Paul DePodesta, sports analytics pioneer, will keynote Inspire 2016

[RickS]

We are thrilled to announce Paul DePodesta, a central figure in the Michael Lewis book, Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, as our guest keynote speaker for Alteryx Inspire 2016. The analytics conference of the year, Inspire 2016 will celebrate self-service data analytics with the theme "i.am.analytics" – one DePodesta embodies. DePodesta, who transformed sports with analytics, recently made news for taking the rare leap from Major League Baseball (MLB) executive to National Football League (NFL) leader when he joined the Cleveland Browns as their Chief Strategy Officer. Looking to gain a competitive advantage in the NFL by making more data-driven player and organizational strategy decisions, the Browns selected DePodesta to lead their effort based on his experience transforming MLB franchises and the way the sport evaluates on-field performance.

DePodesta most recently served as Vice President of Player Development and Amateur Scouting for the New York Mets, where in 2015, he helped take the team to the World Series for the first time since 2000. His previous roles in baseball include General Manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers, Executive Vice President of the San Diego Padres and, of course, Assistant General Manager of the Oakland Athletics, the role that inspired the Moneyball book. In the latter mentioned role, DePodesta was selected by and worked alongside A’s General Manager Billy Beane, creating a unique, data-driven management approach to evaluating player performance. This approach led to the A’s winning more regular season games than the New York Yankees, all while spending $350 million less on player payroll during the same period.

Moving to the NFL this year is not the only new endeavor for DePodesta. At the end of 2015, he embarked on a new role in San Diego in the world of healthcare, joining the Scripps Translational Science Institute as an Assistant Professor of Bioinformatics. In this role, DePodesta will use his skills to lead the Scripps team in finding innovative ways to analyze medical data.

DePodesta has made a career of evaluating, measuring and assigning value to talent. He has developed a methodology that has successfully overhauled stagnant systems, giving business leaders a new strategy and fresh approach to decision making. His key question, “if we weren’t already doing it this way, is this the way we would start?”, has helped him to revitalize industries from Wall Street to healthcare to government. He has a unique ability to draw connections between professional sports and business operations, and deliver valuable lessons related to analytics and data-driven decisions.

We are extremely excited to have Paul as our guest keynote speaker, and hope you can join us at Inspire 2016 in San Diego, June 6-9!