People
Team
DIRECTOR CENTRE FOR BUSINESS ANALYTICS AND PROFESSOR OF OPERATIONS
Responsible for academic oversight of our Master of Business Analytics degree. Professor Akçay’s focus is to lead and execute the Centre’s research strategy and build on its existing reputation.
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, CENTRE FOR BUSINESS ANALYTICS
Ms Arbogast is responsible for the Centre’s strategy to transform decision-making through advanced analytics and has 15 years' experience in leadership roles in the US, including at GE Capital and MIT’s Sloan School of Management.
DIRECTOR, MASTER OF BUSINESS ANALYTICS
Dr Holcombe has over 10 years' experience in industry, utilising analytics in the design and administration of infrastructure within the financial services sector. He spent over 20 years teaching and has expertise in mathematical physics.
POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCH FELLOW
Young-San Lin is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Centre for Business Analytics at the Melbourne Business School. He finished his Ph.D. at the Department of Computer Science at Purdue University. His research interest lies in the interdisciplinary field of theoretical computer science, economics, and operations research, focusing on market design, resource allocation, and online algorithms.
CENTRE INDUSTRY LIAISON LEAD
Ms Arbogast is responsible for the Centre’s strategy and industry partnerships and has over 20 years of experience in leadership roles in the US, including at GE Capital and MIT’s Sloan School of Management.
Industry Advisory Board
Our Advisory Board is comprised of some of Australia’s finest analytics professionals and business leaders that drive the use and influence of business analytics in industry and government.
The Board brings diversity and depth of experience to developing and guiding the Centre’s strategy.
CHAIR
After 32-plus years as an Accenture information technology and management consultant, Ms Stops now serves as Deputy Chancellor, University of Melbourne, Chair at Blackmores and as a Non-executive Director for Coles Group and Fitted for Work.
BOARD MEMBER
Mr Ugoni is the Chief Data Officer at go1. He has previously served at Bupa as the Chief Data Officer, the Director of Global Matching and Analytics at Seek and led NAB projects and teams, including the Credit Card Fraud Analytics Group and Customer Analytics team.
BOARD MEMBER
Before her current role as BP Australia Vice President, Sales and Marketing, Ms Miller was Elite Customer Solutions General Manager, BP Solar Australasia Regional Director, BP Bitumen Australia General Manager and BP Asia Pacific CFO.
BOARD MEMBER
Previously the Data & Analytics Lead across the Business and Commercial banking portfolio at ANZ. Mr Hill’s previous roles include Brightstar's Global Head of Analytics.
BOARD MEMBER
With 25-years’ experience in customer analytics, including 17 years at Foxtel, Coles and Flybuys, Ms Eastgate is currently working with Bunnings where she is charged with introducing leading analytics capability.
BOARD MEMBER
Over 20 years, managing partner Ken Roberts has built Forethought into Australia's most commercially effective and innovative marketing growth consultancy. A recognised innovator of advanced analytics methods, he holds patents in the US and Australia.
BOARD MEMBER
Michael manages the Pricing and Analytics Team insurance products for all Suncorp brands, including AAMI, Suncorp, GIO, and APIA and has been responsible for introducing several innovative firsts in personal-lines pricing in Australia.
BOARD MEMBER
With a focus on providing high-quality digital capabilities, Ms Livesey previously led the Technology Consulting practice for PwC in Australia and currently serves as the CEO for Cognizant in Australia and New Zealand.
BOARD MEMBER
The Chief Strategy & Analytics Officer at L’Oréal, Ms Young has also worked in management consulting within the data analytics team at Kearney and as Toll Group's General Manager for Transformation & Analytics.
BOARD MEMBER
Mr King is Group Chief Executive Officer of PEXA, with over 25 years' experience in Financial Services and Public Service, including as a senior National Australia Bank Group executive and NSW Government public servant.
BOARD MEMBER
Recognised as an industry leader in AI and data-driven innovation, Dr. Amy Shi-Nash is Chief Data Scientist at National Australia Bank leading the strategy and implementation of advanced analytics and machine learning at scale. Prior to NAB, Amy also held various leadership positions at HSBC, Commonwealth Bank of Australia and Singtel.
Academic Fellows
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF OPERATIONS
Gerardo Berbeglia is currently an associate professor at Melbourne Business School. After completing his PhD at the Université de Montréal, Gerardo was a Senior Scientist at ExPretio Technologies Inc and, later, a Postdoctoral Fellow at McGill University.
PROFESSOR OF STATISTICS
Chris Lloyd joined Melbourne Business School in 2003 as a Professor of Statistics. Upon completing his PhD at the University of Melbourne, Chris held Associate Professor and Senior Lecturer positions at the Australian Graduate School of Management and the University of Hong Kong.
