2016 Election Nominees
Below are the nominees for the 2016-2017 DAA Board of Directors Election. The voting period opens on April 29, 2016 and will close on May 13, 2016 at 11:59 PM ET. Only those votes submitted during this time period will count. The DAA maintains a database of voting members. The set of members eligible to vote in a Director election are those that were members of the Digital Analytics Association in good standing at the start of the voting period. Those not members at the start of the voting period cannot join the DAA in order to vote for the Board of Directors Election.
Slate (Yes/No)
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Brooks Bell, Founder and CEO, Brooks Bell
Nominee Name: Brooks Bell
Nominee Company: Brooks Bell
Nominee Job Title: Founder/CEO
Country is which nominee is located: USA
Nominee Sector (Academic/Consultant/Practitioner/Vendor): Consultant
Nominee LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brooksbellinteractive
Brooks Bell is the founder and CEO of Brooks Bell Inc., the premier firm focused exclusively on enterprise-level testing, personalization and optimization services. She launched the company in 2003 by combining her study of psychology with a passion for digital design. In doing so, Brooks became a pioneer in bringing the scientific disciplines of A/B testing and optimization to the traditionally subjective field of marketing. Since then, she has worked to grow the company and develop its culture— efforts that were recognized with “Best Place to Work” awards in 2012, 2013, and 2014.
Brooks has been named among “40 Under 40” by the Triangle Business Journal, “Top 50 Entrepreneurs” by Business Leader, and was recently named to the board of the Digital Analytics Association. She has appeared in Inc. Magazine, Forbes, Washington Post, and Techonomy, among others. A regular speaker, Brooks has been a keynote, presenter, and panelist at events and for organizations such as the Wharton School of Business, Duke University, Click Summit, Techonomy, eMetrics, Conversion Conference, Internet Summit, and many more.
A passionate entrepreneur, Brooks co-founded HQ Raleigh and ThinkHouse Raleigh—two communities that help empower and cultivate companies that produce long-term job growth and positive social impact
Please list in detail a summary of your contributions to the DAA to date in current and/or previous role on the Board.
- Planned the re-design of the DAA website.
- Hired a new website content manager.
- Spoke at DAA events.
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Casey Carey, Head of Marketing, Google Analytics
Nominee Name: Casey Carey
Nominee Company: Google
Nominee Job Title: Head of Marketing, Google Analytics
Country is which nominee is located: USA
Nominee Sector (Academic/Consultant/Practitioner/Vendor): Vendor
Nominee LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/caseykcarey
Casey has been working in marketing analytics since 1996. His first foray into web analytics was white-labeling Webtrends into a first generation ecommerce and email marketing platform in 1999. Since those days, Casey has spent the past 15 years in a passionate pursuit of making marketing better through data, technology, and analytics. This journey has encompassed taking new technologies to market while at DoubleClick, overseeing the transition of Webtrends from a single product to a multi-product company as head of strategy, acting as General Manager for Internet Retailer Top 125 site, Alibris.com, CMO of Adometry, and now head of marketing for Google Analytics. Joining Google in May 2014 as Head of Marketing, Casey is responsible for brand, demand, and product marketing of Google’s data and measurement solutions including the recently launched Google Analytics 360 Suite. Casey is also an original co-founder and advisor for SpotRight, a big data startup compiling and modeling billions of social graph connections to inform and target marketing programs. Casey is a regular speaker, moderator, and panelist at regional and national conferences and a frequent contributor to various marketing and analytics publications and blogs. Casey holds an MBA from Regis University with an emphasis in Marketing and Operations Management and has an undergraduate degree is in Electrical Engineering.
Please list in detail a summary of your contributions to the DAA to date in current and/or previous role on the Board.
Board President 2015-present: Current providing overall leadership and management of the Association including establishing a strategic plan, leading board meetings and activities, and ensuring the board’s engagement and support of operational priorities in pursuit of our mission. Key accomplishment includes leading an initiative to remove and replace the Executive Director based on feedback from the board and key stakeholders. Result is the Association is now better positioned for future success.
