Dean Abbott is an internationally recognized thought leader and innovator in data science and predictive analytics, with more than three decades of experience solving problems in customer analytics, fraud detection, risk modeling, text mining, survey analysis, and many more. He is frequently included in lists of the top pioneering and influential data scientists in the world. Mr. Abbott is the author of Applied Predictive Analytics (Wiley, 2014) and coauthor of The IBM SPSS Modeler Cookbook (Packt Publishing, 2013). He is a popular keynote speaker and bootcamp/workshop instructor at conferences worldwide and serves on advisory boards for the UC/Irvine Predictive Analytics and UC/San Diego Data Science Certificate programs. He holds a bachelors degree in computational mathematics from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a masters degree in applied mathematics from the University of Virginia.

With a degree in Mechanical Engineering and a Masters in Music Composition, Hedley Aylott’s route to leadership of a Top 10 digital company is, to say the least, unconventional.

In 1995, he worked with a group of prisoners in Manchester’s HMP Strangeways, recording and releasing a Top 40 single – and winning a BAFTA in the process.

Hedley launched Summit in 2000 at HMP Humber to provide online strategy, marketing and technology to businesses whilst establishing a rehabilitation programme for prisoners.

Today Summit is a multi-award winning business with a turnover in excess of £40 million and employs over 120 staff at its offices in Yorkshire, London and Prague.

Summit helps some of Europe’s most successful retailers and brands such as Argos, Homebase, Selfridges, Carpetright, Office Depot, Reckitt Benckiser transform the way they trade online.

Hedley is an engaging and enthusiastic speaker about all aspects of business, retail and a Digital evangelist.

Away from work, Hedley is a passionate polo player, pilot, water-ski instructor and sailor.

Nick Clarke is Head of Analytics at Tessella. After a research career in chemical physics Nick joined Tessella in 1999 to utilise the same set of skills to make data talk in the commercial sector. Nick now leads Tessella’s analytics division, crafting managed analytics services offerings that support data-driven enterprises to generate maximum value from their data and technology platforms.

Sven is an academic, founder, and speaker in forecasting with AI/ML. As a Lecturer in Management Science at Lancaster University, UK, his research on novel forecasting algorithms has received international awards and currently ranks him in the top 3 globally on forecasting with AI/ML. He is also founder of iqast.de, a university spin-off with headquarters in Hamburg pioneering fully automatic forecasting software with AI/ML, including container forecasting at Hapag-Lloyd.

Dr. Richard Davis is Group Head of Analytics at Lloyds Banking Group. He leads a team of data scientists who work across the Group looking to employ novel analytical solutions to problems facing the bank. This encompasses a number of “Big Data” technologies from data acquisition and cleansing, visualisation including dynamic dashboards, predictive analytics and data mining using artificial intelligence. Richard has previously held roles in alternative investments companies where he developed machine learning tools for hedge funds. Prior to this he was a researcher in applied mathematics, he has a PhD in Chemistry where he developed a non-lethal diagnostic test for mad cow disease.

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.

Usama Fayyad is the Executive Director of the Institute for Experiential AI and Chairman of Open Insights, a technology and consulting firm he founded in 2008. His previous roles include co-Founder & CTO at OODA Health, Inc., Global Chief Data Officer at Barclays Bank. Fayyad was also the first person to hold the Chief Data Officer title when Yahoo acquired his second startup in 2004. There, he built the Strategic Data Solutions group and founded Yahoo Research Labs. He held leadership roles at Microsoft and founded the Machine Learning Systems group at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. He has published over 100 technical articles, edited two books, holds over 20 patents, and is an ACM and AAAI Fellow. Usama has served on the boards/advisory boards of private and public companies.

In more than 12 years of professional experience working with large multinationals and institutions across the globe, provided leadership and problem solving expertise on various operational improvement initiatives. Functional expertise ranges from business analysis using advanced simulation and predictive modelling techniques to project and product management, operational and process reengineering, marketing mix optimisation, strategic cost reduction and risk assessment. Industry experience covers a wide range from Defence, Healthcare and Energy to Education, Banking, Consumer Goods (FMCG) and Marketing.

Alwin is the Founder and Managing Director of the data analytics and technology boutique Haensel AMS – Advanced Mathematical Solutions, with offices in Berlin and New York. He holds a Phd in Applied Mathematics and studied in London, Berlin and Amsterdam. His main fields of interest are the modeling of individual customer purchasing behavior to optimize pricing and marketing strategies. Most recently, he concentrated on eCommerce topics such as: multi-touch attribution, dynamic pricing.

Alex Hancock is Head of Treasury Analytics for Shell. He leads the Treasury Analytics Team in tackling challenges such as short and long term cash forecasting, counter party exposure, credit & risk. In a former role he was Analytics Manger for Shell Lubricants Supply Chain with a focus on forecast accuracy, supply chain optimisation and inventory management.

