General Michael Hayden and former Secretary Anthony Foxx to Address INFORMS 2018 Government and Analytics Summit in Washington, D.C. on May 21

CATONSVILLE, MD, March 27, 2018 – INFORMS, the leading international association for professionals in Operations Research and Analytics, announced today that the organization is hosting the 2018 Government and Analytics Summit in Washington, D.C. on May 21. 

Keynote speakers—former director of the National Security Agency (NSA) and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), General Michael Hayden, USAF (Ret.), and former Secretary of Transportation, Anthony Foxx—will address attendees about the use of Operations Research and Analytics in providing solutions to some of the government’s greatest challenges. 

Secretary Foxx’s remarks are expected to focus on how Operations Research and Analytics are driving the emergence of the Connected City. General Hayden’s remarks are expected to focus on the importance of Data Analytics and Operations Research in government and defense.

General Michael Hayden

A retired four-star general, General Hayden served as director of the CIA and the NSA when the course of world events was changing at a rapid rate. As head of the country’s premier intelligence agencies, he was on the front lines of global change, the war on terrorism and the growing cyber challenge. He understands the dangers, risk and potential rewards of the political, economic and security situations the nation faces, as well as the need for Operations Research and Analytics when solving these security risks.

Secretary Anthony Foxx

Secretary Foxx was the 17th United States Secretary of Transportation and the former mayor of Charlotte, North Carolina. As Secretary of Transportation, he led an agency with more than 55,000 employees and a budget of $70 billion. He was responsible for overseeing American air, maritime and surface transportation, as well as ensuring that America maintained the safest, most efficient transportation system in the world. Crafting an ambitious agenda to modernize America, he pressed Congress to pass the nation’s first long-term surface transportation bill in more than a decade and energized the Department of Transportation’s embrace of innovation to help solve these problems by launching the Smart City Challenge—a national competition to implement bold, data-driven ideas that make transportation safer, easier and more reliable in that city. 

“Operations Research and Analytics have proven integral to saving lives, saving money and solving problems—for the military, other parts of the government, industry and society.” said Nicholas G. Hall, 2018 president of INFORMS. “The INFORMS 2018 Government and Analytics Summit will showcase the impact Operations Research and Analytics has for policymakers and government leaders. We are delighted to have General Michael Hayden and Secretary Anthony Foxx—who clearly understand the importance and necessity of utilizing these methods and solutions across the federal government—join us for this first of its kind educational summit.” 

Operations Research and Analytics

Operations Research and Analytics trace their roots to World War II, when military planners leveraged statistics and advanced mathematics in developing tactics and planning combat operations. In the decades since, the military has continued to embrace these tools, as have other parts of the government and industry. A variety of examples of how Operations Research and Analytics saves lives, saves money and solves problems can be found here. 

The Summit

The INFORMS 2018 Government and Analytics Summit will provide attendees with a rich, non-technical perspective on how operations research and analytics can be more broadly utilized by policymakers and federal government leaders. In addition to General Hayden and Secretary Foxx, the Summit will include panel discussions and other related content. Details will be announced in the coming weeks.

For more information about the INFORMS 2018 Government and Analytics Summit, and to RSVP for the free event, visit www.informsDCanalytics.org.

About INFORMS

With 12,500 members from nearly 90 countries, INFORMS is the largest international association of operations research (O.R.) and analytics professionals and students. INFORMS provides unique networking and learning opportunities for individual professionals, and organizations of all types and sizes, to better understand and use O.R. and analytics tools and methods to transform strategic visions and achieve better outcomes. Visit www.informs.org or @informs.

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