2016 Presenter Bios

Name Institution Bio
Dale Amburgey Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Dale Amburgey has over 19 years of experience in higher education working at four unique universities, with the last 11 years focused solely on data analysis and business intelligence. He has extensive experience in designing analytical and operational dashboards, and working with establishing data governance structures.
Libby Barlow Syracuse University Libby Barlow is currently Assistant Vice President for Institutional Research and Assessment at Syracuse University, where she has initiated and overseen the development of a dimensionally modeled data warehouse. At her prior institution she oversaw the student records portion of the data warehouse development from her dual role as institutional research director and university registrar. The scope of her institutional research work includes theoretical research studies and predictive modeling, decision support, and learning outcomes assessment as well as reporting.
Neil Belcher Cornell University Neil Belcher has 17+ years of Higher Education Business Intelligence experience working for Cornell Information Technologies. Mr. Belcher specializes in Dimensional Data Modeling in a wide array of data domains: Financials, Student Administration, Alumni Affairs, Research Administration and Human Resources.
Rebecca Blum Brown University Rebecca Blum is the Assistant Director for Data Initiatives in the Division of Biology and Medicine. She manages data reporting and analysis for the Division and represents Biomed on University-wide data projects. Prior to coming to Brown, Rebecca worked at Pivot Learning, a consulting firm, and Hasbro, Inc.
Mary Brooks Miami University Mary Brooks, Project Manager of Miami University, has more than 28 years of IT experience in different positions and focus areas in both corporate and higher ed landscapes. She believes her varying roles and perspectives have made her more receptive to embracing Agile and an agile mindset. Servant leadership is what she strives to achieve. Mary has led data warehousing teams as a manager and project manager and is now filling the ScrumMaster role. As part of her Agile journey, she recently completed her Professional ScrumMaster I, ICAgile Certified Professional, and PMI-Agile Certified Professional certifications. Recent projects as ScrumMaster with Miami University include Registration and Retention Data, One Stop for Student Success, and Enrollment Data. While Scrum is her Agile framework of choice, she believes incorporating effective collaboration and facilitation is key to delivering valued products sooner. Mary holds an AAS from Miami University and a BA from Wilmington College.
Ted Bross Princeton University I have been involved with HEDW since its inception and was President a few years ago. Since coming to Princeton in 1999, I have led the data warehouse group which has now become CeDAR.
Kathy Bryant-Bonds Georgia State University Kathy Bryant-Bonds is the Director of Decision Support Services at Georgia State University. She has worked in the field of higher education for three decades and has twenty years of experience in the area of data warehousing and business intelligence. In her current position, Kathy oversees the university’s enterprise data warehouse which contains data from the major transaction systems on campus. The data warehouse is the source for IPORT, the university’s business intelligence application and for several academic and strategic dashboards. Kathy is a member of the Data Warehouse Institute and the Executive Leadership Academy for Women.
Anja Canfield-Budde University of Washington Anja Canfield-Budde is responsible for enterprise data and analytics at the University of Washington . Before joining higher education in 2008, she spent close to 10 years at Microsoft. Anja currently serves as past president of HEDW and chairs the Evanta Executive CXO Summits.
Hank Childers The University of Arizona Hank Childers is the Executive Director for University Analytics and Institutional Research (UAIR) at the University of Arizona. This newly created unit combines the functions of Business Intelligence and Institutional Research, and reports directly to the Provost. He also teaches Business Intelligence in the Graduate MIS program at the Eller College of Management. Prior to this he was the Project Director for the University of Arizona’s Mosaic project, a 5-year $80 million project to replace all of the university’s key administrative systems. He has been with the UA for 13 years, and is a member of the board for the Higher Education Data Warehouse Forum (HEDW).
Katarina Durasova Pennsylvania State University Katarina Durasova currently works as a Metadata Analyst and Architect for the Pennsylvania State University in support of its OBIEE tool. She has extensive experience with data and business analysis and through her career has specialized in data warehouse and business intelligence solution delivery and report development.
