The Institute is delighted to announce our practicum sponsors for the Master of Science in Analytics (MSA) Class of 2019. Student teams are tasked with projects from 24 sponsoring organizations. Among sponsors new this year are an impressive international line-up of major financial institutions, including Charlotte-based Bank of America, Zurich-based Credit Suisse, and Montreal-based RBC Royal Bank, as well as the biotech company, bioMérieux, based in Marcy-l’Étoile, France. Fifteen of the 24 sponsors are returning to work with the Institute’s students once again.
“The Institute is extremely grateful to all of the sponsoring organizations for providing our students this valuable opportunity to hone their skills,” said the Institute’s director Dr. Michael Rappa. “The practicum is the cornerstone of the MSA learning experience. It’s terrific to have our students working on challenging projects with such a wide-ranging group of sponsors.”
The Institute received over 50 proposals for consideration during its open solicitation period earlier in the year. The proposals were reviewed by a panel of faculty and staff members who weighed the scope, challenge, and learning value of the project. All of the projects are conducted under confidentiality and there is no fee for sponsors to participate.
Since 2007 the Institute’s students have been engaged in 180 team projects with over 120 industry and government sponsors. Interested organizations are welcome to contact the Institute to learn more about practicum sponsorship.
AAA Carolinas (Charlotte, NC) – AAA Carolinas is a civic, not-for-profit corporation providing specialized services to members—such as emergency road service, travel and touring service, and other direct benefits—and working for the improvement of motoring and travel conditions generally, particularly in the field of legislation, highways and taxation, and street and highway safety.
Advance Auto Parts (Roanoke, VA) – Advance Auto Parts, Inc. is a leading automotive aftermarket parts provider that serves both professional installer and do-it-yourself customers. As of December 30, 2017, Advance operated 5,054 stores and 129 Worldpac branches and employed approximately 71,000 Team Members in the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The Company also serves 1,218 independently owned Carquest branded stores.
Deloitte Consulting (Raleigh, NC) – Deloitte provides industry-leading audit and assurance, consulting, tax, and risk and financial advisory services to many of the world’s most admired brands, including more than 85 percent of the Fortune 500 and more than 6,000 private and middle market companies.
Asurion (Nashville, Tennessee) – For more than 20 years, Asurion’s innovation and dedication to delighting customers has made it the preferred provider of technology protection to the world’s largest wireless carriers, trusted retailers and popular device manufacturers. Asurion’s 16,000 global employees support its 305 million consumers with an award-winning experience delivered through products and services that have set the standard in the industry.
averhealth (Richmond, VA) – averhealth provides innovative and cost-effective solutions for substance use disorder monitoring and treatment. Its mission is to reclaim lives, unite families, and strengthen communities by creating and providing the smartest, most innovative solutions for substance use disorder monitoring and treatment. For more than 20 years it has been seamlessly integrating every element of the clients’ monitoring needs including collections, laboratory services, results reporting, and every step in between.
Bank of America (Charlotte, NC) – Bank of America is one of the world’s leading financial institutions, serving individual consumers, small and middle-market businesses and large corporations with a full range of banking, investing, asset management and other financial and risk management products and services. In the United States, the company serving approximately 67 million consumer and small business clients. Bank of America is a global leader in wealth management, corporate and investment banking and trading across a broad range of asset classes, serving corporations, governments, institutions and individuals around the world.
bioMérieux (Marcy-l’Étoile, France) – A world leader in the field of in vitro diagnostics for more than 50 years, bioMérieux is present in more than 150 countries through 43 subsidiaries and a large network of distributors. In 2017, revenues reached €2,288 million, with over 90% of international sales. bioMérieux provides diagnostic solutions (systems, reagents, software) which determine the source of disease and contamination to improve patient health and ensure consumer safety. Its products are mainly used for diagnosing infectious diseases. They are also used for detecting microorganisms in agri-food, pharmaceutical and cosmetic products.
Coldwell Banker HPW (Raleigh) – Howard Perry, an established builder, and Don Walston, a real estate entrepreneur, formed Coldwell Banker Howard Perry and Walston in 1973. Today, with more than 950 associates and employees and award-winning new homes, mortgage and insurance services, Coldwell Banker Howard Perry and Walston is the largest full-service residential real estate company in the Triangle, the top Coldwell Banker company in the Central North Carolina area and has earned recognition as one of the leading realty firms in the nation. Coldwell Banker Howard Perry and Walston exceeded 8,280 real estate transactions with over $2.261 billion in sales in 2017.
Credit Suisse (Zürich, Switzerland) – Credit Suisse is a leading global wealth manager with strong investment banking capabilities. Headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland, it has a global reach with operations in about 50 countries and employs more than 46,000 people from over 150 different nations.
Delta Media Group (Canton, OH) – Since 1994 Delta Media Group has been the enterprise marketing and business management solution for real estate professionals. Delta partners with companies and top-performing agents at the point where marketing meets technology, helping clients efficiently navigate their business pipeline from lead to close.
