The NFL’s defending Super Bowl champion Baltimore Ravens lead this year’s roster of practicum project sponsors for the Master of Science in Analytics (MSA) Class of 2014. The Ravens are joined by Major League Baseball’s Houston Astros as the two professional sports clubs among 17 sponsors in total. The projects—which span aerospace, autos, chemicals, apparel, consumer product goods, banking, air transportation, healthcare, lodging, and government—were selected from 56 proposals submitted to the Institute. New this year to the list of sponsors are: Cisco, Eastman Chemical, J.M. Smucker & Co., Premier, Recall, Rex Healthcare, SchoolDude, United Airlines, and Volvo. Returning sponsors include: the CIA, Hanesbrands, Inmar, M&T Bank, Marriott, and the NC State Treasurer. “We’re fortunate to have the opportunity to work with so many leading organizations,” said the Institute’s director, Dr. Michael Rappa, in today’s announcement. “The practicum is core to the MSA learning experience, and I’m grateful to all of the sponsors—new and returning—for their support of our students.” Since the MSA’s inception in 2007, the Institute has taken on 70 projects from 51 sponsors representing virtually every industry sector.
MSA Class of 2014 Practicum Sponsors
Baltimore Ravens – The Baltimore Ravens are a professional football team based in Baltimore, Maryland. The team is the current defending champions of the National Football League.
Cisco Systems – Cisco Systems is the worldwide leader in networking that transforms how people connect, communicate and collaborate. Based in San Jose California, the company employees 75,000 people worldwide and had revenues approaching $50 billion in 2013.
Central Intelligence Agency – The Central Intelligence Agency (McLean, Virginia) is an independent government agency responsible for providing national security intelligence to senior U.S. policymakers.
Eastman Chemical – Eastman is a $9 billion global specialty chemical company based in Kingsport, Tennessee that produces a broad range of advanced materials, additives and functional products, specialty chemicals, and fibers.
HanesBrands – Based in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, HanesBrands is a global consumer goods company with more than a century of history and a portfolio of leading apparel essentials.
Houston Astros – The Astros are a Major League Baseball franchise based in Houston, Texas.
Inmar – Inmar provides a comprehensive network of solutions and services to help trading partners improve profitability. Founded in 1980, Inmar is a privately-held company headquartered in Winston-Salem, North Carolina with over 4,200 employees in the United States, Mexico and Canada.
M&T Bank – Established in 1856 as Manufacturers and Traders Bank, and today known as the M&T Bank Corporation, it is one of the 20 largest U.S. headquartered commercial bank holding companies, with current assets of $78 billion and nearly 13,000 employees.
J. M. Smucker & Co. – A $6 billion consumer product goods company headquartered in Orrville, Ohio, The J. M. Smucker Company has been family run for four generations. Since 1998, the company has appeared on Fortune Magazine’s annual listing of best companies to work for.
Marriott International – Marriott is a leading lodging company based in Bethesda, Maryland, with more than 3,800 properties in 72 countries and territories and revenues of $12 billion in 2012. The company operates and franchises hotels and resorts under 18 brand names, including Marriott, Ritz-Carlton, Renaissance, Courtyard, and Residence Inn.
NC 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. State Treasurer Janet Cowell (elected in 2008) serves as the state’s banker and chief investment officer, and, as such, is responsible for more than $74 billion in assets.
Premier – Premier is a collaborative healthcare alliance of approximately 2,900 U.S. community hospitals and 100,000 alternate sites. Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, Premier is recognized as an industry leader in best practices and cost reduction strategies. The company was named one of the World’s Most Ethical Companies six years in a row.
Recall – Recall, a subsidiary of Brambles Ltd., is a global leader in lifecycle information management offering document management, digital solutions, data protection and secure destruction. Recall, which is based in Norcross, Georgia, supports approximately 80,000 customers in more than 20 countries.
Rex Healthcare – Rex Healthcare (Raleigh, North Carolina), a member of UNC Health Care, is a private, not-for-profit health care system with more than 5,400 co-workers. Rex has 660 beds and treats nearly 34,000 inpatients each year. Rex’s medical staff includes more than 1,100 physicians and 1,700 nurses.
SchoolDude – Founded in 1999, SchoolDude (Cary, North Carolina) has served as the market leader in education enterprise asset management for the past 13 years with over 1 million education professionals using its platform. Today, SchoolDude is the #1 provider of cloud solutions serving more than 6,000 school districts, private schools, colleges and universities in 16 countries.
United – United operates over 5,000 flights a day to 360 airports across six continents. In 2012, United carried more passenger traffic than any other airline in the world. Headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, the company has more than 85,000 employees.
Volvo Trucks North America – Volvo Trucks N.A. (Greensboro, North Carolina) is part of the Volvo Group, one of the world’s leading manufacturers of trucks, buses, construction equipment and marine and industrial engines. The Volvo Group employs 115,000 people and has production facilities in 19 countries. It is a publicly held company headquartered in Göteborg, Sweden.
Learn about how to sponsor a practicum project in the future.