Data + Analytics Forum
Presentation RECAP of the Data + Analytics Forum from 8/8/24
GenAI Strategy and Use Cases to increase competitive advantage
Data Engineering and AI with Microsoft Fabric
Building BI at Guayaki – Empowering a generative business model from seed to sip
CODE – Center of Decision Excellence – Building an effective D&A Transformation Program
The Data and Analytics Forum is a technology agnostic and vendor neutral platform for industry thought leaders to network, and share best practices and lessons learned in building out world class and game changing capabilities.
Agenda
9:00 am
9:05 am
9:40 am
10:15 am
10:50 am
11:25 am
12:00 pm
Introduction and Thanks to Our Sponsors
GenAI Strategy and Use Cases to increase competitive advantage
Nick Heigerick, Head of Strategic Analytics, CRH
Data Engineering and AI with Microsoft Fabric
Tyler Becker, Global Black Belt Cloud Scale Analytics, Microsoft
Building BI at Guayaki – Empowering a generative business model from seed to sip
Ryan Handerhan, Director of BI and Tech Innovation, Guayaki
CODE – Center of Decision Excellence – Building an effective D&A Transformation Program
Alex Mendoza, Divisional Vice President, Enterprise Analytics, Spencers/Spirit Halloween
Parking Lot Q&A
Wrap Up
Topic Leaders
Nick Heigerick
Head of Strategic Analytics
Company: CRH
Industry: Building Manufacturing
Discussion Topic:
GenAI Strategy and Use Cases to increase competitive advantage
Nick is an Analytics Executive with a passion for people, breaking down barriers, and driving innovation through data and advanced analytics. With nearly twenty years of analytics experience Nick has led teams Healthcare, Education and now building manufacturing at CRH where he leads the Data Science and AI/ML teams and is building game changing GenAI capabilities.
We live in exciting times. Emerging technologies like Artificial Intelligence have the potential to disrupt how we work, live and play. The advent of OpenAI and Large Language Models democratizes capabilities that were once left to teams of highly specialized professionals. Coding applications, designing data models and visualizing data can now be automated and performed in hours instead of weeks. However, the value of these automated outputs is only as good as the quality of its inputs, in this case data.
Tyler Becker
Global Black Belt Cloud Scale Analytics
Company: Microsoft
Industry: Cloud Technologies
Discussion Topic:
Data Engineering and AI with Microsoft Fabric
My passion and skills include designing and building data foundations to feed solutions and provide insight. It doesn’t stop at building and training advanced models, the key to success is to identify where this new intelligence can be used to provide provocative insights or break free from tradition.
Ensuring security and governance builds confidence. Leveraging the capabilities of Cloud to support scale makes the technology sing. My objective is to support innovation, promote velocity and embrace building intelligence into everything we do.
​
​I have experience leveraging the latest cloud technologies to gain operational insight, better understand human behavior and empower people to make intelligent decisions. Equipped with a balance of business understanding and strong technical abilities, I bring a pragmatic approach to ensuring the right technology and approach is used to provide real business value.
Ryan Handerhan
Director BI & Tech Innovation
Company: Guayaki
Industry: Beverage
Discussion Topic:
Building BI at Guayaki – Empowering a generative business model from seed to sip
Ryan is a data, analytics, and ML Leader and Engineer with 13+ years of experience, with a proven track record of structuring data and analytics strategies with company leadership, managing and aligning multi-year budget and project portfolios, and delivering on large scale implementation projects. Ryan has developed and led diverse projects across various technologies, including Python applications, SQL, NoSQL, Jupyter, Spark, SAP ERP, BW, HANA, AWS, Microsoft Azure, Oracle, and Tableau. He has delivered dropship and marketplace platforms and processes behind multimillion-dollar revenue channels, cost-saving data warehousing and analytics solutions, and ML forecasting applications.
Alexander Mendoza
Divisional Vice President, Enterprise Analytics
Company: Spencers/Spirit Halloween
Industry: Retail and CPG
Discussion Topic:
CODE – Center of Decision Excellence – Building an effective D&A Transformation Program
Alex has over 25 years of progressive experience in the Retail and CPG industry, spanning data management, business intelligence, analytics, planning, and project management.
He has successfully led multiple initiatives to improve data quality, governance, and accessibility, as well as to generate insights and recommendations that enhance decision making, performance, and customer satisfaction. He is passionate about leveraging data and analytics to create value and impact for business and the greater good.
With a MS in Analytics from Georgia Tech and a MBA from Indiana University, I also have the academic credentials and the practical skills to design and implement data strategies that align with the company's vision and values