Theo
Epstein is the former President of Baseball Operations for
the Chicago Cubs, a role he held until 2020. In 2002, he became
the youngest GM in the history of Major League Baseball when the
Boston Red Sox hired him at the age of 28. Under his leadership,
the Red Sox won the World Series in 2004—their first
championship in 86 years—and again in the 2007 season. On
October 21, 2011, Epstein resigned from the Red Sox to join the
Chicago Cubs as their President of Baseball Operations. During
his tenure with the Cubs, Epstein signed a five-year contract
extension on September 28, 2016. The Cubs finished the 2016
season with a 103–58 record, the best in MLB and their best
since the 1910 season. Their successful campaign continued in
the playoffs, defeating the San Francisco Giants in the NLDS,
and the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLCS, securing their first
pennant since 1945 and sending them to the World Series. The
Cubs went on to win their first World Series championship since
1908 by defeating the Cleveland Indians in a historic 7-game
series.
Epstein graduated from Yale University in 1995 with a degree in American Studies and served as the sports editor of the Yale Daily News. He later earned a Juris Doctor degree from the University of San Diego School of Law while working for the San Diego Padres. His professional speaking topics encompass management, leadership, team building, philanthropy, and sports. In 2017, Time Magazine recognized his significant influence by naming him one of the world's 100 most influential people.
Lauren
Poe is an engineer on ESPN’s industry-leading Sports Analytics
team. She and the team create analytical storytelling tools,
like the Football and Basketball Power Index ratings used across
collegiate and professional sports, and develop products and
experiences to support insightful and innovative storytelling.
Before moving to Connecticut to work at ESPN in 2013, the
Oklahoma native and University of Oklahoma mathematics graduate
started her career by blending her love of sports and numbers as
a high school math teacher and coach. While at OU, she
represented on the sidelines with the pom squad allowing her to
experience memorable sports moments from the sidelines. Lauren
and her husband, John, live in Connecticut with their dog,
Watson. The Poe-Parolin family loves to spend their time
celebrating Boston and Oklahoma sports – most notable being OU
Softball’s NCAA Championships!
Abstract: Building a great model is very different from actually influencing an organization’s decisions. Unfortunately, many analysts with a great deal to offer sit powerless in their offices because of this difference. But there is a great deal an analyst can and should do if they want their analytics to matter. Wildland firefighting in the American West 2015-2025 provides a case study in building impact as an analyst. Advanced analytics were present in the National Forest Service from the early 2000s but it wasn’t until the late 2010s that they gained any real traction. What led to this change? What lessons can we draw from a domain so analogous to sports analytics it has been called “Moneyball for Fire”?
Cade
Massey is a Practice Professor at the University of
Pennsylvania’s Wharton School and the Faculty Director of
Wharton’s People Lab. He received his PhD from the University of
Chicago and was on faculty at Duke and Yale before moving to
Penn in 2012. Cade works at the intersection of academia and
industry, striving to bridge the gap between research and
practice on decision-making, influence and personal development.
He has had long-term collaborations with Google, Merck, Doctors
Without Borders and multiple professional sports teams. He is
originally from West Texas and now lives outside of Austin,
Texas, with his wife, one cat, two dogs and three goats.
Abstract: Join us for a thought-provoking conversation with sports industry leaders on the challenges of translating advanced analytics into insightful, real-time commentary during live sports broadcasts and beyond. Key discussion points will include:
This panel promises to offer valuable insights into the intersection of advanced analytics and real-time communication in sports, making it a must-attend session for those interested in the future of sports broadcasting and data-driven decision-making.
Brian
Burke is a Sports Data Scientist at ESPN. Founder of the
popular website Advanced Football Analytics and an early pioneer
in football analytics, joined ESPN as a sports data scientist in
June 2015. As a member of ESPN Analytics, Burke is expanding
upon his previous work to ensure ESPN has the best-in-class
football analytics. His recent accomplishments include Receiver
Tracking Metrics, the widely successful Pass Block and Run Block
Win Rate metrics and other models based on player tracking data.
Burke founded AdvancedFootballAnalytics.com in 2007, where he
pioneered the development of metrics like Expected Points and
Win Probability, which remain the core tools for analysis in
football. Burke was a regular contributor to The New York Times,
The Washington Post, Slate and other outlets.
A regular speaker at the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference, he also previously worked as an analytics consultant for multiple NFL teams and supplied statistics and analytics insights to NBC Sports and ESPN The Magazine. Before entering the world of sports analytics, Burke had a distinguished career as an officer and aviator with the United States Navy as an F/A-18 carrier pilot. He flew numerous combat missions and was awarded the Air Medal, the Navy Commendation Medal, and numerous other personal and unit commendations.
Originally from Baltimore, Burke graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy with the Class of 1993. He attended the Naval Postgraduate School and returned to Annapolis as an instructor. After leaving the Navy, Burke worked as a defense contractor, serving as a strategy and tactics expert and then as a business unit director before launching Advanced Football Analytics.
He earned a masters degree in Operations Research from George Mason University and teaches there as adjunct faculty. When not analyzing football and other sports, Burke can be found zipping around the local raceway in his track car. He resides with his family in Reston, Virginia.
John
Parolin Research Producer at ESPN
Theo
Epstein (see keynote speaker bio above).
Seth
Walder (Moderator) Sports Analytics Writer at ESPN. Seth
Walder has been a sports analytics writer at ESPN since 2017,
focusing on football coverage using quantitative metrics. His
work includes topics ranging from season projections to player
analysis based on NFL Next Gen Stats to prop bet forecasting. He
writes for ESPN.com and makes appearances across ESPN studio
programming. Prior to joining ESPN, he worked as a reporter for
the New York Daily News for six years, primarily covering the
New York Jets and New York Giants, with occasional analysis of
the New York MLB, NBA and NHL teams as well as high school
sports. He grew up in London, United Kingdom and attended
Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine. He lives with his family in
Brooklyn, New York.