Katie Mcky

 

MATH AND ANALYTICS UNLOCK ALL DOORS, LEADING TO SUCCESS IN MULTIPLE FIELDS.

 

Math and analytics work like skeleton keys. They can open any door and a world of possibilities. They allow you to work in myriad sectors, from education to automotive, from healthcare to financial, from utilities to well, just about everything and anything.

 

Learn what doors mathematics and analytics opened for the individuals featured in this article and how they used these building blocks to build a successful career path.

 

Kitchen Crunches Numbers to Keep Water Flowing at Aqua America

 

TomKitchen, manager of network communications and contact center technology for Bryn Mawr, PA-based Aqua America, has a key part in keeping clean water flowing from your tap. Math and analytics play an even bigger part in his role, which is directing the engineering and operations of the network and call center service delivery to Aqua.

 

“Both math and analytics are major requirements in the successful execution of my duties. Fifty percent of my work involves math or analytics,” according to Kitchen.

 

Aqua America reaches halfway across America, providing employment opportunities in many states, he notes.

 

“Aqua has regulated operations in eight states (Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Ohio, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Texas, Virginia and North Carolina). We also have a market-based business based in Delaware that serves businesses in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and other states,” Kitchen elaborates.

 

Aqua doesn’t just make sure the water from your tap is clean. It’s also charged with making sure the wastewater flowing back into environments is also clean.

 

“Aqua’s mission and challenge is to provide clean and safe drinking water to our customers and to treat wastewater and return it to the environment in a clean state that supports the environment. I like that Aqua does a great job of accomplishing our mission!” Kitchen enthuses.

 

Kitchen’s forte is the flow of data, a task that can be trying. “When I joined Aqua, one challenge I experienced was the need to update the reporting system between Aqua’s customer operations team and IT. At the time the reports that were provided did not factor in the 24-7 nature of our customer contact and volume impact service level agreements - [they] only include[ed] Monday to Friday call volume statistics,” he recalls.

 

“My approach to remediation was to first introduce technology capabilities for accurate reporting to the company; second, develop four levels of reporting for the key stakeholders, including the CEO; and third, communicate the improved coordination between IT and the Aqua customer operations team to the company. The current relationship between these teams is at an all-time high in terms of understanding and collaboration,” he explains.

 

Kitchen has a history of meeting challenges. “Earlier in my career I was the telecommunications director at Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia (PA). The emergency notification systems were failing and neither the vendor, nor the internal subject matter experts, could find a root cause. This had a major impact on the response time for internal patient code red alerts by the medical staff,” he remembers.

 

“I had to develop communication protocols and work with the vendor’s top technical resources to identify the root cause and to immediately remediate the issue. After working for 72 consecutive hours, we jointly discovered the issue was a new cable run of unshielded cable into the direct system control panel. The workaround processes I developed were incorporated in the disaster-recovery plan and highlighted by the vendor as a best practice to all their customers nationwide,” he shares.

 

According to Kitchen, at Aqua, it helps to have top-notch leadership: “It might surprise outsiders how extremely accomplished Aqua’s management leadership team is and the culture they have established, which demonstrates caring for the well-being of the staff.”

 

To learn more about the culture and careers at Aqua America, visit aquaamericacareers.silkroad.com.

 

Moore Uses Analytics to Assist Wells Fargo Customers

 

DinahMoore, analytics manager for Wells Fargo’s enterprise data and analytics group, never envisioned her current profession when she was young.

 

“I wanted to help people; for me, at the time, that equated to being a social worker. But a career in computer science (data and analytics) was intriguing to my interests - and it paid more. Then I discovered that applying data and analytics actually resulted in my dream job: providing data to analysts that resulted in valued customer experiences,” Moore says.

 

And her childhood ambition has come true, for she is helping people via analytics. “I was even able to apply analytics to my community support work by volunteering with a group focused on enhancing the financial literacy of its congregation. The power of analytics to determine investment options led to individuals responsibly creating diverse financial portfolios, as opposed to deposit savings accounts only,” she explains.

