![The University of Akron, College of Business Business Analytics - Innovation Summit](/business/images/bais/2021/BAIS-2021-logo.jpg)
The Seventh Annual Business Analytics Innovation Summit brings together leaders and experts to explore the transformative power of data and AI literacy, AI innovation, and effective governance in driving organizational success. Speakers represent diverse positions and perspectives, from data scientists and IT professionals to subject-matter experts who have evolved into roles in which AI and analytics are central.
- Michael De Leon and Brandon Jusek will explore Eaton's integration of data analytics in emergency communications, showcasing how data-driven insights can enhance decision-making and foster continuous improvement.
- Tim Hoolihan of Centric will highlight how advances in AI technology make it more accessible to a broader range of users, how this leads to new needs for AI literacy, and how this provides new possibilities for workforce empowerment.
- Kevin Mooney and Joseph Dorocak of the Cleveland Clinic will explore how robust governance frameworks can drive and accelerate the ethical and effective implementation of AI within organizations and for society.
- Our keynote speaker is Chief Information Officer Katherine Lowry of BakerHostetler. She will discuss their transformative journey in data governance, highlighting the establishment of a comprehensive data governance charter and the strategic implementation of technologies like Microsoft Copilot and GenAI. She will share insights on overcoming challenges in data quality and literacy, as well as the firm's agile transformation and future-proofing efforts.
The Summit includes ample networking opportunities with your peers, leading data analytics professionals, University of Akron faculty, and students from the Business Analytics and Information Systems programs. All net proceeds from this event will go to support student scholarships to attend the Summit and to study in relevant University of Akron programs.
Program
7:00 a.m. - 8:00 a.m.
8:00 a.m. - 8:15 a.m.
Welcome
8:15 a.m. - 9:00 a.m.
Empowering Eaton: Cultivating Data Literacy for Proactive (Emergency) Communications Solutions
Michael De Leon, Director, Communications and Digital Employee Engagement
Brandon Jusek, Digital Marketing Manager, Industrial Sector
9:00 a.m. - 9:45 a.m.
Workforce Empowerment with AI Literacy and Enablement
Tim Hoolihan, Centric Consulting
9:45 a.m. - 10:15 a.m.
Coffee & Networking Break
10:15 a.m. - 11:15 a.m.
Good Governance Accelerates AI Innovation
Kevin Mooney, Senior Director, Enterprise Data, AI & Analytics Governance, Cleveland Clinic
Joseph Dorocak, Manager, Information Technology, Lead Data Scientist, Cleveland Clinic
11:15 a.m. - 11:45 a.m.
Lunch Break
11:45 a.m. - 12:45 p.m.
Navigating the Unknown: Resiliency and Decisiveness in Forming a Data Governance Strategy
Katherine Lowry, Chief Information Officer, BakerHostetler
12:45 p.m. - 1:00 p.m.
Presentations
KEYNOTE: Navigating the Unknown: Resiliency and Decisiveness in Forming a Data Governance Strategy
Katherine Lowry, Chief Information Officer
Chief Information Officer Katherine Lowry explores the transformative journey of BakerHostetler (BH), a top 50 law firm renowned for its innovative use of information systems. Over nearly two years, she has spearheaded a shift in how the firm perceives and manages data, culminating in the establishment of a comprehensive data governance charter. Key to this success was securing senior leadership's buy-in by illustrating the value of data as a critical asset, demonstrated through practical examples like standardizing data definitions across 140 disparate applications. The talk will delve into the challenges of ensuring data quality, increasing data literacy and the strategic implementation of cutting-edge technologies such as Microsoft Copilot and GenAI. Attendees will gain insights into the firm's agile transformation journey, the pivotal moments and lessons learned along the way, and the forward-thinking steps being taken to future-proof the enterprise and prepare for potential expansions.
Katherine Lowry serves as the Chief Information Officer for BakerHostetler. She has a proven track record in aligning business strategy and digital imperatives to deliver critical solutions to law firms and corporate legal departments, creating operational stability, reducing highly manual workflows, operationalizing risk management, gaining competitive advantages through transformation, and creating data enriched client experiences by embracing innovative strategies. Katherine is an award-winning thought leader for execution of complex initiatives, maximizing high-performing team capabilities, inspiring creativity to navigate challenging situations while continuously achieving extraordinary outcomes through ingenuity, collaboration and scaling of services to support secure enterprise growth, organically and through mergers and acquisitions.
