Business Analytics Advisory Council

Drexel LeBow’s Business Analytics Advisory Council comprises professionals from various industries, who offer insight and input on the strategic direction for the curricula and activities of graduate and undergraduate business analytics programs.

Advisory council members provide input on trends in analytics that may impact courses and programming, help assess curricula to ensure alignment with prospective employer needs, assist in strengthening opportunities for industry collaboration, and provide advice on new strategies to expand analytics programs and offerings.

Business Analytics Advisory Council Members

Josh Barbieri

Director of Business Analytics
Philadelphia Phillies

Barbieri joined the Phillies organization in September 2001. In his current role as Director, Business Analytics, he leads a team that works daily with all departments, helping to improve and automate various business processes involving data. The business analytics team assists in transforming both structured and unstructured data into meaningful information that can be easily accessed and analyzed. They are tasked with examining and developing strategies that promote data-driven decision making with the overall vision of centralizing, organizing and visualizing all business information while enabling real time access to analytics. Barbieri has a background in enterprise business intelligence software and in-memory data warehousing methodologies and possesses knowledge in several programming languages. He earned a BS degree from Philadelphia University with a double major in accounting and management information systems.

Patrick Callahan

Founder and CEO
CompassRed

Callahan founded CompassRed Data Labs, a data science and analytics company in Wilmington and Philadelphia, made up of data scientists tackling some of the world’s most fascinating problems. He is an ambassador for CompassRed’s external partnerships, representing the company’s vital core interests as it engages client business opportunities and ensures that CompassRed’s data analytics and data science culture is made up of the best and brightest minds, from former scientists and engineers to seasoned corporate strategists. With 20+ years of big agency and enterprise experience, Callahan works to ensure the team understands clients’ data, uses that data to make predictions, and that the team delivers recommendations for what steps to take next.

Evidenced by his involvement in developing the region’s community of data scientists through the Philadelphia Data Jawn, Callahan devotes his time to making sure to educate teams, clients and the community on the art of the possible as it relates to customer analytics and data science.

Callahan is the organizer of social media data and analytics groups in San Francisco, New York, Washington, DC, Boston, London, Berlin and Paris. He is also the co-founder of The Data Lab podcast and co-author of “Engage Your Brand: How Smart Companies Are Using Social Media to Drive Their Business Forward.”

Mark Garvey

Account Director
Infogix

Garvey is a software executive with 20 years of experience delivering analytic solutions across multiple industry segments. At Infogix, he has focused on helping companies transform financial, operational and customer success processes using analytics to help them achieve key business initiatives. He helps companies figure out how to turn data into information that drives insights and decisions.

Garvey led the Product and Solutions teams at Lavastorm Analytics when they were early adopters of data-centric and software-focused products. He worked with strategic accounts to shape self-service data preparation and analytic offerings and to establish Lavastorm as a key participant in the data analytic market. Working with clients to monitor their success building analytic teams, has driven his interest in supporting the citizen data scientist.

Peter Goodnough

Principal
Independent Practice

Goodnough has been a leader in consumer insights and analytics for more than 15 years, leading teams at Samsung Electronics, Circuit City, Estee Lauder, QVC and URBN. While at Samsung Electronics, he built the company’s North American Consumer Insights and Analytics function, managing the implementation of a new data warehouse and deriving profitable marketing outcomes as a result. During his time at Circuit City, Goodnough spearheaded an initiative to align online and in-store pricing, responding to a pain point his team had uncovered through retention analytics. Using a data rich and evidence-based approach, he aggressively moved advertising dollars from print to digital at Circuit City, accelerating the growth of the company’s $1bn+ digital business.

At QVC, Goodnough reimagined the company’s approach to insights and analytics, creating a single view of the customer, a consolidated enterprise data warehouse, and a view of real-time customer behavior to drive customer engagement and revenue at the company. He also led the effort to put customer analytics at the front of every decision at QVC, building out reporting and forecasting approaches that deepened QVC’s understanding of customer behavior and led to scores of successful marketing and customer engagement efforts.

Cindi Howson

Chief Data Strategy Officer
ThoughtSpot

Howson is an analytics and BI thought leader and expert with a flair for bridging business needs with technology. As Chief Data Strategy Officer at ThoughtSpot, she advises top clients on data strategy and best practices for becoming data-driven, influences ThoughtSpot’s product strategy and is the host of The Data Chief podcast. Howson was previously a Gartner research vice president, serving as the lead author for the data and analytics maturity model and analytics and BI Magic Quadrant, and a popular keynote speaker. She introduced new research in data and AI for good, NLP/BI Search and augmented analytics and brought both BI Bake-Offs and innovation panels to Gartner globally. She is rated a top 12 influencer in big data and analytics by Onalytca, Solutions Review and Humans of Data.

Prior to joining Gartner, Howson was founder of BI Scorecard, a resource for in-depth product reviews based on exclusive hands-on testing, a contributor to Information Week, and the author of several books including Successful Business Intelligence: Unlock the Value of BI & Big Data and SAP Business Objects BI 4.0: The Complete Reference. She served as The Data Warehousing Institute (TDWI) faculty member for more than a decade. Prior to founding BI Scorecard, Howson was a manager at Deloitte & Touche and a global BI standards leader for Dow Chemical. She has an MBA from Rice University.