Board Member 2014-2015: Worked with Brooks Bell on designing and implementing a Mentor Match program to formalize mentorships across the Association’s membership. Program was shelved mid-year as a result of other board priorities. Work with and spoke at Symposia in CHI and SF.
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Michael Rappa, Director and Distinguished University Professor, Institute for Advanced Analytics
Nominee Name: Michael Rappa
Nominee Company: Institute for Advanced Analytics, NC State University
Nominee Job Title: Director and Distinguished University Professor
Country is which nominee is located: USA
Nominee Sector (Academic/Consultant/Practitioner/Vendor): Academic
Nominee LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelrappa
I am the founding director of the Institute for Advanced Analytics and a member of the faculty in the Department of Computer Science at North Carolina State University. As head of the Institute, I lead the nation’s first Master of Science in Analytics (MSA) as its originator and principal architect. The MSA is an intensive 10-month professional degree that blends computer science, statistics, applied mathematics and business disciplines into an innovative education focused on the analysis of very large amounts of data. Since launching the Institute in 2006, the MSA has quickly become one of the largest and most selective degree programs on campus. The Institute enrolls up to 120 students annually.
Please list in detail a summary of your contributions to the DAA to date in current and/or previous role on the Board.
My main focus has been to help to help foster university membership in the DAA and work to increase the number of student members. I would like to continue this work and, in addition, work to create a local chapter of DAA to serve North Carolina and surrounding region. This effort would culminate in hosting an annual Raleigh-based Analytics Symposium.More broadly, I would like to foster the increased engagement of the academic community in various aspects of the DAA—encouraging colleges and universities across the country to support their local chapters, participate in and host local symposia (and other learning opportunities), and channel new student members into the DAA.
At-Large Nominees (Pick 3)
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Jeff Allen, Senior Director of Product Marketing – Analytics, Adobe
Nominee Name: Jeff Allen
Nominee Company: Adobe
Nominee Job Title: Senior Director of Product Marketing – Analytics
Country is which nominee is located: USA
Nominee Sector (Academic/Consultant/Practitioner/Vendor): Vendor
Nominee LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffreyaallen
In his role at Adobe, Jeff has helped to shape the product strategy and positioning of Adobe Analytics. This includes working with customers and industry leaders in order to advance the scope of what Adobe Analytics is capable of achieving. This includes the release of advanced analytics features such as: contribution analysis, propensity scoring and algorithmic attribution as well as the recent DAA Awards of Excellence nominee, Analysis Workspace.
In addition to helping shape the roadmap, Jeff has represented Adobe Analytics at numerous analyst, press, third party and Adobe-sponsored events. During his time at Adobe, Adobe Analytics has received numerous accolades from all major analyst publications. Most recently Adobe was recognized as a leader in the Forrester Wave for Customer Analytics (the first year Adobe Analytics has participated.)
Jeff has spent his career working in tech marketing, sales and product management roles. Prior to joining Adobe, he was VP of Marketing for AtTask, a hyper-growth SaaS project management company. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Brigham Young University in Russian and Business.
What major contribution will you bring to DAA and its membership?
As a leader at one of the biggest vendors in the analytics industry, the biggest asset I can provide is the perspective of our user base. Part of my role is understanding what our users are looking for in an analytics tool so that they can do their job more effectively in order to grow their career. Adobe has a hand in shaping where the industry is heading and the DAA should be right alongside or leading this trajectory as well.The DAA needs to grow with its member base in order continue to stay relevant. Adobe Analytics has been expanding its areas of focus in order to mature the skills of its user base. One of my priorities if chosen for the board will be to expand the scope of the DAA past digital analytics. This will:
- Allow members to further their skillsets by giving them resources and contacts in new areas to further their careers
- Bring in new members from other industry focus areas, growing the DAA membership base
- Grow the organization’s total knowledge base, creating a more attractive association and a stronger community
My experience in this area, plus the connections that Adobe can provide, will be an asset to the board.
