HSLopez School of Business Analytics Hosts 2026 Eller Business Analytics Summit
On Thursday, March 20th, students, faculty, staff, and industry leaders gathered at McClelland Hall for the 2026 Eller Business Analytics Summit, a full-day event hosted by the HSLopez School of Business Analytics. The Summit brought together professionals from across the analytics landscape, spanning professional sports, fintech, big tech, healthcare, cloud infrastructure, artificial intelligence, mining, and entrepreneurship, for a day of keynote presentations, interactive breakout panels, poster sessions, and networking.
With nearly 100 attendees filling the room, the event underscored the growing demand for analytics talent and the HSLopez School’s role in preparing the next generation of data-driven leaders at both the undergraduate and graduate levels.
The day opened with welcome remarks from Yong Liu, vice dean of programs and strategic initiatives and director of the HSLopez School of Business Analytics, who set the tone by highlighting the School’s continued growth and deepening connections with industry partners. He also shared a note from the school's naming partner, Humberto 'Bert' Lopez, for whom the HSLopez School is named, thanking the school for its dedication to student growth through industry engagement. Gray Hunter, assistant director of the HSLopez School, followed with updates on the School’s programs, student achievements and strategic initiatives for the year ahead.
"The Eller Business Analytics Summit is about more than presentations and panels. It is about showing our students what's possible and our dedication to help them reach their career goals," says Hunter. "When they sit across the table from leaders at organizations like the Chicago Bears, American Express, and Amazon Web Services, they start to see themselves in those roles. That's the kind of connection we're building at the HSLopez School of Analytics, and days like this are where it comes to life."
The Summit featured three keynote addresses that showcased the breadth of analytics applications across industries.
Corey Ruff, senior vice president of strategy and analytics and chief of staff for the Chicago Bears, delivered the morning’s opening keynote. Ruff offered attendees an inside look at how data analytics and strategic decision-making intersect in the world of professional sports, demonstrating that the skills students build in analytics programs translate directly to high-stakes, fast-paced environments far beyond Silicon Valley.
Harry Wang, a University of Arizona alum and founder of PaperFox.AI and professor of management information systems at the University of Delaware, followed with a keynote bridging the academic and entrepreneurial worlds. Wang shared insights on how faculty research and AI innovation can come together to launch real-world ventures, offering students a model for turning analytical expertise into entrepreneurial impact.
Mauricio Mathey Garcia-Rada, head of advanced analytics at ASARCO, rounded out the keynote lineup with an afternoon address. Mathey Garcia-Rada discussed how advanced analytics is transforming operations in the mining and natural resources sector, a reminder that data-driven decision-making is reshaping even the most traditional industries.
A highlight of the Summit was the two breakout panel sessions, which gave attendees the chance to engage directly with industry professionals in smaller, conversation-driven settings.
The first panel, “From Insight to Impact: Analytics Across Industries,” was moderated by HSLopez Lecturer Neha Gupta and featured Rose Chakkoria, director of engineering at American Express, Ricky Zhou, senior data scientist at Meta, Brett Farmiloe, founder of Featured.com, and Matthew Saenz, healthcare strategist and coffee craftsman at CareSource. Panelists discussed topics ranging from the realistic value of AI and large language models in practice, to the varying maturity of data culture across industries, to the role analytics plays in launching a new venture. The conversation gave students a window into what analytics careers look like across Wall Street, Silicon Valley, healthcare and the startup world.
The second panel, “The Analytics Edge: Strategy, Platforms, & Practice,” was moderated by Senior Lecturer Brent Marinan and featured Elaine Rhee, data scientist at Block, Caleb Ferganchick, account executive at Amazon Web Services, and Rob Duve, senior financial professional and subject matter expert at MPI Unlimited. This session explored how analytics gets bought, built, and applied across organizations from fintech modeling, to cloud adoption, to financial strategy. The panelists also addressed the growing expectation that analytics professionals serve as ethical stewards of data.
Both panels closed with candid advice for students on the evolving analytics job market, underrated trends in the field and the skills employers are looking for in new hires.
The midday break featured a Business Analytics case competition and networking hour, moderated by Adam Molnar, academic director of the Master of Science in Business Analytics (MSBA) program and senior lecturer. Several industry partners served as judges as four winning teams from the fall competition, two from the Tucson campus and two from the Chandler campus, competed. An MSBA Chandler team ultimately took first place, with a Tucson main campus team earning second. Student winners received scholarships made possible by a generous donation from Bruce Hartman, MIS PhD alum and longtime supporter of the program.
The 2026 Eller Business Analytics Summit reaffirmed the HSLopez School’s commitment to bridging the gap between classroom learning and industry practice. By bringing together leaders from organizations as varied as the Chicago Bears, Meta, American Express, Amazon Web Services, Block, ASARCO, and many more, the event gave students both the knowledge and the professional connections they need to launch meaningful careers in analytics.
"HSLopez School of Business Analytics is the newest academic unit in the Eller College of Management. In the short two years since its establishment, we have seen exciting growth and impact of the business analytics programs," says Liu. "Building strong connections with industry is a key strategy to thrive in an interdisciplinary and fast changing field of business analytics."
As analytics continues to reshape every industry from professional sports to mining to healthcare, events like the Summit demonstrate the value of bringing diverse perspectives together in one room. The HSLopez School of Business Analytics and the Eller College of Management remain committed to providing students with these essential opportunities to learn, connect, and grow.
