go-to-market identifying deficiencies, potential opportunities, developing innovative and cost-effective solutions to enhance competitiveness, revenues, customer service, and company profitability. Prior to WhiteHat, Tanya held Strategy and Operational leadership position in cybersecurity-focused industries for over 10 years.
CTO at Fike Corporation
Josh is the CTO of Fike Corporation. Fike Corporation is in its 75th year as a manufacturer of engineered safety systems designed to protect from catastrophic industrial hazards. Before becoming CTO, worked in other roles across the enterprise: operations, engineering, business systems, sales, and as a current member of the board of directors. He is currently engaged in a complete overhaul of all business systems that will result in a single Salesforce-based, cloud operating platform for Fike’s entire global enterprise. Josh received a Mechanical Engineering degree from the University of Missouri. He is a mentor at the UMKC Institue for Entrepreneurship & Innovation and an Advisory board member for STEM at St Teresa’s Academy and Rockhurst High School.
COO for Otus
A lifelong educator, Keith Westman has spent his entire professional career working in K-12 education and education-related fields. After serving as a middle school principal, a technology coordinator, and a third-grade teacher, Keith became the fourth employee of Aspex Solutions (acquired by Frontline Education in 2014) and led the sales and marketing efforts which led to Aspex serving over 3,000 school district clients throughout the US, Canada, and Asia. Keith now serves as the Chief Operating Office at Chicago-based Otus. In addition to his day job, Keith serves as an adjunct professor in the Graduate College of Education at DePaul University in Chicago. Keith has a doctorate in curriculum and instruction from Loyola University Chicago, a master’s degree in education from DePaul University and a bachelor’s degree in elementary education from National-Louis University.
Sr. Director, Insights & Data Storytelling at Blast Analytics
Brent Dykes is the Senior Director of Insights and Data Storytelling at Blast Analytics. He is also the author of Effective Data Storytelling: How to Drive Change with Data, Narrative, and Visuals. Brent has more than 15 years of enterprise analytics experience at Omniture, Adobe, and Domo. His passion for data strategy and data storytelling comes from consulting with many industry leaders including Nike, Microsoft, Sony, and Comcast. He is a regular Forbes contributor and has written more than 35 articles on different data-related topics. In 2016, Brent received the Most Influential Industry Contributor Award from the Digital Analytics Association (DAA). He is a popular speaker at conferences such as Strata, Web Summit, Shop.org, Adtech, Pubcon, RISE, Crunch, and Adobe Summit. Brent holds an MBA from Brigham Young University and a BBA in marketing from Simon Fraser University.
Founder of Data Story Academy & Co-Founder of Decisive Data
Zack Mazzoncini is the Founder of Data Story Academy and a Co-Founder of Seattle-based data and analytics firm Decisive Data. Over the years Zack has helped hundreds of organizations and individuals develop data-driven cultures centered around data storytelling. Zack graduated from the University of Washington with a degree in communications, rhetoric, and public speaking. He is considered one of the most entertaining and informative speakers in the analytics industry.
Board Member and Advisor
Elissa Fink was Tableau Software’s CMO for over 11 years and retired at the end of 2018. She is credited with driving marketing strategy and execution through all stages of growth, taking the company from a small startup with ~$5 million in revenue to a publicly held industry leader with over $1 billion. Elissa built the Tableau brand and cultivated the enthusiastic Tableau fanbase from just a few hundred to hundreds of thousands. Now, she serves on corporate boards including Talend (NASDAQ:TLND), Pantheon, Qumulo and Uberflip, as well as not-for-profit boards Salmon-Safe and Operation Fistula.
Principal, Treehive Strategy
Donald Farmer is an internationally respected speaker and writer with over 30 years of experience in data management and analytics. He advises investors, software vendors, and enterprises on data and analytics strategy. In addition to working with startups, Donald led teams at Microsoft and Qlik, building some of the most important and innovative analytics platforms on the market.
