Analytics+, volunteer opportunities, the power of collaboration, and other presidential updates

Ashley K:

We are well into the first half of the year. And here at informs, we’ve packed a lot into these first few months. Now is a terrific time to circle back and check in with the 2025 informs President Dave Hunt. We kicked off a brand new year of resounding the Human Podcast back in January with a special doubleheader featuring Dave, where we discussed both his goals and objectives relating to informs as well as her his perspective on the unique and exciting ways informs members are going to continue to help make smarter decisions for a better world. Dave, thank you so much for joining me for an update.

Dave Hunt:

Oh, it’s always great to see you, Ashley. Happy to be here.

Ashley K:

I feel like I just saw you and in fact, I did at the 2025 INFORMS Analytics Plus Conference in Indianapolis. How was your very first informed meeting as the INFORMS president? Hopefully you had a chance to enjoy some of the conference events and sessions in between your presidential roles and responsibilities.

Dave Hunt:

Well, it was exhausting Ashley, but it was so much fun. I mean, we kick off the board with a board meeting on Saturday morning and it really felt like I went nonstop until the closing happy hour on Tuesday evening. But I really had a great time at various receptions giving several welcoming speeches and having a chance to talk with members. I know the former president, Laura Albert, gave me some great advice. She said, when you’re the president, wear comfortable shoes and pack a lot of energy bars. So I did both of those and they were very helpful. You asked about Sessions, I made it to a few sessions. It was a panel in quantum computing that was interesting. There were some other sessions I made it to, but there were just a lot of interesting talks that I couldn’t fit into my schedule. So it’s frustrating, but I mean, normally on a Monday at the Analytics Plus Conference, I’ll attend all the Edelman presentations, but I was only able to fit in one and a half of the six of them this year. So next year maybe I’ll be able to see more of them.

Ashley K:

That’s kind of a good problem to have so much great content that you just don’t have the time to see it in those few days. And I hear you about the comfortable shoes. That’s the best advice I think you can give to anybody attending one of these meetings. So Dave, this conference has traditionally been the INFORMS Analytics conference, but this year we unveiled the new name with Analytics Plus. Could you share with our listeners the significance of Analytics Plus and how this conference embodies that?

Dave Hunt:

Well, the conference is about so much more than just analytics methods. It’s about how analytics has positive impacts around the world, and it encompasses a wide variety of techniques used to drive these impacts across a variety of applications. So it’s analytics plus ai, it’s analytics plus healthcare. I even heard someone say it’s Analytics plus you, which is so true. I mean, you’re not going to go to this conference and just learn some new analytics tool, but you’re going to learn how people are really implementing analytics solutions to drive impact all around the world. And that’s why it really is so much more than analytics. I think the name is Perfect. Analytics plus

Ashley K:

This year’s conference sessions lineup was headlined by two keynote sessions that covered a pretty interesting range of analytics applications and impact. These featured Cassie Ovv, who’s a CEO of sr, presenting the Future is ai. First, are you ready to lead? And Dick Dan og, professor with the University of Amsterdam presenting analytics for a Better World. What were the biggest takeaways from their talks for you?

Dave Hunt:

Well, Cassie was extremely thought provoking. I mean, she challenged us to embrace responsible AI leadership in a world where AI is solving problems faster than we can define them. So the takeaway for me was that as it informs, members build these systems that help the world make smarter decisions, AI will be increasingly part of these systems. So we need to continue having these critical conversations at our conferences about deploying and using AI systems responsibly. Dick was equally inspiring, but in a different way. I mean, he’s using analytics to address societal problems from removing plastic in the oceans to developing an app for optimizing nutrition and animal feed using the local ingredients they have available. In one of his slides, you may have seen Dick challenged in forms. He said there’s three and a half million data professionals focused on social impact projects in low and middle income countries and could informs develop a community to help connect them. So way back in my vision statement, when I was a candidate for president, I talked about using the platform of INFORMS president to advocate that our solution should be available to everyone and this is a chance to implement and advance that vision. So Dick, if you’re listening to this podcast, consider the challenge accepted.

Ashley K:

Well, that’s a call for action for me to make sure I share this episode with him personally. One of the other highlights of this conference is the Edelman Gala where a number of top informed awards are presented, including the Franz Edelman Award. What did you think about the variety and range of applications and industries represented by this year’s Edelman finalist teams?

Dave Hunt:

Well, the Edwin Competition just amazes me every year. I mean, we constantly attract the best applications of or and analytics from around the world. As you know, Jeff Olden calculates the cumulative benefits of the Edelman finalist and the benefits are approaching a half a trillion dollars. I mean, it’s just amazing. There were several very impressive logistics based applications this year, and since logistics is my field, I especially enjoyed that. And the winner USA cycling, I mean, it was just such a wonderful and innovative use of analytics and it was a great story about how they had a 10% chance of meddling at the Paris Olympics and they won the gold through their analytics efforts. It’s just incredible. I mean, one of the highlights of being the informed president is being up on stage and asking for the envelope and reading the name of the Edelman winner. But I had a little bit of a challenge there. So before the gala, there was an awards reception and I used that opportunity to have the audience help me determine the optimal amount of time I should wait between opening the envelope and reading the winner’s name. So I wanted to build suspense, but I didn’t want to be annoying. So we determined that I should wait five seconds. So if you go and watch the video online, you can see me trying to wait five seconds before I read the name.

Ashley K:

You can see the excitement on your face. I’ll include the link to that video in the show notes, and it was perfect. It was the perfect five seconds. I had the crowd. Help me, Steve. I’d love to hear. What were some other highlights from the conference for you?