Cassandra Elizondo University of Utah After graduating from Brigham Young University-Idaho with a Bachelor’s Degree in History, Cassandra ended up in the Registrar’s Office at the University of Utah. She started at a data entry position in the Scheduling division, where, for two years, she assisted in creating the class schedule and grew familiar with the nuances of the software used for scheduling, both PeopleSoft and Ad Astra. Eventually she moved on to her current role as an Assistant Registrar for Student Systems and Technology. With this role came the responsibility to help with the creation of the Student Data Warehouse, as well as to provide training for the users of the system. In her spare time, she loves reading, writing, and watching reruns of “The Office”.
August Freda University of Notre Dame He leads data stewardship and governance activities supporting the university’s use of information assets and analytic needs. To date, Augie has led the governance process for over 450 terms and efforts to better steward and manage access for information in the enterprise data warehouse. Prior to this position, Mr. Freda served 17 years in Notre Dame’s Development Office, leading prospect management and research for the $2.1 billion “Spirit of Notre Dame” campaign and corporate fundraising for the $1.1 billion “Generations” campaign. In 2012 he was awarded Notre Dame’s Presidential Award for Leadership. Before Notre Dame, he spent 17 years with EDS (now part of HP) and GM in roles including account management, sales support, consulting and manufacturing engineering. He is a 1979 graduate of Notre Dame with a degree in metallurgical engineering.
Jonathan Havey SUNY Buffalo Jonathan Havey was part of the functional team that implemented PeopleSoft Campus Solutions at SUNY Buffalo. After go-live, he supported the new system as a functional analyst for data access and reporting. He currently works for SUNY Buffalo’s Office of Institutional Analysis.
Kristin Kennedy Arizona State University Kristin Kennedy leads the Business Intelligence team in the University Analytics and Data Services group which is part of centralized IT. Her teams help create and maintain dashboards and reports for the entire University. Whether by graphs, charts, maps or complicated queries, the teams help users get the data they need. By empowering the University to make data driven decisions we help our students succeed and reach their goals. Kristin has over 20 years’ experience in Higher Education. She has worked in Information Technology for over 16 of those years. Kristin has had many roles including Web Developer, Business Analyst, Manager of Web Developers and Project Management Office and Business Intelligence Developer. Kristin has also worked in other business areas including Institutional Research and Student Services. She received her BA in History (1992) and her Masters of Educational Leadership (2009) from Northern Arizona University.
Steve Letzring Bowling Green State University Steve Letzring is currently the Manager of Enterprise Reporting at Bowling Green State University. He came to BGSU ITS after retiring from the United States Army in 2011 and has been managing the University’s data warehouse development since its inception in early 2012. Steve has a BS in Civil Engineering and Management from the United States Military Academy and is a graduate of the United States Army Command and General Staff College. He has an MA from Webster University School of Business and Technology and an MBA from Bowling Green State University.
Scott Lloyd Brown University Scott has been a university data management professional in various capacities at six different universities since 1984. He is currently a business process analyst and database administrator at Brown University in Rhode Island specializing in Facilities Management.
Gregory Menzenski Cornell University Gregory (Greg) Menzenski has been with Cornell University since 2005 and in August 2014 became the Chief Data Officer and head of the Office of Data Architecture and Analytics. Before becoming CDO, Greg was part of the Cornell PMO where he managed systems infrastructure, ERP and Business Intelligence projects. Before joining Cornell, Greg was a project manager and senior hardware manager at Advanced Digital Information Corporation where he managed SCSI and fiber channel intelligent SAN controller development. Before ADIC, Greg held various positions at Axiohm including Director of Product Management, Director of Engineering, and project manager. Prior to that, Greg worked at AT&T and NCR Corporation in engineering and product/project management positions. Greg has a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, is a certified Project Management Professional, and holds four United States patents.
Jeff Merth Oregon State University Jeff Merth is a business intelligence analyst for Oregon State University, and serves on the CORE Business Intelligence Center team. His responsibilities include system and database administration, data wrangling, and information systems development. He has been programming for fun and profit since 1978, with solutions created in healthcare, retail, manufacturing, recreation, public works, fundraising, finance, human resources, and higher education.
Jeff Meteyer University of Rochester 6 years managing the University’s Enterprise Data Warehouse. MBA Wm Simon School of Business 2001. Previous experience with Manufacturing, Healthcare.
