Professional conferences are important for keeping sharp with the practice of Analytics. For many people (including myself) the highlight of the professional year is the INFORMS Business Analytics conference, held in the Spring each year. This year’s conference was held at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas.
CANA Advisors has a strong presence at this meeting, with our Director, Analytics Norm Reitter President of the partner society MORS, Walt DeGrange as Chair of the SpORts Analytics Section, and Harrison Schramm as Chair of the Analytics Cluster. This short photo-blog will cover the conference from Harrison’s point of view.
This year was different for me; I have attended this conference twice before, and have previously presented, as have CANA Colleagues Rob Cranston and Walt DeGrange. This year, my focus was completely on the Edelman Competition.
Sharing a beer with junior analysts during the ‘career connection’ Monday afternoon.
The Edelman Prize
The Franz Edelman Prize is regarded as the most prestigious award given in our profession. This year, Harrison had the opportunity to serve on the committee, and had the further opportunity to be a coach for a team from BARCO based in Belgium. To qualify as a finalist, BARCO’s proposal was selected from a field of 25 entrants. The quality of their work – and financial impact – were independently verified by INFORMS. Their project was an optimization project that streamlined BARCO’s production chain from 17 individual products to 3 ‘platforms’.
Kristoph, Maud, Robert and Harrison before the Edelman Competition
The prize session is very rigorous, with the doors ‘locking’ at the start of the session, and time strictly controlled to 40 minutes. The presentations are professionally developed and recorded for re-broadcast.
Kristoph describing the concept of platforms during the prize session
I was truly energized by meeting and working with the BARCO team, and would like to congratulate the Holiday Retirements team for their win.
The Edelman Gala
The Edelman Gala truly is the Math Oscars. In addition to the Edelman finalists, other INFORMS prizes are awarded. We would like to congratulate our colleagues and friends in the US Air Force, who shared the INFORMS Prize for sustained excellence in Operations Research with the Walt Disney Company. It was a ‘double win’ for Air Force, as the US Air Force Academy won the George Smith Prize.
MORS Fellow Dr. Jacquline Henningsen and MORS Sponsor Kevin Williams receiving the INFORMS Award at the Edelman honors reception
Each of the finalists are inducted into the Edelman Academy and receive recognition in the form of an individual medal and team trophy.
Harrison (Coach, left) with the BARCO team at the INFORMS Awards Gala
In summary, involvement with the Edelman committee is one of the highlights of my professional life, and I am grateful for the opportunity to serve. I hope to see you at INFORMS Analytics 2018, in Baltimore!
CANA’s Harrison Schramm and Norm Reitter at the FICO-sponsored VIP After-Party.