 

At Wells Fargo Moore leads enterprise-wide programs focused on leveraging data and analytics to enhance customers’ experiences by enabling the identification of products and services to help them achieve their financial goals. With approximately 265,000 team members in 36 countries across more than 90 businesses, San Francisco, CA-based Wells Fargo serves millions as it has for centuries.

 

“Wells Fargo is a company with a rich history of 164 years, dating back to the time of stagecoaches. We’re a nationwide, diversified financial services company with $1.8 trillion in assets. We provide banking, insurance, investments, mortgage and consumer and commercial financial services through 8,700 locations, 13,000 ATMs, online (wellsfargo.com), and mobile devices,” Moore points out.

 

However, being a titan doesn’t mean that Wells Fargo has lost its personal touch. “Our leadership team continously emphasizes that the best thing about Wells Fargo is the millions of relationships we have formed over generations with customers, team members, communities and shareholders; relationships define Wells Fargo. The pleasantly surprising thing for me is that this is not simply lip service; we live this value every day across the company. And data and analytics plays an enabling role in building and strengthening these relationships,” Moore elaborates.

 

The customer’s well-being is Wells Fargo’s compass, according to Moore. “Companies often talk about how they are ‘customer-focused,’ but then will attempt to sell products that are not needed, or engage with customers in a cookie-cutter fashion. What I have experienced with Wells Fargo is that whether I am in a meeting, reviewing a presentation, coaching a team member or discussing a proposal, ultimately the question will arise, ‘What about the customer?’ Our customer relationships are always in clear focus,” she notes.

 

As Moore has worked in various roles, her relationships with her mentors have guided her. “I do not know whether I chose this profession or this profession chose me. I started my career as a programmer (building my logical thinking skills), then became part of a sales team (building my customer relationship and communication skills), then moved to a managerial role (building my leadership and expense control skills) and then transitioned to data and analytics,” Moore describes.

 

“Regardless of the role, what differentiated me was being able to use data and analytics to determine the facts, make the decision and provide enablers for establishing strategic direction. My mentors and leadership saw this and guided me to this profession. I took the guidance, and now I own it through the recognition that this is the profession for me,” summarizes Moore.

 

Being analytical, she’s had a playbook when new challenges arose. “Looking back on my career, there have been many times when approaching a new situation ‘appeared’ hard and scary (i.e., new job, new company, new business priorities),” reflects Moore.

 

“But as I think about it, I used the same ‘playbook’ to navigate them all: First, take a step back – breathe; second, understand what was trying to be achieved (what’s the goal?); third, understand what was inhibiting reaching that goal; fourth, ask for help/learn from subject matter experts; fifth, create the plan; sixth, execute the plan; [and] seventh, monitor, adjust [and] communicate. Having a framework always makes me feel more in control; therefore, things feel easier and less scary,” she outlines.

 

Today, for Moore, analytics is a daily tool: “From analyzing my team’s budget forecasts to reviewing analysis needs [and] understanding the implications of analysis, the percentage of my using analytics can range from 20 percent to 70 percent.”

 

To analyze your career possibilities at Wells Fargo, visit wellsfargo.com/about/careers.

 

Devry’s Patel Shapes Future Generations Using Math

 

Snehal Patel, senior manager for IT services at DeVry, doesn’t just use math to solve equations. For him an analytical mindset is the basis for complex problem-solving.

 

“Math isn’t just about crunching numbers. Analytical and math skills empower you to approach a complex problem. Such analysis comes with practice, and it lets you tackle the hard problems in life. We don’t just solve IT problems. We run IT as a business. We have to be proactive, which requires an analytical mindset,” Patel contends.

 

Of course, he notes, crunching numbers is also a daily tool: “I use math and analytics on a daily basis in managing IT operations. I use it for forecasting, budgeting, planning, analyzing issues and operational metrics.”

 

Accuracy and efficiency are essential for Patel, given the breadth and depth of his duties. “As the senior manager in DeVry IT, I’m responsible for IT service desk operations at four office locations with the DeVry Education group in Chicago. I also oversee one office for DeVry Medical International based in New Jersey,” he explains.