Recently, Katherine was recognized as the 2022 Most Innovative Intrapreneur at the Financial Times Innovative Lawyer Awards for using IT as a business enabler through her role in co-creating and leading IncuBaker, one of the first captive ALSP’s focused on legal innovation and legal tech consulting serving corporate legal departments and their digital transformation, privacy management, data initiatives, and use of emerging technologies such as Generative AI. Katherine was also elected to the Fellows-Elect Class of 2022 for the College of Law Practice Management and selected by Relativity for its first annual list of AI Visionaries in 2022.
She serves as Co-Chair of the Emerging Technology team of BakerHostetler’s Digital Assets and Data Management Group and leads the firm’s legal technology consulting and innovation team, IncuBaker, which is known for helping lawyers navigate the intersection of digital business, emerging technology and the law. This team serves corporate legal departments across every industry to support their digital transformation, privacy management and data initiatives.
Empowering Eaton: Cultivating Data Literacy for Proactive (Emergency) Communications Solutions
Michael De Leon, Director, Communications and Digital Employee Engagement
Brandon Jusek, Digital Marketing Manager, Industrial Sector
In the age of information, the ability to communicate effectively can be a challenge, but it is paramount for success, especially when it comes to emergency situations and critical communications. Eaton, a global leader in power management technologies, embraced this challenge by integrating data analytics into its day-to-day operations through its Critical Communications PowerBI Dashboard. Join us to discover the pivotal role of data analytics in understanding trends, discovering information gaps, and driving insights which enabled Eaton to tailor its decision making for maximum impact. We will dissect real-world emergency communication scenarios that demonstrate the interplay of technological advancements and data-driven decision-making to ensure effective and timely communications and foster a culture of continuous improvement and innovation.
Michael De Leon is the director of Global Communications and Digital Employee Engagement for Eaton. He joined Eaton in 2017 and is responsible for employee-focused digital communication technology. In this role, Michael leads Eaton’s global internal digital communication strategy, operations, integration, training, and counsels functional and business leaders on effective communication solutions and usage strategies that align with Eaton’s business objectives. In addition, he identifies, evaluates, and deploys new digital solutions to solve problems, help modernize the employee experience, and enhance communication effectiveness.
Michael has worked in startup, corporate, nonprofit and agency settings where he gained expertise in communication operations, technology, crisis communications, integrated marketing, content planning, international communications and more. His diverse experience has allowed him to gain exposure to, and understand, the spectrum of startup businesses to large corporate structures. With proven success in driving communications strategies, Michael’s passion for relationship management and channel development helps him deliver innovative solutions.
Brandon Jusek is a data scientist and marketing professional with more than 15 years of impact. He began his career in healthcare with a medical device company building and executing the overall marketing and communications strategy. As Brandon experienced the digital marketing journey, he developed a passion for marketing technology and the data associated with it. After completing a Master of Science in data analytics, Brandon has combined his love of marketing and data to drive improved decision making and more effective storytelling at Eaton.
Workforce Empowerment with AI Literacy and Enablement
Tim Hoolihan, Centric Consulting
With the latest advances in AI, it is now possible to empower more and more elements of the workforce. From the technical side, it is possible to utilize new platforms that make a wide range of AI approaches approachable and understandable. From the workforce side, literacy about how these models work and what they can deliver for business benefits becomes increasingly important. Workforce readiness is overtaking technical acumen as the primary constraint to AI adoption. This talk will look at enablement and literacy through the perspective of several case studies, including examples about neural networks, machine learning, and large language models.
Tim Hoolihan is a Data Scientist who also builds Data Science teams and offerings. He has experience helping clients navigate the worlds of data science, machine learning, and AI. Tim has worked in technology for 23 years, with the last 12 years focused on data science. He is in Northeast Ohio and is an organizer of the Cleveland R User Group. Tim has spoken at many technical conferences and published video content on R, Python, and Deep Learning. In his personal time, Tim spends time with his wife, their 3 daughters, and a hungry Boston Terrier.
