Category: Advisory Council

Advisory Council Spotlight: Joe Sagrilla, MSBA AC Member

by emilyschatzle

Did you know that each of our MS programs has an Advisory Council of industry leaders? Our AC members provide mentorship to current students, advise staff and faculty on the curriculum and future of each program, and advocate for the programs broadly. Learn more about one of our MS Business Analytics council members, Joe Sagrilla below:

headshot of Joe Sagrilla, wearing a dark blue suitTell us a little bit about yourself – your educational/professional background and current position/company.

I completed my undergraduate studies at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, with a double major in accounting and general business. I then completed an MBA at Cleveland State University before taking the CPA exam.

I’ve spent the majority of my career in management consulting working with global companies across industries on projects including business strategy, transformation, technology, process improvement, business analytics, organizational effectiveness, and M&A integration. I’ve had the opportunity to work at large firms including Booz Allen, Ernst & Young, and PwC. In late 2018 I was looking for a new challenge, so I joined a technology implementation startup called Clearsulting as Chief Strategy Officer to help the company expand and scale.

Why have you volunteered your time to be on the MSBA Advisory Council?

The invitation to join the MSBA Advisory Council was something I couldn’t pass up. It’s a wonderful opportunity to give back in a small way by investing in the next generation of business leaders. Through the Council, members have a platform to work with the MSBA program leadership to ensure that the course content is evolving on pace with the business technology landscape. It’s extremely rewarding to see the MSBA leadership incorporate the Council’s industry perspectives into the course content to help optimize the program for student success. Council members also have opportunities to help students flourish through panel discussions, mentoring circles, and interview preparation. It’s a rewarding experience all around.

What do you enjoy about working in the field of business analytics?

I love the Edwards Deming quote: “Without data, you’re just another person with an opinion.” With business analytics, one can quickly separate opinion from fact, which is essential when trying to diagnose a complex issue or design an effective solution. As a consultant, I found business analytics to be an indispensable tool for cracking tough client problems and presenting compelling recommendations. I’ve also had the opportunity to help multiple clients deploy analytics systems at the enterprise level. I’ve witnessed firsthand the tremendous value analytics systems create through improved automation, decision support, and forecasting.

In your teaching capacity at McCombs as well as your interactions from the Advisory Council, what is your impression of McCombs students?

I’m constantly impressed by the caliber of McCombs students. They are ambitious and hold themselves to a high standard while remaining humble and open-minded. McCombs students are truly a joy to teach and interact with.

Why do you think someone should choose Texas McCombs to earn a Master of Science in Business Analytics?

McCombs is an innovator in this space with tremendous foresight, as it was one of the first schools to launch an MSBA program. Since its launch, the McCombs MSBA has been highly ranked each year and universally recognized as a top-tier program.

I think what sets the program apart is its laser focus on student success. Students leave the program with working knowledge of the latest technologies and analytical models, along with the business acumen and communication skills to create real value in the business world.

I see the McCombs MSBA program as a launchpad for career success. Some of the most prestigious and innovative companies in the world recruit McCombs MSBA students. Students also benefit from an incredible Career Management team to help guide them through the job search process.

Why should a company hire a McCombs MSBA graduate?

McCombs MSBA students leave the program ready to solve problems and create business value for the companies they join. The program is very intense, so prospective employers can be confident that any graduating student is highly motivated, with a strong work ethic and passion for business analytics. These students have been trained by some of the best minds in the field on the latest concepts, with a constant emphasis on creating business value. As an employer, you can be confident that McCombs MSBA students are well prepared to apply their skills and make a meaningful contribution at your company from day one.

Ending on a tough one – what is your favorite part about living in Austin?

Austin is an amazing city that seems to get better every year. It’s hard to name a single favorite thing about living here. Having lived in the Midwest for most of my life, I enjoy the weather and skipping the long, cold winters. Beyond that, the entertainment options are hard to beat – standup comedy, live music, amazing speakers at UT, incredible restaurants – there’s always something fun to do in Austin!