Dev Nambi University of Washington Dev Nambi is a data scientist in the Enterprise Data & Analytics team at the University of Washington. He specializes in machine learning, predictive modeling, and data visualization, with a focus on analyzing and understanding student behavior.
Tamara Noecker The University of Arizona Tamara joined the University of Arizona (Tucson, AZ) in the University Analytics and Institutional Research department in June 2015. Prior to UA, Tamara was the Assistant System Administrator at Alvernia University (Reading, PA). She has a total of nine years working experience in higher education. Tamara has a Bachelor of Science in Psychology from the Pennsylvania State University, along with a few graduate courses in Statistics from Alvernia and Texas A&M. Her major responsibilities include assisting Business Intelligence users, data quality management, visualization of data, and operational reporting for institutional initiatives to enable UAIR to be a strategic partner of the university community.
Julie Parmenter Indiana University Julie Parmenter is the manager for Enterprise Decision Support Services at Indiana University. A longtime IT professional, she has been working on Data Warehouse projects and Business Intelligence solutions for over ten years.”
Monal Patel Purdue University Monal Patel – Monal has over 25 years of institutional data knowledge. Her degrees are in Computer Science and Higher Education Administration. Monal has provided the data knowledge in overall organization of the Data Digest dashboards.
Michael Rogove Bentley University Michael Rogove is a student of systems problems. He holds degrees from Bard College at Simon’s Rock and Tufts University. Formally trained in Biology, Michael got his start in datawarehouse practice at a population health consulting firm. He also splits time biking, hiking, and volunteering with LivableStreets Alliance, a transportation advocacy non-profit. A well-oiled ETL is like an good frozen yogurt place; inputs should be well-defined, the outputs should be delicious, and happy customers should be serving themselves.
Craig Rudick University of Kentucky Craig Rudick is the Associate Director for Institutional Research and a Data Scientist at the University of Kentucky. He works with data on the University’s students, faculty, facilities, finances, and other aspects of its business. Craig’s primary roles are to perform statistical analyses of data, prepare predictive models, scrutinize program effectiveness, and create data visualizations. Craig is also heavily involved in designing the architecture of UK’s data warehouse, integrating new data sources, bringing online new data-gathering technologies, and communicating with the campus Community of Practice around data analytics . He has worked in this role since July 2013. Previously, Craig earned a Ph.D. in theoretical astrophysics, and worked as an academic post-doc in that field. As such, he has over a decade’s experience in both performing and speaking about data analyses, and has experience giving presentations to domestic and international audiences both large and small.
Rachel Serrano Appalachian State University After spending 15 years leading the student data warehouse at the University of Arizona, Rachel moved to Appalachian State University in 2013 to lead their initiative to implement a data warehouse and bring analytics to campus. She began her career in Institutional Research before moving to warehousing and analytics, and maintains a close relationship with IR to incorporate that perspective into warehouse design. She has designed warehouses and reporting based on both Banner and Peoplesoft, in Oracle and SQL Server.
Greg Siino California State University, Sacramento Greg Siino is the Director of Data Services and Business Intelligence at California State University, Sacramento. In that role, Greg is responsible for managing the campus data warehouse and business intelligence solution. Greg has over 25 years of IT experience including extensive experience working in the high-tech industry managing the implementation of global strategic initiatives. Greg earned a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration with a concentration in Management Information Systems from California Polytechnic State University and a Masters of Business Administration from California State University, Sacramento. He is certified as both a Project Management Professional (PMP) and a Certified ScrumMaster (CSM).
Mark Skweres University of Minnesota Mark Skweres joined the University of Minnesota as its first Enterprise Data Architect in January 2015. He brings over 30 years of data architecture experience from a variety of industries, with special focus on data modeling, data integration and enterprise architecture as a means to apply technology to meet the University’s mission of Education, Research and Outreach.