How can you specifically assist DAA with meeting the objectives of the DAA Mission?
Expanding the scope of the DAA’s core focus will allow the association to align with how the industry is moving. As we are constantly reminded, the proliferation of devices and customer data is creating many opportunities for analytics professionals to expand responsibilities and power. Bringing tangential fields such as predictive analytics to the DAA will allow members to grow their skillset. It will also grow the DAA community and keep the DAA relevant to our member base.In addition, allowing someone from Adobe on the DAA board will make analytics professionals more effective and valuable by giving greater access to the Adobe support system. This includes more ways to provide analysts learning opportunities on Adobe Analytics through a more coordinated and easier system.
Where do you think the DAA should be in the next two years? How can you specifically assist DAA with meeting that objective?
As stated before, I believe that the DAA needs to broaden its scope past digital analytics. By evolving our focus areas past the digital analytics base we will provide more value to our current membership and become more attractive to prospective members. Additionally, we can provide a support system to new members in emerging focus areas that may be lacking a member organization.Membership needs to grow at a national level, but it also needs to be reflected at the local level as well. One of the most important elements of the DAA is in-person networking opportunities. Bringing on new members can re-energize the local community, but the DAA also needs help provide more local support in order to grow its regional markets as well. The focus needs to be on providing more relevant and effective events for our members. I believe my experience at Adobe and at my previous roles in managing large scale events will provide value and direction to the board.
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Anees Merchant, Senior Vice President, Blueocean Market Intelligence
Nominee Name: Anees Merchant
Nominee Company: Blueocean Market Intelligence
Nominee Job Title: Senior Vice President
Country is which nominee is located: India
Nominee Sector (Academic/Consultant/Practitioner/Vendor): Vendor
Nominee LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aneesmerchant
A 19-year industry veteran who has worked with numerous global Fortune 500 clients spanning a variety of industries, Anees Merchant developed and leads Blueocean Market Intelligence’s dedicated digital team.
Anees is an innovator whose expertise, passion and vision have made a tremendous difference for Blueocean Market Intelligence and our clients. He directs his team to continually challenge conventional, fragmented decision making and instead focus on helping companies meet the challenges of today with a transformative and holistic approach called 360 Discovery which produces true intelligence designed to drive data-driven decisions.
With the advent of Big Data technologies and advanced BI platforms, organizations are increasingly invested in building not only more complex data lakes, but teams of data engineers, data scientists, statisticians, business analysts and BI experts who can analyze petabytes and terabytes of data daily. Since day one, Anees has followed an APP-driven approach which encompasses using different data sources to integrate in a single platform to enable more simplified analytics and data view for marketing and sales teams by deploying apps over the analytics infrastructure.
In addition to pioneering the firm’s award-winning Social Effectiveness Index, he has led his team to develop several innovative technology solutions such Persona™ (social media insights platform that enhance customer segmentation), Synergist™ (digital data classification platform) and Minerva™ (real-time competitive intelligence platform).
With the proof represented by the company’s stability and scale, business maturity, IP and technology-enabled solutions, and a respected list of Fortune 500 and 1000 clients, Anees has been able to successfully develop centers of excellence within Blueocean Market Intelligence with a 360 lens to enhance analytics maturity while delivering continue value throughout the entire customer life cycle.
Apart from focusing efforts on clients, Anees has played a key role in addressing analytics and digital interest groups throughout the United States, India and other parts of the world. He was honored recently as an Analytics and Insights Leader at the 2016 Big Data, Analytics & Insights Awards and won Digital Marketing Professional of the Year at the CMO Asia 2015 National Awards of Marketing Excellence.
