Life and Times of a Data Scientist

Speaker: Virginia Wheway
Affiliation: Optiver

Abstract

Virginia Wheway has spent over 30 years as a data scientist across several industries ; from aviation and mining to start ups and medical research. She now heads up Optiver’s Global Enterprise Data program and will be sharing use cases and problems she’s worked on over the past 30 years. She will also explain how Optiver is using data science and analytics in many aspects of its business.

Biography

Virginia is an expert in analytics, data mining and developing business strategies for data and analytics functions. She has over thirty years’ experience across many industry sectors, including aviation, transport, mining, manufacturing, medicine and now trading. 

Virginia helps businesses solve their problems through the use of analytics and data mining. She is skilled at converting business problems into solvable frameworks, and has the ability then to translate complex concepts into relevant business language and communicate this clearly. She has particular depth of experience in data visualisation, text data mining and developing new data analysis methodologies that can adapt to each organisation’s unique data. Virginia is currently the Global Head of Enterprise Data at Optiver where she has developed and is implementing a global strategy to unify and analyse Optiver’s Enterprise data. In the past 15 years has set up the data and analytics functions in many organisations; form large companies such as BHP, to startups. She also spent thirteen years of her career with The Boeing Company, where she held the roles of research statistician, Chief Mathematician (Australia), and Director (Boeing Australia Holdings).  Virginia also previously led the NSW government’s Bureau of Transport Statistics, where she had responsibility for leading a team of over 50 analysts and initiating projects such as visualizing public transaction data, measuring fare evasion and establishing an organisation-wide analytics strategy. 

Virginia holds a PhD in data mining (statistics and computer science), a BMath (Honours) from the University of Wollongong, and a GradDip in Epidemiology from University of Newcastle. She has also undertaken postgraduate study in Executive Management at The Wharton School (University of Pennsylvania).