Jussi Keppo, Professor at NUS Business School and Research Director at the Institute of Operations Research and Analytics, National University of Singapore

CDO Magazine publishes everything outstanding that is happening in the world of data and analytics. We introduce you to remarkable data organizations and great leaders through our special lists and nominations. We work throughout the year to bring you the latest in what is breaking down barriers and setting trends in the world of data. Our lists recognize the tremendous work performed to advance the cause of data and analytics worldwide, and we showcase the thought leaders’ accomplishments in their specific lines of work. Our Leading Data Academic Leaders List 2022 honors these great academic leaders, introducing them on a global platform where they share their insights and work, highlighting their significant successes in the previous year, the challenges they faced, and their aspirations and goals for 2022.

Introducing: Jussi Keppo, Professor at NUS Business School, Research Director at Institute of Operations Research and Analytics, National University of Singapore (Singapore)

1. What would you say have been your most significant achievements in 2021, specifically in the last two years, and why? 

I will limit my discussion to achievements here at National University of Singapore (NUS). Of course, I have many other things outside NUS, including my family. I’m professor at NUS Business School and research director at the Institute of Operations Research and Analytics (IORA). Among other things, in the business school, I teach analytics courses and direct our analytics executive education programs. During the last few years, we have created new executive programs, including fully online programs. These new programs have scaled our offerings outside our typical participants. This is important because our programs help participants find new use cases and datasets for different analytics models and implement them into everyday industry practices. The feedback from the participants has been extremely positive and the demand is rising rapidly.

In IORA, we have started several new long-term research projects with our industry partners — for instance, a new digital aviation corporate laboratory with Singapore Airlines. All these research projects are important for us since they give our faculty and Ph.D. students access to interesting new open problems and datasets, which have raised our research impact beyond typical academic publication.

2. What challenges are you facing in the academic data field? 

Our analytics research projects almost always involve teamwork and require multidisciplinary teams. Furthermore, the teams need to be able to work well with our industry partners who have different business processes and cultures. This means, e.g., that the teams have project managers who are able to work well with academia and industry. 

Luckily, here at NUS, we have strong research units and attract top students who have been successful in different roles in the research projects.

3. What traits and qualities are required to be a successful academic data leader? 

There are many, but first things that come to mind now are related to the previous questions: ability to build successful teams, strong communication skills with academics and industry experts and executives, mentoring skills, and ability to break down organizational barriers here in academia and also in industry.

4. Tell us about your priorities in 2022. What are your key targets? 

We have started several interesting research projects that allow my colleagues, our students, and me to learn several new things. I truly enjoy all this, and I look forward to these new challenges! One key target is to support my colleagues and students to reach greater heights and new frontiers. 

5. What advice would offer aspiring academic leaders to help them prepare for the role? 

Be open minded; don’t try to do everything yourself. This is teamwork, so get your colleagues and students enthusiastic about different analytics opportunities.

Jussi Keppo teaches risk management and analytics courses, and directs analytics executive education programs at the National University of Singapore (NUS) Business School. He is also Research Director of the Institute of Operations Research and Analytics at NUS. Previously, he taught at the University of Michigan. Prof. Keppo has several publications in the top-tier journals such as Journal of Economic Theory, Review of Economic Studies, Management Science, Operations Research, and Journal of Business on topics such as investment analysis, banking regulation, learning, and strategic incentives. His research has also been featured in numerous business and popular publications, including the Wall Street Journal and Fortune. Keppo’s research has been supported by several Asian, European, and U.S. agencies, such as the National Science Foundation. He serves on the editorial boards of Management Science, Mathematics of Operations Research, and Journal of Risk. He has consulted for several startups, Fortune 100 companies, and financial institutions.

Jussi Keppo is one of our Leading Academic Data Leaders in 2022. To discover the full list, click here now.