He was also a finalist at the fifth-annual Digital Analytics Association Awards for Excellence in 2015 and was among four top contenders in the Individual Practitioner of the Year category which honors outstanding contributions to the field of digital analytics.
What major contribution will you bring to DAA and its membership?
As an experienced digital analytics professional with a unique global perspective, Anees Merchant will help DAA to create more synergies amongst web analytic professionals, consultants, and end-users, promote DAA’s interests worldwide and successfully evolve along with the industry.
How can you specifically assist DAA with meeting the objectives of the DAA Mission?
We know the adoption of analytics is less significant in emerging markets of South Asia, Middle East and Africa compared to the more mature markets of North America and Western Europe. The diversity in languages and culture, low penetration of credit cards in the consumer market, and general bureaucratic struggles are common challenges. Anees will lead projects and initiatives that strengthen DAA’s global community of members so that they can help to drive adoption and advocacy within these under-served markets, and become more effective and valuable to their own organizations.
Where do you think the DAA should be in the next two years? How can you specifically assist DAA with meeting that objective?
The journey for digital analytics in emerging markets has just begun and there are tremendous opportunities. DAA should be at the forefront of their own global growth by cultivating an engaged community and building relationships amongst digital professionals, consultants and end-users to drive adoption around the world. Anees Merchant will assist the Board in improving existing programs and realigning them to reflect more of a global fabric.
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Rusty Rahmer, Head of Enterprise Digital Intelligence and Web Analytics, The Vanguard Group
Nominee Name: Rusty Rahmer
Nominee Company: The Vanguard Group
Nominee Job Title: Head of Enterprise Digital Intelligence and Web Analytics
Country is which nominee is located: United States
Nominee Sector (Academic/Consultant/Practitioner/Vendor): Practitioner
Nominee LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rustyrahmer
As a DAA certified Digital Analyst and senior leader of web/digital strategy and intelligence for 9+ years at the world’s largest mutual fund company; I have successfully built and managed User Experience, Business Technology and Project Management, Web/Mobile Prototyping, Testing, Digital Strategy, and Digital Marketing and Analytic teams at Vanguard. My experience building out each of these digital service Centers of Excellence has given me tremendous perspective and understanding of the challenges each of these organizations face meeting the business demand for increased success, efficiency, and personalization.
Prior to my work in web and digital, I spent many years as an operations manager at Vanguard where I specialized in startup and turn-around assignments across the enterprise. The Six Sigma training and experience I gained in operations leadership helped me develop a keen sense of the application of data in guiding strategic decision making. My rotations through so many different operational areas and business strategies (B2B and B2C, Retail and Institutional, Sales, Marketing, and Operations, Call Centers and Back Offices, etc.) also helped me develop a sharp connection to building strategic measurement strategies and the techniques/ability to cut through meaningless data in pursuit of well-defined measures of success, statistical improvement, and sound storytelling.
My experiences leading such diverse teams has not only provided me with an incredible foundation from which to understand how important digital strategy, analytics, transformation, and personalization is for enabling business success, but also the unique perspectives of the business, IT, and Marketing leaders. The ability to understand and relate to the challenges and needs of these roles has been invaluable in successfully positioning innovative (yet practical) solutions, building strategic roadmaps, and setting priorities in consistently persuasive and trust-building ways with steering committees and stakeholders alike.
As former leader of operations, I have developed an amazing appreciation for sustainability and plans for sustainable improvement/development. I believe in solutions that offer meaningful and lasting organizational transformation, and have experienced sense for those that do; and those that do not offer this hallmark of success. It may seem ironic, but I am both admittedly passionate about innovation and realistic about the challenges of making lasting change.
With regard to sitting on a Board, I was identified, selected, and trained by the United Way to serve in a Board of Director capacity for any of the non-Profit Organizations under their command. I have had the opportunity to sit with numerous United Way and other Non-Profit Boards, and was offered several positions as a Board of Director for these organizations. While I continue to support these Non-Profits as a consultant, I have not accepted any offers to formerly serve on their Board.
