Let's Optimize It: Experience

Southwest Airlines

Dallas, Texas

I currently work at Southwest as a Principal Consultant in the Network organization. Prior to this role, I led the Operations Research group in the Network Planning department. My job is to build R&D analytical tooling and strategies to help the company create (and actively adjust) the flight schedule.

In my people leadership role, our team did this same work: to vet and decide which ideas to pursue, to build core operations research models as well as their user interfaces, and to deploy/maintain those tools as they were adopted by the department. Some models make heavy use of optimization and simulation. Others merge and crunch large amounts of data, systematize analysis, automate business processes, or dashboard critical information.

Wheels Up

New York, New York

As the Strategic Analytics Manager at Wheels Up, I took point on technical data modeling work, applying knowledge I've accrued over the years in the aviation industry. My key projects included building a pilot training schedule optimization model, creating analytical presentations for investor relations, and building dashboards for scoring flight schedules.

Dimensional Fund Advisors

Austin, Texas

I worked in the Investment Analytics and Data group at Dimensional. I developed and delivered internal tooling to help portfolio managers work their funds. Some of these products were all about automation and data error checking, while others required more complex modeling like mixed-integer quadratic programming.

RetailMeNot

Austin, Texas

As a Principal Analyst in the Financial Programming and Data group, I built tooling to scrape and archive financial data from third-party affiliate marketing sites. I created and supported database processes that flagged data issues as they arose, important for accurate reporting and auditing.

United Airlines

Chicago, Illinois

As a member of the Continuous Improvement and Enterprise Optimization team, my role was that of an internal engineering consultant. I partnered with several groups to improve the efficiency and operability of the airline. These projects ranged from baggage routing and sortation, to optimal staffing under uncertainty, to operations simulations that predicted on-time performance and customer service levels. I earned my Six Sigma Green Belt at United.

Northwestern University

Chicago, Illinois

I studied Industrial Engineering at Northwestern, graduating magna cum laude and with honors. During my time there, I completed a year-long co-op in the United Airlines Industrial Engineering group. I wrote a paper on the simulation and optimization of structured aircraft deplaning and presented at INFORMS. The work was published in the Journal of Air Transport Management and picked up by CNN Travel, Insider, and Vox.