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF STATISTICS AND ECONOMETRICS, ASSOCIATE DEAN (RESEARCH)
Ole Maneesoonthorn is an Associate Professor of Statistics and Econometrics. Ole's teaching specialty includes Data Analysis for the Master of Business Administration; and Statistics Accelerator, Statistics Learning, Predictive Analytics and Finance Analytics for the Master of Business Analytics.
PROFESSOR OF FINANCE
Nadia is an internationally acclaimed Professor of Finance known for her research, teaching and expertise especially on financial intermediaries, Blockchain and Digital Currency.
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF MARKETING
Nico Neumann joined Melbourne Business School in 2017 as an Assistant Professor and Fellow for the Centre for Business Analytics. Nico's research and work expertise revolves around marketing automation, business analytics and marketing measurement.
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR
Burak Oc is currently an associate professor at the Melbourne Business School. Prior to joining Melbourne Business School, Burak was at the University of Western Australia Business School (UWABS) as a Senior Lecturer for 2 years.
PROFESSOR OF COMPUTING AND INFORMATION SYSTEMS
Benjamin Rubinstein is a professor of computing and information systems at the University of Melbourne with research topics including machine learning, security & privacy, databases. Prior to joining the University of Melbourne in 2013, he worked in the research divisions of Microsoft, Google, Intel and Yahoo.
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF OPERATIONS
Dr. Lusheng Shao is an Associate Professor of Operations Management. He has held visiting positions at John M. Olin Business School, Washington University in St. Louis and Warwick Business School, University of Warwick.
PROFESSOR OF STATISTICS AND ECONOMETRICS
Michael Smith has held the Chair of Management in Econometrics at MBS since 2007. He is a leading researcher in Bayesian statistics and business analytics. Prior to joining MBS, he held positions at Monash University and the University of Sydney.
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF MARKETING
Dr. Ping Xiao holds a Ph.D. from Washington University in Saint Louis and a bachelor’s degree from the University of Science and Technology of China. Her main research interests are strategic interactions in business (E-commerce) expansion, big data analytics and policy evaluation, social network/media and consumer analytics, crowdsourcing and crowdfunding, and the social impact of corporate social responsibility.
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF ECONOMETRICS AND BUSINESS STATISTICS
Wenying Yao joined Melbourne Business School in 2022. After completing her PhD at Monash University in 2013, Wenying has worked at Deakin University, Monash University, and the University of Tasmania. Wenying’s research covers time series econometrics in general, with a particular focus on the applications of innovative econometric tools to financial and macroeconomic data.
POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCH FELLOW
Young-San Lin is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Centre for Business Analytics at the Melbourne Business School. He finished his Ph.D. at the Department of Computer Science at Purdue University. His research interest lies in the interdisciplinary field of theoretical computer science, economics, and operations research, focusing on market design, resource allocation, and online algorithms.
Student Fellows
Student Fellows of the Centre of Business Analytics are students striving to achieve recognition for their contributions to knowledge and practice of business analytics.
Student
Ernest is a recent econometrics graduate with a special interest in time series modelling. Prior to joining the Centre for Business Analytics, he worked as a Marketing Analyst with a focus on customer relationship management.
Student
Jolin is a science graduate with a major in data science. Her interest in business analytics began during her time as an Assistant Researcher working on stock market anomaly detection. She is passionate about bringing analytical thinking into real-world problem solving and making data-driven decisions.
Student
Junze graduated with a Bachelor of Mathematics and Information Technology, and her previous experience includes event management, tutoring, and mentoring. She is now a passionate business analyst looking forward to solving business problems.
Student
Oliver is a commerce graduate in business analytics and finance, currently employed as a Student Fellow for the Centre for Business Analytics. He hopes to develop an improved relationship between analytics teams and decision makers to further data driven decision making.
Student
Bill brings an Industrial Engineering background focused on improvement and optimisation. His previous experience includes roles in consulting, business development, and research — and is now aspiring to leverage data to unlock hidden business value across various industries.
Student
Gabriel is a data science graduate passionate about exploring the potential value of real world data. He previously worked as a big data engineer in Huawei and is currently a Centre for Business Analytics student fellow.
Student
Joanne graduated with a double major in Business statistics and Marketing. Prior to starting Master of Business Analytics, she worked in the FMCG industry as a Brand Marketing intern.
Distinguished Fellows
Distinguished Fellows of the Centre are scholars or practitioners who have achieved global recognition for their contributions to knowledge and practice of business analytics.
Academic Steering Group
The academic steering group provides overall direction to the Centre for Business Analytics.
PROFESSOR OF COMPUTING AND INFORMATION SYSTEMS
James Bailey is a Professor in the Melbourne School of Engineering at the University of Melbourne and Program Lead for Artificial Intelligence. He was previously an Australian Research Council Future Fellow.
PROFESSOR IN MANAGEMENT AND MARKETING
A Professor of Operations Management in the Department of Management and Marketing at the University of Melbourne, Dr Ho was previously a Senior Lecturer at the Aston University Business School, United Kingdom.