Finally, I am not a Business, Marketing or Statistics major; I am in fact a dual major in History and Liberal Arts. Many might find my educational background to be unusual given my experience and field of professional practice, but I find that, at the heart of this digital transformation, is the application of math, business, and science to the art of measuring human intent and the psychology of predictive human behavior. With that in mind, I’m not sure you could imagine a more magnetic challenge for attracting Liberal Arts or Humanities majors if you tried!
What major contribution will you bring to DAA and its membership?
I don’t mean to be elusive in my answer here, but I believe my skill set and my potential value to be reasonably diverse and fairly fungible. I believe I have the ability to bring direction setting vision, innovation, collaboration, and/or operational oversight to lead committees in Technology, Operations, Marketing, or Finance. My preference would probably be in Technology or Operations where I feel my experience is most deep. To any of these needs however, my greatest contribution might be my passion for this discipline and the desire to see a growing community of analysts with increasingly recognized credentials and the continued development of post-secondary educational programs designed to produce even greater talent in the future.How can you specifically assist DAA with meeting the objectives of the DAA Mission?
Given my experience with Vanguard and the DAA Corporate Advisory Board, I believe I can help with Corporate Fund raising and help convince other Institutions to sponsor corporate memberships by positioning the benefit of credentialing analysts within their company and the value membership brings to their analysts in terms of community and access to peers, experts, and academics in the field. I also believe I can help the DAA to better target Corporate Members by guiding investment that deepens the value proposition for those target audiences of Corporate Sponsors.Where do you think the DAA should be in the next two years? How can you specifically assist DAA with meeting that objective?
I think the opportunity to expand the DAA brand through corporate sponsorship is challenging, but also significant. I don’t think there is a single silver bullet to move that agenda forward, I think successes will be derived from a variety of approaches and tactics designed to increase the value proposition of membership and promote awareness of the DAA Brand. As a member of the DAA Board Member I believe I can help by; creating focus on greater partnerships with academia (increase the membership value by bringing top academic thought leadership and Companies with real-world analytic challenges together); generating more Corporate Leadership involvement in the sharing, generation, and publication of thought leadership content to members; guiding investment in new technologies and channels for reaching members; aiding the sales of Corporate Memberships by being a spokesperson for DAA Corporate Membership; and helping to make the value proposition more relatable by shaping/delivering the sales and marketing of the DAA Corporate Membership to prospective corporate members. -
Jim Sterne, Founder, eMetrics Summit
Nominee Name: Jim Sterne
Nominee Company: eMetrics Summit
Nominee Job Title: Founder
Country is which nominee is located: USA
Nominee Sector (Academic/Consultant/Practitioner/Vendor): Consultant
Nominee LinkedIn Profile: http://www.linkedin.com/in/jimsterne
Jim Sterne is an international consultant who focuses on measuring the success of digital relationships with customers. Sterne has written ten books on interactive marketing including the seminal white paper, E-Metrics Business Metrics for the New Economy in 2000, Web Metrics (2002) and Social Media Metrics (2010). He is the Founding President and current Board Chair of the Digital Analytics Association and produces the eMetrics Summits. In his spare time, he does silly stuff like the Devil's Data Dictionary (2015).
As one of the co-founders of the (then) Web Analytics Association, I have devoted myself to the creation, growth and value of the (now) Digital Analytics Association since 2005. The audience at the eMetrics Summit initiated this organization and, seeing the potential, I have dedicated myself to its well-being and sustainability ever since. I served several years as President before becoming Board Chair and have been active on projects ranging from Symposia to Education and more currently, the Competency Framework and Job Descriptions.
Please list in detail a summary of your contributions to the DAA to date in current and/or previous role on the Board.