Good Governance Accelerates AI Innovation
Kevin Mooney, Senior Director, Enterprise Data, AI & Analytics Governance, Cleveland Clinic
Joseph Dorocak, Manager, Information Technology, Lead Data Scientist, Cleveland Clinic
Our presentation explores how robust governance frameworks can drive the ethical and effective implementation of Artificial Intelligence (AI) within organizations. It emphasizes the necessity of cross-stakeholder engagement and the development of comprehensive, accountable policies to enhance clinical, research, operational, and financial decision-making. Our talk will outline six best practices for establishing strong governance systems, including sound policy creation, alignment with regulatory structures, detailed governance processes, a model development framework, guiding ethical principles, and consortium involvement. Additionally, the importance of an AI and data literacy program to ensure organizational coherence and operational accuracy will be highlighted. This approach aims to harmonize governance with innovation, leveraging AI's potential for the betterment of patients and society.
Kevin is the Senior Director, Data, AI & Analytics Governance at the Cleveland Clinic. An attorney, he worked in Cleveland Clinic’s Legal Office from 2005 through 2017, where he built and ran the IT/IP legal practice and served as its Lead IT Commercial Counsel and Chair. In those roles, he was heavily engaged in the strategy and implementation of Cleveland Clinic’s technology, analytics, telemedicine, EMR, cloud, digital health, privacy, cybersecurity, and high-tech opportunities and partnerships.
Joe Dorocak became an Associate in the Society of Actuaries in April, 2018. He has worked at the Cleveland Clinic since graduating from the University of Dayton in 2012. His focus had been the analysis of numerous shared savings contracts including Cleveland Clinic’s Medicare ACO and the Clinic’s Employee Health Plan, before taking on the responsibility of managing the organization’s Population Health Analytics team in 2018. Beginning in 2021, he has transitioned to a role focused on advancing analytical techniques with the use of machine learning, forecasting and simulation modeling. In his current position, Joe has overseen the enhancements of existing predictive models, development of new machine learning applications, and has been at the forefront of the organization’s data science journey to the cloud.
Company Sponsorships
Summit Sponsor: $10,000
- Companies recognized as “Summit Sponsor” throughout the event, on event website and in all related media
- 60-seconds video commercial spot to be played throughout event
- Introduce Keynote Speaker
- 3 Corporate Tables of 8 (per table)
- 3 Vendor Display Tables
- Large logo featured prominently throughout event
- Company is verbally recognized throughout the event
- Large logo included on emails sent to registrants
Premier Sponsor: $5,000
- Sponsor a Session — prerecorded introduction of speaker and logo featured
- Companies recognized as “Premier Sponsor” throughout the event, on event website and in all related media
- 60-seconds video commercial spot to be played throughout event
- 2 Corporate Tables of 8 (per table)
- 2 Vendor Display Tables
- Medium logo featured prominently throughout event and on social media
- Company is verbally recognized throughout the event
- Medium logo included on emails sent to registrants
Gold Sponsor: $2,500
- 1 Corporate Table of 8 (per table)
- 1 Vendor Display Table
- Small logo featured throughout the event and social media
- Company is verbally recognized throughout the event
- Small logo included on emails sent to registrants
Blue Sponsor: $1,000
- Unlimited Blue sponsorships available
- 1 Corporate Table of 8 (per table)
- Small logo featured throughout the event and social media
- Company is verbally recognized throughout the event
- Name included on the email sent to registrants
To become a sponsor, please visit the registration page and select your sponsorship level.
Should you have questions, please contact Alan Bedingfield, abedingfield@uakron.edu or 330-972-5879
Current Sponsors
Gold Sponsor
![Avaap–innovation & Scaled Vision](/business/images/bais/2024/bais-2024_gold_sponsors.jpg?v=2)
Blue Sponsor
![Enza Financial & Rohrer Corp.](/business/images/bais/2024/bais-2024_blue_sponsors.jpg)
About CITA
The Center for Information Technologies and Analytics (CITA) is a multi–disciplinary Center within the College of Business. CITA was created in 2000 with the mission to teach students and develop faculty in the principles and practices of the related disciplines of Information Technology. CITA accomplishes its mission by providing scholarships, mentoring, internships & co-op opportunities to students in the information systems and business analytics disciplines, providing resources to conduct research to faculty, and conducting several outreach activities that promote IT and analytics among local companies.
CITA is made up of an advisory board of Information Technology leaders from the Northeast Ohio region and the College of Business faculty, staff and students. For further information, visit the Center for Information Technologies and Analytics (CITA) website.