His consultancy, TreeHive Strategy, works globally with teams from the newest startups to some of the worlds largest businesses. In addition to data and analytics strategy, Donald frequently consults on governance and compliance issues, particularly for companies implementing self-service architectures. His workshops on innovation strategy have helped to drive significant changes in numerous businesses in fields as diverse as fashion design and high-tech manufacturing.
Director of Product Marketing at Snowflake
Mike’s passion is data analytics and data storytelling. Mike joined Snowflake in early 2019 and currently oversees the Machine Learning technology partner ecosystem. Prior to Snowflake, he led product marketing at real-time monitoring and analytics startup SignalFx and enjoyed 5 years at Tableau teaching visualization best practices and data theory to journalists, led the technical product marketing team, and established Tableau’s Enterprise and IT positioning. You’ll find Mike out on the water most weekends exploring the Puget Sound and San Juan Islands with his wife and two kids.
Project Storyteller at DPR
Charlie tells a good story. From cash-rich development on the Las Vegas strip to oil-fueled expansion in Edmonton, Alberta, to energy plant upgrades throughout the Southeast, he thrives in the challenging delivery gap between “as is” conditions and the “to be” designed state. His career highlights include the on-site project management of over 2.5 million square feet of new distribution space across North America with zero recordable injuries and WANO (World Association of Nuclear Operators) recognition for the use of 4D technology in project delivery. He knows that projects succeed because of people—what they believe, strategy—for creativity and innovation, and tools—to deliver value and drive out waste. Charlie joined DPR Construction in 2016 where he continues to learn about the power of autonomy and the passion to build great things.
Co-Founder at Bonsai Data Solutions, LLC
Matt Co-founded Bonsai Data Solutions in 2020, an analytics firm dedicated to eliminating the waste and complexity generated by today’s marketing technology ecosystem. Bonsai currently serves clients large and small, including Ancestry, Transformco, Capital Brands, Propswap, and SecureCircle. Ex-Googler of 12 years, Matt served as the exclusive digital analytics adviser for companies such as Procter Gamble, Coca-Cola, and Kohl’s while authoring the ad auction curricula for Google’s global analyst teams. He’s served as a panelist keynote speaker at academic and industry events across three continents. Proud Michigan Wolverine avid baseball fan, Matt resides in Wheaton, IL with his wife Deirdre three-year-old daughter Aubrey.
Data Journalist and Creator of #BuffaloBusinessIntelligence
Kimberly has a wealth of experience getting hands-on with data in the health world, and is excited to find stories in numbers. She stays on top of health analytics trends to create clever data stories and content that bring value to a variety of organizations. She currently holds the world-wide title of “2020 Data Literacy Advocate of the Year” and has also been recognized as one of 20 Emerging Influencers in 2020 for Big Data, Data Science, & Analytics. Kimberly is the inaugural Data Journalist at a large healthcare organization & loves helping others identify and communicate their dream job roles. An innovator and super-connector, Kim Herrington has been building her local analytics community in Buffalo, NY through her networking group #BuffaloBusinessIntelligence since 2017.
Director of Client Experience at RevUnit
Doug Mitchell is a director of client experience at RevUnit, a data technology studio. He has delivered a diverse range of digital products for Fortune 500 companies that focus on helping enterprise teams create change with their data, faster. When Doug isn’t ensuring client success or leading great teams, you can find him brushing up on the art of crucial conversations, negotiation, and collaboration. He also makes killer homemade peanut butter.
Founder of DATAcated
Kate Strachnyi is the founder of DATAcated; a media partnership company that helps companies in data analytics, AI, and ML, to reach the data community. She’s also the founder and instructor at the DATAcated Academy, and host of the DATAcated Conference. She regularly hosts live shows with great leaders in the data & AI space. Kate was named LinkedIn Top Voice in Data Science & Analytics in 2018 & 2019. She has 2 kids and enjoys reading books and running.