I have taken a hands-on approach to the DAA's activities as well as being on the team that sets the agenda. I believe strongly in the mission of the organization and also in the value of working with like-minded people on common goals for the common good. Working at the project level has introduced me to people who are now among my personal friends. It's wonderful to be able to create value alongside some of the smartest people on the planet.This is my last election before Term Limits sideline me for a year. Winning this election will give me two more years to provide institutional memory (history lessons) to newer Board Members and help our brand new Executive Director understand where we have been, so she can take us to the next level.
What major contribution will you bring to DAA and its membership?
My major contributions are institutional knowledge, enthusiasm and guiding the philosophy of the organization.
Institutional knowledge is useful when ideas pop up and the discussion threatens to go round and round. I can chime in with examples and considerations from the last time such things were discussed.
Enthusiasm is my modus operandi. I'm very high on this industry because it seems to be the best way to make the worthiest improvements in online customer experience in the shortest time. I'm an analytics cheerleader!
The DAA was founded on the idea that we are in it to lift all boats. This philosophy has been the hallmark of the association but needs to be nourished lest it fade. When making decisions about programs, partnerships or budgets, there needs to be somebody in the room to remind people that this is not a competition and it's not a business. The DAA exists to help as many people as possible get better at analytics. I'm serious about the role of speaking for our members and the community at large.
How can you specifically assist DAA with meeting the objectives of the DAA Mission?
I'm a hands-on Board member. I'm happy when I can jump in and help get the work done. I'm proud to be personally involved in many DAA initiatives and am delighted and humbled when I see how much gets done by everybody else.Where do you think the DAA should be in the next two years? How can you specifically assist DAA with meeting that objective?
In two years, the DAA should expand its horizons and I am taking the lead on the formation of multiple Special Interest Groups. There are so many analysts out there and so much knowledge people can share - it feels like we finally have a platform on which to build multiple communities. -
Charlotte Whitmore, Founder, Analytics Pros
Nominee Name: Charlotte Whitmore
Nominee Company: Analytics Pros
Nominee Job Title: Founder
Country is which nominee is located: USA
Nominee Sector (Academic/Consultant/Practitioner/Vendor): Vendor
Nominee LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charlotte-whitmore-54b985
Charlotte and her husband, Caleb, founded Analytics Pros in 2009. Since the founding, Charlotte has served in a variety of leadership roles, including CEO and Human Resources. In addition to her role in the Seattle Chapter DAA, Charlotte speaks at various events—from Superweek and the DAA to Shared Assessments and the Global Leaders Summit. Charlotte is passionate about company culture, understanding Millennials, and championing digital analytics in the wider world. Charlotte currently sits on the board of Career Pathways and Entrepreneur’s Organization. She’s also a member of the DAA Corporate Advisory Board and the DAA Seattle Chapter Board. In addition to her 14 years of volunteering with Medical Teams International, Charlotte has assisted in fundraising efforts and the planning of their annual event.
What major contribution will you bring to DAA and its membership?
I would bring an important agency perspective, especially with my experience in HR and recruiting. I have worked heavily with the DAA Seattle Chapter over the last year to increase membership, create monthly meet ups and take our symposium to the next level. I would bring the same fervor and focus to the National Organization.How can you specifically assist DAA with meeting the objectives of the DAA Mission?
DAA National focuses on community and education. I am most creative and effective in the area of community. I would love to bring my creativity to engage membership at a National level.Where do you think the DAA should be in the next two years? How can you specifically assist DAA with meeting that objective?
In two years, the DAA should be a natural 'go-to' for agency professionals, in-house professionals, and college seniors who are aiming for a career in Digital Analytics. I would work with the rest of the team to grow the individual member base, really highlighting the incredible education opportunities for analysts and practitioners. I’ve learned many valuable lessons and grown my professional network during my experience building the local chapter and leading efforts for the symposium. In addition, my seven years of agency experience have given me great insight into the wants and needs at the practitioner level.