Duke Health (Durham, North Carolina) – Duke University Health System is a world-class health care network dedicated to providing outstanding patient care, educating tomorrow’s health care leaders, and discovering new and better ways to treat disease through biomedical research. Founded in 1998 to provide efficient, responsive care, the health system offers a full network of health services and encompasses three highly regarded hospitals – Duke University Hospital, Durham Regional Hospital and Duke Raleigh Hospital – physician practices, home hospice care and various support services at locations across North Carolina.
Elevate (Ft. Worth, Texas) – Elevate Credit, Inc. has originated $5.9 billion in non-prime credit to more than two million non-prime consumers to date and has saved its customers more than $4 billion versus the cost of payday loans. Its responsible, tech-enabled online credit solutions provide immediate relief to customers today and help them build a brighter financial future.
MetLife – Founded in 1868, MetLife (New York, New York) is a global provider of life insurance, annuities, employee benefits and asset management. It is one of the largest life insurance companies in the world, serving approximately 100 million customers with operations in nearly 50 countries. MetLife counts over 90 of the top one hundred FORTUNE 500 companies among its corporate clients and is the largest life insurer in the U.S. and Mexico.
National Council on Compensation Insurance (Boca Raton, Florida) – Founded in 1923, the mission of the National Council on Compensation Insurance (NCCI) is to foster a healthy workers compensation system. In support of this mission, NCCI gathers data, analyzes industry trends, and provides objective insurance rate and loss cost recommendations. These activities—combined with a comprehensive set of tools and services—make NCCI the source for workers compensation information.
North Carolina Department of State Treasurer – The Department of the State Treasurer serves the people of North Carolina through a variety of functions related to the financial health of the state and its citizenry. The elected State Treasurer serves as the state’s banker and chief investment officer, and, as such, is responsible for more than $74 billion in assets.
North Carolina Office of State Budget and Management (Raleigh, NC) – The Office of State Budget and Management (OSBM) is tasked with delivering the highest quality statewide budgetary, management and information services to advise the Governor, state agencies and legislature on the most effective use of public resources. Over the 2017 to 2019 biennium, OSBM will collect more than $43.7 billion from North Carolina citizens and businesses.
ProMetrics (King of Prussia, Pennsylvania) – Founded in 1994, ProMetrics aggregates, integrates, analyzes, and reports data across the specialty brand’s distribution network. Its core services include data acquisition strategy, contracting recommendation and execution, as well as data aggregation, integration, analysis and reporting. Using proprietary applications it develops de-identified patient-journey reports allowing customers to improve patient services and outcomes by monitoring channel performance metrics such as Time-To-Therapy, Medication Possession Ratio, and Persistency.
Putnam Investments (Boston, Massachusetts) – Founded in 1937, Putnam Investments is a leading global money management firm. At the end of April 2017, Putnam had $162 billion in assets under management. Putnam has offices in Boston, London, Frankfurt, Tokyo, Singapore and Sydney.
RBC Bank (Montreal, Canada) – RBC Bank is Canada’s largest bank by market capitalization with broad leadership in financial services. It is a Top 10 bank globally based on market capitalization, with operations in 34 countries, 81,000+ employees, and with more than 16 million clients worldwide.
Revenue Management Solutions (Tampa, Florida) – Founded in 1994, Revenue Management Solutions (RMS) supports a robust suite of flexible data-driven solutions providing clients with a customized approach that considers the unique business environment and operational constraints that exist in every brand. Leveraging premier consulting services and patented methodology in the use of statistics and quantitative modeling for the restaurant and retail industries, RMS takes the guess work out of crucial business decisions while optimizing gross profit and protecting brand value.
The Home Depot (Atlanta, Georgia) – The Home Depot, founded in 1978, is the world’s largest home improvement specialty retailer, with 2,282 retail stores in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, 10 Canadian provinces and Mexico. In fiscal 2016, The Home Depot had sales of $94.6 billion and earnings of $8.0 billion. The Company employs more than 400,000 associates.
Trillium Health Resources (Greenville, North Carolina) – Trillium Health Resources is a local governmental agency (LME/MCO) that manages mental health, substance use and intellectual/developmental disability services in eastern North Carolina. Trillium’s mission is to transform the lives of people in need by providing them with ready access to quality care. Trillium is investing in innovation to meet the unique needs of the individuals and communities we serve, and remains focused on delivering the right services, in the right amount, at the right time.
U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (McLean, Virginia) – The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is an independent government agency responsible for providing national security intelligence to senior U.S. policymakers.
Visionist (Columbia, Maryland) – Visionist provides engineering, software development and analytical services to U.S. government agencies and commercial companies. The company specializes in the following technology areas: Designing and developing visualization applications for data analysis; Signals and Cyber-related Analysis (i.e. packet and network traffic analysis); Network Penetration Testing, Vulnerability Assessment and Network Security; Database design and administration to support data analysis and reporting; and Software and hardware digital signal processing (DSP) of high-bandwidth data.