Bigger wins!

Peter Aiken is an acknowledged Data Management (DM) authority. As a practicing data consultant, professor, author and researcher, he has studied DM for more than 30 years.  International recognition has come from assisting more than 150 organizations in 30 countries including some of the world's most important.  He is a dynamic presence at events and author of 10 books and multiple publications, including his latest on Data Strategy.  Peter also hosts the longest running and most successful webinar series dedicated to DM (hosted by dataversity.net).  In 1999, he founded Data Blueprint, a consulting firm that helps organizations leverage data for profit, improvement, competitive advantage and operational efficiencies.  He is also Associate Professor of Information Systems at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU), past President of the International Data Management Association (DAMA-I) and Associate Director of the MIT International Society of Chief Data Officers.  

As the Deputy Inspector General for Investigations, Gary Cantrell leads the Office of Investigations (OI)within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Office of Inspector General (OIG). Since 2012,he has been overseeing the operations and resources of OI, an office with more than 600 employees including investigators, analysts, forensic examiners, and administrative staff. Under Mr. Cantrell’s leadership, OI has had record accomplishments with nearly 6,800 criminal and civil actions, more than 18,000 exclusions, and over $21 billion in investigative receivables.

Through his engagement with the Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Team (HEAT),
Mr. Cantrell coordinates with the Department of Justice and State law enforcement agencies to prevent
fraud in the Medicare and Medicaid programs. In June 2016, this partnership oversaw the largest national
health care fraud takedown in history, resulting in charges against 301 individuals for approximately $900
million in false billing.

Mr. Cantrell also engages extensively with the private sector to prevent and detect fraud in health care. He
serves on the Board of Directors for the National Health Care Anti-Fraud Association, represents OIG on
the Health Care Fraud Prevention Partnership, and frequently speaks on the topic of health care fraud
before numerous private associations.

Mr. Cantrell began his career with OI in 1996 as a Special Agent in the Atlanta Regional Office and has since
served in a variety of leadership positions in OIG. He holds bachelor’s degrees in Criminal Justice from
Georgia State University and in Computer and Information Science from the University of Maryland
University College. He is a co-recipient of two Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency
(CIGIE) awards for Excellence in Information Technology and of numerous HHS OIG awards.

John Elder chairs America’s most experienced Data Science consultancy. Founded in 1995, Elder Research has offices in Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina, Washington DC, and London. Dr. Elder co-authored 3 award-winning books on analytics, was a discoverer of ensemble methods, chairs international conferences, and is a popular keynote speaker. John is occasionally an Adjunct Professor of Systems Engineering at the University of Virginia.

Bio is forthcoming.

Bryan Jones, Owner and Principal Consultant of Strategy First Analytics, is a former Elder Research and federal government employee with over 33 years of experience successfully managing and leading programs and people. Bryan’s focus is to translate the value of analytics and develop an analytics business strategy for government agencies and commercial business operations.

Bryan was the Deputy Assistant Inspector General for the US Postal Service’s Office of Inspector General where he developed their first data analytics unit.  This is where he discovered his passion: the combining of business knowledge with the technology and science of data mining to help transform the way government does business.

Under Bryan's leadership the data analytics team grew from 6 employees to 40, from an annual budget of $0 to over $3.5 million, and was elevated from a small support group to directly supporting executive leadership.

With Return on Investment of over 10-fold and with analytics driving strategic planning at USPS OIG, many other government agencies benchmarked Bryan’s work and now use his blueprint to build their own capabilities or to improve their analytics operations in ways that are measurable and transformational.

Bryan’s education is as diverse as his career with his latest studies in leadership and management coming from the Lincoln Leadership Institute and the University of Mary Washington.

A Teaching Associate Professor in the Institute for Advanced Analytics, Dr. Aric LaBarr is passionate about helping people solve challenges using their data. There he helps design the innovative program to prepare a modern work force to wisely communicate and handle a data-driven future at the nation's first Master of Science in analytics degree program. He teaches courses in predictive modeling, forecasting, simulation, financial analytics, and risk management.

Previously, he was Director and Senior Scientist at Elder Research, where he mentored and lead a team of data scientists and software engineers. As director of the Raleigh, NC office he worked closely with clients and partners to solve problems in the fields of banking, consumer product goods, healthcare, and government.

Dr. LaBarr holds a B.S. in economics, as well as a B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. in statistics — all from NC State University.

Gerhard enjoys predictive analytics and data mining, especially related to the areas of Fraud Detection, Financial Risk Management, and Health Care outcomes using various analytical methods, working with people, leading change, and timely management of complex projects. His work experience spans both private and government sectors including international experience.

Gerhard is coauthor of the popular book “Mining Your Own Business”. The book targets executives and senior managers who desire to evolve their organizations with better data driven decisions. The book is designed to have dual purpose as an introduction to the subject of data science and as a useful reference for specific, daily guidance. 

Gerhard previously taught at Georgetown University as an adjunct faculty member in the Math and Statistics Master’s degree program. He has also been an instructor for the three-day SAS Business Knowledge Series course "Data Mining: Principles and Best Practices" and an invited speaker at domestic and international conferences.

Gerhard currently serves on the Institute for Advanced Analytics Advisory Board and George Washington University’s Advisory Board for the Business Analytics graduate program. He was named to the NC State Computer Science Department’s “Hall of Fame” in its inaugural year.  

Daniel Porter is the cofounder of BlueLabs, a Washington DC based analytics, data and technology company whose clients include political campaigns, nonprofits and corporations.

Prior to founding BlueLabs, Daniel was Director of Statistical Modeling for the 2012 Obama reelection campaign. His team developed individual level statistical models that were used throughout the campaign for fundraising, media buying and state strategy. These models served two primary purposes: to pinpoint which voters were most likely to take an action or hold a belief (i.e. support the President or turn out to vote) as well as to measure the influence a campaign contact had on an individual's likelihood to take such actions or change their beliefs. Combined, these measures helped the campaign optimize their targeting to maximize their return on investment.