Marwa Kechaou: A Keen Eye for Computer Vision
AI Master Group
With a PhD in machine learning and a specialization in computer vision, Marwa has done deep learning projects across several industries and is currently at Alohi, a Switzerland-based startup with 4 million users of document solutions like Sign.Plus, Fax.Plus and Scan.Plus. In this episode, she describes her journey from formal studies to hands-on work in industry, to her present role as a primary engineer at Alohi. The conversation also touches on what it’s like to maintain a connection to a top university as a Research Fellow, while also working full-time at a startup. Marwa also discusses...
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Iqbal Hossain: The UofAZ Knowledge Map Story
AI Master Group
Iqbal holds a PhD in Computer Science and Engineering, with a specialization in computer algorithms and graph theory. He is currently the Research Data Science Director at the University of Arizona. Aside from his innovative achievement in creating a knowledge map for the university (kmap.arizona.edu), he has one of the most remarkable and inspiring stories you’ll ever hear about overcoming disadvantages. (He grew up in a rural part of Bangladesh and was in 11th grade before he ever saw electricity.) In this episode, Iqbal describes the brief he was working on when he created the University...
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Jeffrey Spyropoulos: Making Analytics Count at JCP
AI Master Group
Jeffrey is one of those rare people who knew exactly what he wanted to do from an early age: Use mathematics to solve business problems. After earning his Masters Degree in Statistics from the University of Chicago, he went on to do high-impact analytics work in banking, retail and telco, holding senior leadership positions at top companies like Sally Beauty, HSN, AT&T and Bloomin' Brands. Currently, he leads Digital Analytics at JCPenney. In this episode, Jeffrey shares a detailed and very insightful analysis of all the factors and trade-offs involved in making a build vs buy decision for...
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Tapan Khopkar: A ‘MasterClass’ in Marketing Mix
AI Master Group
Tapan is the Executive Director of Marketing Sciences at OMD. This episode is a very thorough compendium of marketing science principles and practices, as applied to decisions about paid media. Topics include: • Marketing Mix Modeling (MMM) vs Multi-Touch Attribution (MTA) vs experiments, including how to use each and for what purpose • KPIs: Incremental sales vs top-of-funnel metrics like awareness and consideration • How to design incremental changes in the direction that a model is pointing • Testing a new marketing mix in various...
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Aida Farahani: From 2D to 3D in Seconds
AI Master Group
With a specialization in 3D deep learning, Aida is doing ground-breaking work related to 3D simulations. In this episode, she first describes why meshes or point clouds are computationally-expensive for simulating changes to shapes. She then describes why “implicit fields” are much more efficient for this, as described in the widely-cited “DeepSDF paper.” Next she describes a special-case problem: Predicting the deformation of 2D objects into 3D shapes, such as when metal blanks are stamped into the shape of a car door, for example, which is a case that violates one of the assumptions...
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Nikhil Patel: Inside Sally Beauty’s Data Strategy
AI Master Group
Nikhil is the Data Science Director at Sally Beauty Holdings, which is a $3.7 billion specialty retailer, with more than 10,000 products sold through over 4,000 stores, as well as online. Prior to his current role, Nikhil held a senior leadership role at Harman International, working with panel data from top CPG brands like P&G, Unilever and Kraft. In this episode, Nikhil describes his 19-year journey, starting from a Masters degree in Applied Mathematics, leading up to his current role at Sally Beauty. Within that, he describes several times when he needed to supplement his formal...
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Victor Perrine: From Bananas to $Billions
AI Master Group
Victor (Viko) Perrine is the Global Director of New Growth Initiatives at Circle K. Prior to that, he’s held senior leadership roles at Delek US Holdings and at UGP Inc. In this episode, Viko describes a major new initiative called Lift that's unique to Circle K, which just launched in Europe, plus future development plans for that. Building on this, he describes the day-to-day for a global innovation leadership role, and he shares the success factors that help him to identify good target projects for innovation and growth. He also describes a project from earlier in his career that...
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Ray Pettit: New Models for AI Literacy?
AI Master Group
Ray is the Chief Data and Analytics Officer at Valhalla AI Solutions. Prior to that, he held senior leadership roles at the Advertising Research Foundation, at the Institute for Experiential AI, and at comScore. In this episode, Ray discusses challenges associates with promoting meaningful AI literacy in business, starting with fundamental questions, like what is “AI literacy” exactly? (Is it merely the ability to use AI tools, or is a deeper understanding of the science behind those tools required?) He also discusses the reverse problem, where recent graduates from AI/ML programs lack...
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Ivan Pinto: A Year of AI Testing in Software Dev
AI Master Group
Ivan is an Associate VP of Delivery at Robosoft Technologies. His team does application development, engineering and QA for US clients, including web (HTML, CSS), mobile (Android, iOS, Samsung, LG) and streaming, including Roku TV. In this episode, Ivan shares what he learned in his experiments over the past year using Gen AI to improve the efficiency and quality of code produced by his 300-member team, including results that he describes as “amazing,” with time savings of 40-50% in writing code. The technologies he discusses include GitHub Copilot, Amazon CodeWhisperer, Tabenine, Codeium,...
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Sam Marks: Big Data, Big Bad Bruins
AI Master Group
Sam is the Director of Business Strategy, Solutions & Analytics at the Boston Bruins & TD Garden. Prior to that, he directed strategy and analytics for the Arizona Coyotes, and at VaynerMedia. In this episode, Sam sheds light on the world of analytics and business strategy for sports teams, including the differences in strategy and focus for teams vs at the league level. He also talks about the size and structure of analytics teams in the sports world, as compared to equivalent teams in consumer packaged goods, for example. And he describes how he uses AI and analytics conferences as...
info_outlineCelia is the Chief Innovation Officer at Bits In Glass (BIG), a top Canadian IT consulting firm. Prior to that, she held senior leadership roles at AltaML and at Deloitte Canada. Celia was recognized as the AI Innovator of the Year, by Women in AI.
In this episode, Celia shares insights from trends she’s seen in her recent work involving intelligent automation of business processes at scale. A key topic is the idea of embedding AI agents into multiple steps within business processes, such as contract analysis or banking regulatory change management, in order to achieve business results that would probably not be achievable with a one-shot AI solution. She also describes successful efforts at transforming front-line user experience of field workers, replacing clumsy gadgets with voice-activated workflows. And she discusses critical success factors for taking AI projects into full production, confirming that AI and ML solutions frequently work quite well in a completely different context or industry from the one where they were originally created. She concludes by making a case for a blended approach to resourcing AI projects – one that involves in-house teams, third-party solutions, and external partners.