 

Overseeing five offices and being proactive in IT development is powered by Patel’s belief in DeVry’s mission: “I love the culture and our purpose vision. Being in education we in IT get a great opportunity to deploy innovative and leading-edge technology and tools to run efficient IT operations. I’m really proud of our values. We have a student-first approach. We demonstrate care in our actions for our students and colleagues, and we support our students’ career and education goals.” 

 

Patel is also proud of the global reach of DeVry, which is based in Downers Grove, IL. “We are in 130 locations in more than 40 countries. I have more 18,000 colleagues worldwide,” he points out.

 

Connecting with some of his colleagues is a platform for Patel’s perpetual learning: “I chose IT because I like to be hands-on with technology. In my present role as an IT leader, I get to interact people and help them with their technology needs. It’s never dull. It’s never boring. I learn something new every day. I chose this sector because it gives me a higher sense of purpose. You are helping to shape the future generation.”

 

Shaping the future generation is enabled by math, the senior IT manager believes. “Math was my minor. My favorite subjects were math and physics, and math has really helped me to be successful in my current role,” he shares.

 

And for those considering DeVry, its job possibilities are as varied as its degrees, according to Patel.

 

“People ask me if I teach at DeVry University. People are unaware that the DeVry Education Group has much more to offer than just teaching positions. Likewise, our schools range from veterinary to nursing to business management to engineering to business to healthcare to much, much more,” he explains.

 

To explore the diverse career paths at Devry, visit devryeducation group.com/careers.html.

 

Math Figures Heavily in Dorgan’s IT Post at DaVita

 

Kathleen Dorgan is the director of IT launch, learning and development at Denver, CO-based DaVita. She’s also a R.N., C.N.N. and C.P.D.N.

 

“I am a registered nurse by training, so the many semesters of math in nursing school have paid off. At the time I graduated (20-plus years ago), I did not have a clear vision of where my career would take me. Working in IT, overseeing our numerous projects/deployments is the perfect blend of clinical and IT/analytics,” Dorgan says. 

 

How did she end up in IT? “I initially did not choose IT. It chose me. I was working for our laboratory in Florida as a clinical training specialist, and our team migrated into the IT space, rolling out the initial technology and infrastructure to our dialysis centers,” Dorgan recollects.

 

“As we grew as a company, and our technology platforms became more robust, we continued to deploy IT initiatives as needed. Although I no longer provide direct hands-on patient care, what we do as a learning and development team is still very impactful to our patient and teammate population. I have direct oversight of the training, clinical change and project management lanes within IT LL&D, along with oversight of our hardware integration team,” she continues.

 

What kind of patient care does DaVita deliver? “As of December 2015 DaVita operated 2,251 outpatient dialysis centers located in the U.S., serving approximately 180,000 patients. The company also operated 118 outpatient dialysis centers located in 10 countries outside the U.S.,” she indicates.

 

DaVita’s 60,000 employees serve patients with an emphasis on care, according to Dorgan: “We are a community first and a company second. We believe in not only taking care of our patients, but also caring for each other, and caring for the world. What is so amazing is the impact that we, as a company, have in the healthcare sector. From our clinical excellence to research, medical missions [and] commitment to international patients, we truly are caring for the world.”

 

Of course, simply caring doesn’t preclude trials. “The acquisition of Gambro in 2005 was a challenge. This was the largest deployment initiative to date for the company. Due to the size of the project, we had a good bit of lead time in preparing for this multi-year initiative. Hiring the right mix of professional contract trainers, partnered with our internal training team, made the project much more manageable. We also ensured we had the right talent of managers/supervisors/ leads and consultants to ensure success,” Dorgan states.

 

Plus, a solid foundation of math and analytics further girds success, she contends. “Approximately 40 percent of our work involves math or analytics. We are fortunate to have an analytics lane within our direct team. However, I am consistently working on budget, reviewing training stats, NPS scores and user adoption rates, to name a few. We also have a strategic ops review each month with the executives, which is very analytical in nature,” Dorgan elaborates.

 

To find job opportunities at DaVita, visit careers.davita.com.