Women’s Roundtable Breakfast

by emilygraves

This past Friday, female students from the MS Marketing, MS Finance, and MS Business Analytics programs sat down for a roundtable breakfast with successful women from typically male-dominated fields. The effort to connect young women with industry leaders was initiated by Linda Vytlacil, Walmart VP in Data and Analytics, when the MSBA program kicked off four years ago in order to provide mentoring to young women beginning their careers. Other companies represented included IBM, JDA, W20, AT&T, Teacher Retirement System of Texas, Bank of Texas, EY, and Facebook. While much was to be taken away from this roundtable, we’ve captured a few of the key pieces of advice.

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Defining Your Definition of Success

Whether you’re kicking off your career or re-evaluating your goals, you need to define what success means to you. At this point in time, success could be climbing the career ladder. Or it could be focusing on family and taking a job that allows you to spend more time at home. There is no wrong answer, but you must look within yourself to determine what that answer is.

 

Find a Mentor or Support Group

When starting your career, it is important to surround yourself with people who will have your best interests in mind. Whether it’s family or colleagues, you need a group of people you can turn to. In addition to building a strong support group, it is also important to find mentors throughout your career. Lisa Perry from JDA emphasized the importance of not only finding a mentor but also finding one who is your opposite in order to push you and offer different perspectives.

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How to be Assertive and Have Confidence in the Workplace

One topic that came up at multiple tables was how to overcome the negative stereotype of a strong woman and be more assertive. The women seemed almost unanimous in that the best way to overcome to stereotype is to ignore it altogether. Perception is reality, and the more you buy into or believe a particular thing, the more it becomes true. If we, as women, believe that there is a gender gap, the stereotype will continue to build. It is important to let the strength of your work define you as opposed to your gender.

-Emily Graves

Dr. Ghosh’s “Predictive Analytics in Healthcare” Talk at HomeAway

by gregmerchant

Dr. Joydeep Ghosh’s class was one of my favorite classes from the program thus far. His Advanced Predictive Modeling course is integral in my opinion to my success both in the program and outside of the program. His research was interesting, and when I saw he was slated to give a talk to Austin’s Association for Computing Machinery Special Interest Group on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining (ACM KDD for short- because the full title is a mouthful) MeetUp on personalized healthcare I jumped at the opportunity to check it out.

 

ProfGhosh_Homeaway1Dr. Ghosh’s talk took place in the incredibly cool Homeaway Office. The walls lined with photos of Austin landmarks, like Deep Eddy (the pool not the vodka), The Broken Spoke, and one of my personal favorite- Sandy’s Burgers and Frozen Custard signs. Homeaway was gracious enough to cater some delicious Mexican food (and free beer), for the talk. I and a few other students had the opportunity to mix and mingle with Austin-based analytics professionals, and people interested in Healthcare. This was my 4th or 5th meet-up with KDD crowd, but first topic discussion as opposed to a training.

 

Dr. Ghosh delivered his talk entitled “Towards Personalized Medicine: Building Predictive Models for ‘Segment of One’” The talk was interesting and engaging. Dr. Ghosh explained that it was going to be less technical in terms of the algorithms being used, but more general in terms of direction of the field. The talk was engaging for people of various knowledge and skill levels; and we also managed to get him to talk about some of the math. There was some extended back and forth on the current testing procedures, and the need for an updated standard in the medical field.

 

All in all- the talk was a great way to start off the winter holiday. Sure it’s not everyone’s idea of “fun” to spend more time going to what some might view as a lecture- but Dr. Ghosh was able to deliver an engaging and interesting talk, surrounding the future of one of the fastest growing analytics fields that didn’t feel like a lecture. (Brief disclaimer- I enjoyed his lectures so I might not be the person to ask). I might be a nerd, but fajitas, beer and an engaging talk about one of the fastest growing analytics fields sounds like a pretty fun evening to me.

 

If you’re interested in getting involved in ACM KDD check out their meet-up page here, and keep an eye out for their Python training, Hadoop training, and upcoming Invited Speaker Series with Dr. Grauman on Computer Vision & Machine Learning for Vision Search and Object Recognition.

 

–Greg Merchant

 

Greg Merchant is a current MSBA candidate who graduated from undergrad in Finance and Business Honors at UT. He worked in financial modeling and advertising analytics before joining the program.

 

Dr. Joydeep Ghosh teaches Advanced Predictive Modeling (One of the most important courses in the program) in the fall semester. You can learn more about him at  http://www.ece.utexas.edu/people/faculty/joydeep-ghosh

 

“Picture courtesy : Austin-ACM-SIGKDD”