Ashish Kapur

Global Practice Manager, Media and Entertainment
Amazon Web Services (AWS)

Kapur has more than 25 years of experience in driving digital initiatives in the Media and Entertainment space. At AWS, his team helps drive outcomes for Global M&E customers as they look to modernize and innovate their businesses using AWS services. His team’s scope encompasses content production, media supply chain, broadcast, direct-to-consumer experiences and data science, including artificial intelligence and machine learning. Prior to AWS, Kapur was the SVP of Digital Marketing and Sponsorships at AXS/AEG, where he used content and data-driven strategies to serve rights holders in the live music and sports business. Kapur spent time in the startup space as the CEO of a digital news and information website, Examiner.com, where he engineered the company’s growth trajectory using a data-driven optimization approach. Prior to Examiner.com, Kapur held leadership positions at Disney’s Interactive Media Group & PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Kapur holds an MBA from Carnegie Mellon University, a MS in Electrical Engineering from University of Virginia and a BS in Engineering from Delhi University.

Andrea Le

VP, Electronics and Imaging CIO and Digital Innovation
DuPont

Le is a global, transformative information technology executive with more than 20 years of experience in IT transformations, mergers, divestitures & acquisitions, enterprise solutions, marketing and sales, and strategic planning to drive multimillion-dollar growth for world-leading organizations. She has versatile expertise in integrating broad initiatives and aligning diverse perspectives, while ensuring near-term activities deliver immediate value. She is passionate about building global organizations and high-performing teams to drive revenue lift, technology transformations and competitive advantage.

In her role as VP, Electronics & Imaging CIO and Digital Innovation at DuPont, Leis responsible for executing the IT strategy and enablement programs for the Electronics and Imaging business unit, as well as leading DuPont’s digital transformation to deliver maximum benefit from rapid deployment of emerging technologies (advanced analytics, machine learning, IoT and robotics process automation). Le graduated from Penn State University with a Master of Science degree in information systems and holds a Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics –actuarial science from Elizabethtown College.

Ash Mehta

Lead, Financial Planning and Digital Finance
Pfizer Inc.

Mehta is the Lead, Financial Planning and Digital Finance for Pfizer Inc., where he was formerly the Senior Director, Global Business Intelligence. He has 15+ years of experience in delivering business transformation, growth and productivity through the application of analytics, digital solutions and innovative thinking. In addition, Mehta has extensive experience in leading complex enterprise program implementations, establishing large scale outsourcing operations, IT relationship management and business/IT strategy.

Prior to joining Pfizer, Mehta held leadership positions at Johnson & Johnson, Ernst & Young, and an internet start-up, Chaitime.com. He has lived and worked in the U.S., U.K., Switzerland and India.

Mehta has a MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, where he was a Ford Motor Company Fellow and President of the Wharton South Asia Club. He also holds a MA in economics from the University of Cincinnati. He is a chartered accountant from the Institute of England & Wales and a certified management accountant.

Yasmine Ndassa, PhD

Senior Director, National Sales Strategy and Insights
Comcast Cable

Ndassa’s team fosters an insights-driven sales culture that maximizes performance and drives a best-in-class customer and employee experience. In her role, she conducts strategic quantitative analyses aligned with sales channel priorities and provide insights that drive sales performance and measure impact of the National Sales Organization’s investment in people, tools and programs to drive sales excellence.

In her previous role at Comcast as Senior Director for Business Process Analytics, Ndassa led a team responsible for analytics support and insight to the business process management team on their work simplifying how customers do business with Comcast and innovating the back office to enable the digital transformation. Yasmine joined Comcast in 2010 to start human resource analytics for the company.

Prior to joining Comcast, Yasmine was a strategy consultant with The Boston Consulting Group in Philadelphia. There, she focused on strategy cases (strategic sourcing, turnaround, portfolio strategy) for clients in the healthcare, retail and consumer goods industries.
 
Yasmine holds a PhD in molecular biophysics from Harvard University and a BS in biochemistry and molecular biology from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. She has translated her passion for structured problem solving and data-driven storytelling from biomedical research into business analytics.

Avi Patel

Chief Marketing Officer
Fulton Financial Corporation

Patel is the CMO for Fulton Financial Corporation, a $20bn bank holding company headquartered in Lancaster, PA. Prior to joining Fulton Financial, he worked at First Niagara, Wilmington Trust, Citibank and JPMorgan Chase. Patel has more than 20 years of experience in the financial services industry and has managed product management and development, corporate marketing, sales and decision science functions. He holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Pittsburgh.

William (Bill) Powell

Director of Analytics Strategy
Automotive Resources International (ARI)

As the director of analytic strategy for ARI, Powell is responsible for developing and evolving the company’s global analytic capabilities and technology assets in support of its business strategy. He is a passionate analytics advocate, focused on expanding ARI’s products and services within its European and North American operations. He frequently provides keynote speeches on the global stage, focusing on how organizations that intertwine analytics with their core business functions can create efficiencies, a culture of innovation, and turn customers into raving fans.