Jack Suess University of Maryland, Baltimore County Mr. Suess is Vice President of Information Technology and Chief Information Officer (CIO) for the UMBC. He is responsible for providing information technology services in support of teaching and scholarship, research computing, and administrative support. Reporting directly to the President, he is responsible for strategic planning and implementation, coordination, budget, personnel, and policy related to information technology at UMBC. Mr. Suess is very active nationally in the areas of cybersecurity, identity management, analytics, and cloud computing and has served in a number of national information technology leadership activities. These include EDUCAUSE Board(2014-), IMSglobal Board (2014-), Center for Higher Education CIO Studies (CHECS) (2013-), and the National Strategy for Trusted Identity in Cyberspace (NSTIC) (2012-), Internet2 Board (2010-2013), InCommon (2009-2014), Internet2 Council and Program Advisory Committees (2008-2010), EDUCAUSE Higher Education Information Security Council (HEISC) (2000-2006, Chair 2003-2006), and REN-ISAC Executive Advisory Group (2006-2013).
David Vintinner New York University David Vintinner is Senior Director of Institutional Research at New York University, working with its multiple schools of arts and science, and serves as the Chair of its Administrative Management Council. Before joining NYU, David was an editor and author of mathematics textbooks. He has served as a trustee for First Congregational Church of Stamford, Connecticut since 2009, and also serves on the board of directors for the Thon Met African Peace Foundation, dedicated to bringing safe water, education, and prosperity to South Sudanese Refugees. David received bachelor’s degrees in mathematics and comparative religion with honors from Duke University, where he attended on full scholarship from Duke’s North Carolina Writing Award Program. He received both his MBA and MS in applied mathematics from NYU. He lives in Stamford, Connecticut with his husband and daughter, and is an avid board gamer.
Pieter Visser University of Washington Pieter is a Technical Solutions Architect in the Enterprise Data and Analytics group at the University of Washington. He helps design and implement solutions for the Enterprise Data Warehouse and is passionate about delivering Business Intelligence and Metadata solutions with great user experience. Prior to joining the University of Washington, he was managing the web development team at one of the nation’s leading providers of health care and benefits administration solutions. He obtained a B.Tech degree from Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (formerly known as Port Elizabeth Technikon) in South Africa.
Jeff White University of Texas Jeff White has been with the Office of Strategic Initiatives (OSI) since 2014. His experience in higher education data warehousing at the University of Texas in Austin made him an ideal candidate to take the reign of the warehouse at OSI. He has played an integral role in providing in-house ownership of the consultant built warehouse. He oversees the OSI warehouse developers as they collect, process, and store data for all 14 UT academic and health institutions. In addition, he creates reports for the BI system including dashboards and online reports as well as training on dashboard usage.
Peter Wiley Bowdoin Colleg Peter has worked at Bowdoin College for nine years, serving the last three as Director of Business Intelligence and Data Warehousing. Peter has played an integral role in the implementation of Ellucian’s Operational Data Store (ODS) and the deployment and support of the accompanying reporting solution, IBM Cognos. Peter has served as a project manager within IT and now consults on data and reporting for departments implementing new databases (Workday and Slate most recently). Within the last year, Bowdoin has begun the implementation of a dimensionally modeled data warehouse using SQL Server tools and Peter is the project lead. Peter earned his undergraduate degree from Wesleyan University and a master’s degree in education from Harvard University.
Joanne Wilhelm Indiana University Joanne Wilhelm is Scrum Master (Agile Coach) and Analyst for the Decision Support Initiative at Indiana University (IU). Since 2003 she worked within University Information Technology Services, IU’s central IT organization, focused on building and delivering enterprise business intelligence, analytics, and data warehouse services. Prior to this, she held positions in data management; in IT budgeting and planning; and in strategic planning for IT on the Bloomington Campus. Joanne has been a member of HEDW since 2005 and participated in hosting the conference at Indiana University- Bloomington in 2009. As an avocation, she recently returned from taking a group of students to study economic development in Ankara and Istanbul, Turkey. Joanne has degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Indiana University, with concentrations in IT and finance.
Gary Yates Purdue University Gary has over twenty-seven years of experience in IT at Purdue in a wide range of positions from network administrator to developer to director of the SAP Competency Center. He has implemented several BI solutions in his long and winding career. Currently he is the Enterprise Applications Architect “permanently” on loan to the Purdue BI Competency Center (BICC) to assist Purdue in its effort to significantly improve BI maturity at the University.