Dave Hunt:

Just, I mean, seeing old friends and making new friends. I mean, I especially enjoyed the receptions where I can walk around and talk with people. The welcoming reception is always a wonderful event. I went to a Purdue reception on Saturday night that was a lot of fun. I got to eat cake at the early Career practitioner network, 20th birthday party. I gave a champagne toast to celebrate the launch of the expanded certified analytics professional program. So I mean, just a lot of highlights, but just really connecting with people and getting to talk to people is the best part.

Ashley K:

Connecting with people cake and champagne.

Dave Hunt:

Yeah, what’s not to like.

Ashley K:

Exactly. So Dave, for all the conference attendees who are brand new to informs, what would you like to share with them about the value of their new INFORMS membership? What is your top call to action for these new members?

Dave Hunt:

Well, I said this previously that I’ve worked at four different companies in my career. I mean, you never really know where your career is going to go. And I’ve had one professional home, which has been informed. It’s been kind of an anchor, and it’s so important in your career to have that anchor, to have those friends, those connections. Yeah. I’ve also told this story about how I started it in forms. I started in the railway applications section and also the New Jersey chapter. So I’m a big supporter of getting involved in subdivisions. If you have a local chapter, go to the meetings. I saw that the Washington DC chapter is having a game night on Square Root Day. I didn’t know Square Root Day, but I’ll let the audience figure out what day that is.

But also I want to promote, we have a new volunteer portal. So if you really would like to get involved, I mean, this is a chance for anyone who I keep hearing from committees and subdivisions. We can’t get people to volunteer, and I keep hearing from members I don’t know how to volunteer. So we think this volunteer portal’s really going to help out. I mean, we’re just getting it started now, but we’ll be listing volunteer opportunities there. You can go and sign up to be a volunteer. And I would encourage everyone just get involved in subdivisions or committees or local chapters, just start getting involved in meeting people. It’s just a really great way and a great community.

Ashley K:

That’s excellent advice.

Dave Hunt:

Thank you.

Ashley K:

So Dave, in the upcoming issue of the INFORMS member magazine, OMS today, your President’s Desk article talks about the Analytics Plus conference, but also wraps that into the importance of collaboration. Could you perhaps give us a sneak peek about what you cover in your column?

Dave Hunt:

Sure. I had just returned from the Successful Analytics Plus conference when I started writing the column, and I was just struck by the multitude of ideas generated and the incredible advancements that emerged through the power of collaboration. I’m also acutely aware of the important role that informs plays in facilitating collaboration and the tremendous, and now even the necessity there is for forms to enhance its efforts to support collaboration. I mean, it’s just so important now as the United States, along with many other countries are increasingly prioritizing domestic interest over global cooperation. I mean, there are just numerous opportunities for informs to further support collaboration in its various forms. I mean, you can have collaboration across countries and cultures among different disciplines, through generations between academia, industry, and government, and with other associations. And I was also thinking and struck by the fact that it really is no coincidence that the field of operations research was born out of collaboration.

So if you go back into the history, you can look during World War ii, the Nobel Prize winning physicist, Patrick Blackett was appointed the director of the British Naval Operational Research, and along with his colleagues, pioneered some of the early efforts that would lay the groundwork for our field. Similarly, in the us, Philip Morris, not incidentally, Black’s friend and colleague, organized a group of scientists to assist the US Navy during the same time. So the origins of operations research really owe their success to the power of collaboration, demonstrating the potential that can be harnessed by bringing together unique perspectives from across the globe, from different generations, from a variety of backgrounds to advance smarter decisions. So if you want to learn more, read my article in my president’s desk in the next issue of OR/MS Today.

Ashley K:

Hey, we’ve talked a lot about the Analytics Plus conference so far. What have been some other highlights from your first few months as the INFORMS president? That

Dave Hunt:

Again, it goes back to just meeting members that I would not have had the chance to meet otherwise, and getting a chance to work with so many people. And I mean, they’re all doing so amazing work to support our community. I mean, this afternoon I have a call with a group working to strengthen academic industry collaboration, and then there’s a group looking at how we can host more regional meetings, including international meetings. Mark Lewis’s committee on Expanding Opportunity and Achievement has begun implementing ideas into our strategic plan and our policies on how we can continue to be more inclusive and how we can make sure all members have the same opportunities. So there’s just so much energy and so many great ideas. I mean, my goal is just to help empower our members and make sure I don’t become a bottleneck in anything.

Ashley K:

So Dave, what are you looking forward to next? We have some additional forms, events coming up, the international meeting in Singapore and the annual meeting in Atlanta, just to name a couple.

Dave Hunt:

Well, it’ll be interesting. This Friday I’m going to be representing in forms at the conference board of mathematical sciences in dc. So there’s a meeting to talk about curriculums for the mathematical sciences and other issues that are impacting associations these days. So we’ll have a chance to talk about that. So I’m looking forward to meeting the leaders of the other STEM-based associations. The railway application section is having a conference next month in May, hosted by Norfolk Southern Railway. So I’ll go to that. A shout out to my real friends Singapore. I’m planning to attend the Singapore conference. I mean, it’s gotten such a great response. It looks like an amazing program, and I understand the attendance is looking good for that. So if you can make it to Singapore, I’ve never been there. I’m really looking forward to going to Singapore and of course Atlanta. So I’m going to start getting ready now because that one’s going to be even more of a challenge for me than definitely the comfortable walking shoes and energy bars. But I’m really looking forward to the Atlanta conference too. And I mean, there’s been a lot of work around restructuring a bit, creating the job talk sessions, restructuring the comforts a bit. So continue to try to improve it to make it a better experience for the attendees.

Ashley K:

Dave, thank you again so much for joining me to provide an update on informs as well as a look ahead to what’s to come. I look forward to future updates with you, and it’s always a pleasure to speak with you.

Dave Hunt:

Always a pleasure speaking with you as well. Ashley,