Abigail has a background in probability and statistics and a PhD in Queueing Theory from Imperial College London. As Principal Analyst at uSwitch, she focuses on using statistical and machine learning techniques to get the most value out of available data. Abigail is passionate about encouraging an understanding of uncertainty in both big and small data.

Anna is a Data Scientist at GfK Data Lab. Together with an international team of Data Scientists and Data Science Engineers she researches the possibilities of GfK’s data landscape and develops data-driven products. Before joining GfK she worked as a Data Science freelancer in South East Asia. She holds a PhD in physics from Aix-Marseille University where she did research on epidemic processes on dynamic networks.

Costas’ professional journey was “digital” all the way!

Starting in 2001 as an e-business consultant, he was the founder and CEO of Mindworks Interactive since 2003. By 2015, when Mindworks was acquired by Dentsu Aegis Network, it had already become the fastest growing and biggest independent digital agency in Greece, with a team of over 60 people and a leading position in performance marketing and online communications in general.

In the same time, never-resting Costas had also managed to create and then sell 2 more start-ups.

Since 2015, Costas and Mindworks are proud members of the global Dentsu Aegis family and he is the Managing Director of iProspect Greece.

Costas believes that data beats opinion. He works with some of the leading brands in Greece and abroad such as Allianz, Mondelez, Aegean Airlines, Heineken, to support data-driven strategic decisions.

Stephen Pickett, Ph.D. works in the Computational Chemistry department at GlaxoSmithKline, leading a team of scientists applying state of the art computational methods to drug discovery. He has over 20 years experience in pharmaceutical R&D and is an author of over 40 peer-reviewed scientific articles and six patent applications.

Enda is Data Scientist with over 10 years experience and author of the book “Guerrilla Analytics – a practical approach to working with data”. He is currently building a Data Science team and capability at Sainsbury's, one of the UK's largest grocery retailers.

Enda has significant experience across the predictive analytics life cycle. He has worked in pre-sales of social network software for fraud detection and as a professional services consultant helping clients in government, financial services, insurance, and audit. His Data Science has been reported to high-profile stakeholders including regulators, banking CROs, government committees and international bodies. Enda's PhD was in "Design of Experiments for Tuning Algorithms", establishing methodical approaches to evaluating predictive analytics solutions.

You can find further information at: http://guerrilla-analytics.net.

Dr. Sandro Saitta is a data science passionate. He has applied data science in academia and in industries such as Finance, Telco, Chemicals, Online Travel and Retail. He is currently Chief Industry Advisor at the Swiss Data Science Center (EPFL/ETHZ). Sandro is a lecturer for the CAS Data Science & Management (EPFL/UNIL). He co-founded the Swiss Association for Analytics to promote Data Science in Switzerland. Sandro holds a PhD in Computer Science from EPFL.

Victor Schlegel began his career in Japan at Fujitsu Inc., Global Marketing Department. After further positions at T-Systems and Credit Suisse where he worked as Black Belt in efficiency projects, he took the position in the strategy department of Swisscom Inc., where he developed and rolled out analytical services.

Véronique Van Vlasselaer graduated magna cum laude as Master Information Systems Engineer at the faculty of Business and Economics, KU Leuven (Belgium). For her master thesis topic “Mining Data on Twitter”, she received the best thesis award from the faculty’s student branch.

In 2012, Véronique started as a Ph.D researcher with prof. Bart Baesens at the Faculty of Business of Economics at KU Leuven, department of Decision Sciences and Information Management. Her main research topics include social network analytics, fraud detection and net lift modeling.

Werner is Finance Director at Bookit BV, a short break specialist for hotels and holiday parks with market leading positions in the Netherlands, the main website are Weekendjeweg.nl and BungalowS.nl. He holds an MSc in Environmental Science and Business Administration, as well as an executive master in finance & control. Werner is a heavy R user and a big-data enthusiast.

Phil Winters is known internationally as The Father of Customer Intelligence. An independent business advisor, author,  keynote lecturer and workshop leader with 35+ years' experience working with some 300 companies, he focuses on Customer Intelligence and championing the customer perspective to help organizations raise customer value through outstanding customer experience.

Ralph is heading up GfK Data Lab – a new, global Data Science team that focuses on researching, leveraging, and enhancing GfK’s data landscape, experimenting with new data sources, and developing valuable data-driven products.

He started his career in GfK’s Marketing & Data Science unit in 2005 and quickly became a renowned methodology expert in the market research community. Prior to launching the Data Lab, Ralph was part of the Global Innovation team, managing all stages of GfK’s innovation process – from continuous monitoring of emerging digital trends and strategy development to the roll-out of new, innovative market research tools.

Ralph holds a PHD in statistics and is author of numerous articles and conference papers.

David is Professor of Statistics at Durham University , and Director there of the Mathematical Sciences Consultancy Unit. He has been working in the area of applied statistics for around 40 years, with particular interests in Bayesian statistics and applications of statistics to commercial and industrial problems. He has published around 70 articles and books on a wide variety of applications. For the past six years he has been deeply involved in developing award-winning statistical methods and predictive analytics in digital commerce, in collaboration with Summit.