Announcing the Top 25 Analytics Leaders for 2020

At a black tie virtual event on the evening of 17 June, IAPA announced the 25 people at the top of analytics leadership in Australia as part of the IAPA 2020 Top 25 Analytics Leaders program.

“The diversity of the Top 25 shows the importance of analytics to all industries and the benefit of diverse voices to analytics, data science, machine learning and artificial intelligence endeavours,” said Annette Slunjski, Managing Director, IAPA.

“The gender balance in analytics skews dramatically to men, so it’s great to see half of the top six were women, 40% in the Top 10 and just under 30% across the 25 people recognised.” 

“Leadership in analytics is so much more than technical expertise. Soft skills continue to be the difference between good and great while the ability to crisply distil and translate analytics insights to business impact creates standout leaders.”

The number one ranked analytics leader for 2020 is Silvio Georgio, General Manager Data Science, Australia Post (pictured below).

All businesses stand to benefit from analytics-led insights. The 2020 cohort of top 25 leaders in analytics spans all industries from traditional analytics industries of financial services, utilities and telco to eCommerce, education, services software and government. This year also saw charity, agency and travel sectors represented.

Top analytics leaders not only ensure the analytics team deliver value to the business, they champion analytics and insight-driven decision making with the C-suite and mentor junior talent to assist their team’s career progression.

Judged by a panel of leading analytics and business leaders, the 2020 IAPA Top 25 Analytics Leaders recognises excellence in four key areas strategy and impact; influence and advocacy; innovation and improvement; and team growth and leadership.

In addition to identifying the cohort of 25 as the 2020 Top 25, the judging panel ranked the top ten analytics leaders.

1. Silvio Giorgio, General Manager Data Science, Australia Post
2. Scott Wynne, Head of Claims Analytics, QBE
3. Craig Napier, Chief Data Officer, University of Technology Sydney
4. Angela Kim, Head of Analytics and AI, Teachers Health Fund
5. Duhita Khadepau, Director - Analytics and Data Science, Assignar
6. Hema Prasad, Director of Data & Anaytics, KPMG
7. Kshira Saagar, Group Director of Data Science and Analytics, Global Fashion Group and THE ICONIC
8. Sally Grove, GM Insights, Australian Motoring Services (AMS)
9. Alex Antic, Head of Data Science, Australian National University
10. Keegan O'Shea, Principal Consultant, Customer Data Science and Analytics, Suncorp Group

The full cohort of 25 appears below in alphabetical order.

“The entries for this years' IAPA awards truly demonstrated the diverse and influential applications of data and analytics in Australian businesses. The ability to be data-driven at all levels of a business is paramount to success in the future and this has only been made more evident by the current climate. What is clear from this years' data and analytics leaders is the importance of bringing the wider business along on the analytics journey and clearly communicating the benefits so a data-driven culture can permeate the entire organisation.

“At Domo, we're proud to be aligned to a group of analysts that are challenging the status quo and forging a new standard for data and analytics in line with our vision of creating data-empowered organisations. From predicting bushfires to keeping the postal service running on time, these leaders' use of data and analytics is a game changer in Australia,” said Amy Christopher, Director of Marketing and Account Development, Domo.

Analytics leaders are the linchpin to the successful delivery of business value from analytics. We are proud to publicly recognise them for their leading role in building better business.

The IAPA Top 25 Analytics Leaders for 2020

In alphabetic order by surname:

• Alex Antic, Head of Data Science, Australian National University
• Silvio Giorgio, General Manager Data Science, Australia Post
• Jerry Goldfried, Analytics & Insights Director, NSW Land Registry Services
• Sally Grove, GM Insights, Australian Motoring Services (AMS)
• Behrooz Hassani-Mahmooei, Principal Specialist and Director, Strategic Intelligence and Insights Unit, Monash University
• Russell Hunter, Head of Analytics CoE, Telstra
• Duhita Khadepau, Director - Analytics and Data Science, Assignar
• Nasir Khan Sefid, Senior Data Scientist (lead), World Vision Australia
• Kirti Khanna, Regional Lead, Marketing Effectiveness ANZ, Associate Director, The Nielsen Company
• Lionel Kho, Director, Data & Analytics, Isobar, Dentsu Aegis Network
• Angela Kim, Head of Analytics and AI, Teachers Health Fund
• Vincent Koc, Digital Analytics Manager, and Analytics Chapter Lead, Qantas
• Ehsan Mazloumi, Senior Data Scientist, Seek
• Gordon McDonald, Data Science Group Lead, Sydney Informatics Hub, The University of Sydney
• Craig Napier, Chief Data Officer, University of Technology Sydney 
• Keegan O'Shea, Principal Consultant, Customer Data Science and Analytics, Suncorp Group
• Hema Prasad, Director of Data & Anaytics, KPMG
• Kshira Saagar, Group Director of Data Science and Analytics, Global Fashion Group and THE ICONIC
• Kimly Scott, Analytics Manager, Luxasia
• Rose Skandari, Senior Data Scientist , Powercor 
• Karthik Venkatasubramanian, Vice President, Data and Analytics, Oracle
• Des Viranna, Chief Data & Analytics Officer and Managing Partner, Data & AI, DXC Technology
• Andrew Woods, Strategic Analytics Manager, Sydney Water
• Scott Wynne, Head of Claims Analytics, QBE
• William  Yeoh, Associate Professor , Deakin University