Powell is an adjunct professor at Drexel University with a focus on business analytics, system architecture and modern ERP platforms. His area of research is centered on the application of analytics within the asset management markets to drive efficiencies and to create innovative revenue producing products and services.

He holds an Executive MBA from Drexel University and a BS degree in computing and technology, summa cum laude, from Drexel University. He also holds professional certifications in big data and social analytics from MIT and executive leadership from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Ariel Rodriguez

Head of Customer Journey Analytics
JPMorgan Chase

At JPMorgan Chase, Rodriguez is part of a team of operational leaders charged with innovatively combining analytics, customer research, solution engineering and agile methodologies to improve customer experiences and achieve sustainable operational efficiencies.

He has been an analytics practitioner for 19 years, developing data solutions within software, product development and consulting teams in both startups and large enterprises, including Jornaya, Mobiquity, Omnichoice, TD Bank, Chase and Advanta. More recently, his professional focus has been on analytics leadership: building and growing teams that are creative, collaborative, and risk-taking and that foster a data-driven culture within their organizations.

Rodriguez is an INFORMS Certified Analytics Professional (CAP), and a HITRUST Certified De-Identification Professional (CDP). He obtained a MS degree in engineering-economic systems and operations research from Stanford University and a BS degree in mathematics from the University of Puerto Rico.

Tarun Sood

Chief Data Officer
American Century Investments

Sood joined American Century Investments in 2022 and is responsible for overseeing all aspects of data, enterprise data strategy, data management, data consumption and data governance.

Prior to joining the firm, Sood was the head of data and analytics for Vanguard’s institutional investor group, where he managed four teams: data science, management, operational reporting and business intelligence, and data governance and data engineering.

Before his role at Vanguard, Sood worked as a strategy and analytics leader at a major consulting firm. He has more than 15 years of data and analytics experience. He has worked across different industries to deliver solutions in big data and predictive analytics, advanced visualizations and business intelligence, data lakes, Internet of Things, enterprise data warehousing, enterprise data governance and multi-domain master data management. Sood has strong expertise in managing large global teams with multi-million-dollar portfolios across the Americas and Asia.

Phil Tonachio

Vice President
ThoughtSpot

Tonachio is a technology executive with more than 25 years of experience in analytics and business applications. He leads teams at ThoughtSpot, a pre-IPO leader in search-based analytics, in driving positive business outcomes for the company’s Fortune 500 customers. Previously, Tonachio led teams at Pluralsight and helped pave the way to a successful IPO in 2018. He also spent six years at Qlik and has built world-class teams at Oracle, SAP, Concur and Lawson Software.

Ex-officio Members

Murugan Anandarajan, PhD
Professor of MIS
Senior Associate Dean, Academic Programs and Faculty Affairs
Academic Director, Center for Business Analytics
Drexel University LeBow College of Business

Anandarajan is a professor of MIS and the senior associate dean for academic programs and faculty affairs, overseeing college-wide curricula and programs. He teaches courses in text analytics, social network analytics and business analytics for decision making. His research areas of focus include unstructured data mining, cybercrime and the strategic management of emerging technologies. He has published more than 100 papers in journals such as the International Journal of Enterprise Information, Cyberpsychology and Behavior, the International Journal of Information Management, and the Journal of Global Information Systems, among others.

Anandarajan has co-authored several books including “Business Intelligence Techniques: A Perspective from Accounting and Finance” (2004), “Practical Text Analytics: Maximizing the Value of Text Data” (2019) and “Data Quilting: Art and Science of Analyzing Disparate Data” (2020).

He has received numerous research grants from various bodies including the National Science Foundation, the State of Pennsylvania, and the Department of Justice. He has delivered several invited presentations and workshops about business analytics and emerging technologies to organizations. He has been awarded numerous research awards, both at the university and at various conferences. Anandarajan received his PhD in management information systems from Drexel University.

Diana Jones
Executive Director, Center for Business Analytics and Dornsife Office for Experiential Learning
Drexel University LeBow College of Business

Jones oversees Drexel LeBow’s Center for Business Analytics, a hub for collaboration between academia and industry that comprises data-driven projects, student competitions, an industry thought leadership series, and the Business Analytics Advisory Council. She leads and co-created the biennial Drexel LeBow Analytics 50, a national recognition of analytics distinction across industries. Jones has written articles about analytics and business for CIO magazine and a book chapter on data storytelling, and she forms collaborations focused on educating youth about business analytics.

Jones also leads experiential learning efforts for Drexel LeBow, building initiatives that provide business insights for organizations and practical opportunities for students across all programs and majors. She works with local, national and international organizations to develop partnerships in curricular and co-curricular settings, such as business consulting projects, speaking engagements, and interdisciplinary activities.

Prior to joining Drexel LeBow in 2013, Jones led communications efforts and international business experiences for Arcadia University’s School of Global Business and oversaw journal publications for Springer publishing company. She received a BA in professional writing from York College of Pennsylvania and an MBA and MS in Communication from Drexel University.