Evolution in the Boardroom: Building a Data-Driven Culture

Terry August

Terry August is an Associate Professor of Innovation, Technology and Operations at Rady School of Management, UC San Diego. He received the NSF CAREER award for his work on the control of information security risk using economic incentives and the Sandy Slaughter Early Career Award for his contributions to the field of information systems. His research broadly spans information systems and operations management with current interests in the economics of network software, production and service management, pricing and policy associated with network goods, and the interaction of digital piracy and security risk. He has taught operations management and business analytics at Rady since 2007. His teaching has been recognized at Rady with 7 MBA teaching awards and by UCSD Chancellor’s Associates with a faculty excellence award for graduate teaching. Currently, he serves as co-director of the MS program in Business Analytics at Rady. He received a PhD from Stanford Graduate School of Business, an MS in financial mathematics from Stanford, and both MS and BE degrees in chemical engineering from Vanderbilt. He has worked in product development and manufacturing operations for the Clorox Services Company, software engineering for QuickBlocks, Inc., and provided professional IT services for Honeywell and Time Warner. Recently, he has consulted on healthcare operations for San Diego healthcare organizations.

David Abeles

David Abeles is a proven leader in the sports industry where he has held executive positions since 1998. Abeles was appointed President and CEO of TaylorMade-adidas Golf “TMaG” in 2015 to lead a global business transformation and subsequent divestiture of the TaylorMade Golf brand from adidas AG to New York based KPS Capital.

Prior to his current post, Abeles served TMaG for fifteen years including roles as the company’s General Manager of Asia Pacific, North America, and brand President. David also spent two years away from the company as the CEO of San Diego based Competitor Group, a live event and media company in the endurance sports industry.

Abeles currently serves on the Board of Directors of TaylorMade Golf, the National Golf Foundation, San Diego Sports Innovators, and in an Advisory Board capacity for Newport California based venture firm, Innovate Partners.

Abeles has a degree from the University of Connecticut School of Business and lives in Del Mar, California with his wife and three sons.

Jana de Anda

Jana is President at Excelerate, LLC and has over 15 years of experience guiding Fortune 500 organizations across many different industries through development of go-to-market strategies, identification of new product innovation and optimization of operations standards to drive clear financial benefit. Working with market researchers, analysts, data scientists, consumer insights professionals and database administrators for her entire career, Jana is heavily focused on utilizing an analytically driven approach to deeply understand drivers of good decisions. Her work often centers on assessing and then transforming customer-facing operations and services. Often heard saying “there is no such thing as perfect data”, Jana understands that there is value in both data-driven and gut-instinct decisions to drive forward a business. The key is identifying the appropriate decision making approach for each situation and ensuring that decision makers have the right access and skills to deliver on the mission. Jana has held leadership roles in sales, marketing, operations, and insights providing her with a unique perspective on how to drive organizational outcomes by leveraging data to make decisions, understanding core competencies and operating cross-functionally. She has a BA in Psychology and Communications from the University of California, Santa Barbara and a Master of Science in Executive Leadership from the University of San Diego.