Dr Lisa Henley
+64 21 543033 lisa@statsgeeks.com https://nz.linkedin.com/in/lisahenley
My love of data began ~20 years ago while working as Operations Manager in the Business Banking Division of Countrywide Bank, managing the admin team and the Division’s reporting requirements. Following the data, I completed a course in database programming for which I was awarded the NSW state medal. Afterwards I took a role in the data engineering team of Ernst & Young (Sydney) and haven’t looked back. My most senior Analytical role to date was as R&D Manager for a major UK loyalty program providing technical thought leadership to a team of approximately 20 analysts. After successfully defending my PhD in Computational and Applied Mathematical Sciences, I won NZ’s first SAS Student Ambassadorship to attend the 2015 SAS Global Forum in Texas to share part of my PhD research. I now own my own consulting business where I love to design and implement beautiful and interesting analytical/statistical methods of data investigation, so that clients can gain understanding, answer questions and plan.
EXPERIENCE
Stats Geek, Stats Geeks Auckland, NZ
January 2017 – Current
My company provides project based data science services including, but not limited to consulting, computational and statistical modelling (in the business lingo machine learning), analytics and data visualisation.
Senior Data Scientist, Qrious Auckland, NZ
May 2016 – December 2016
In this role I was outsourced to ASB Risk where I migrated the home loan SQL Server / Excel BI solution to SAS / Tableau. The flexibility of the outputs resulted in the business requiring further BI solutions, which I subsequently built.
PhD Candidate, University of Canterbury Christchurch, NZ
Oct 2010 - April 2015
This really was work heaven for me; I spent the bulk of my research writing algorithms and macros to trim large data sets, cluster data (including Spectral Clustering) and to evolve statistical model solutions over time. I was interested in these processes as a result of my customer loyalty role in London. I am really proud of this body of work; it took a substantial amount of grit! I completed the bulk of my research remotely after moving to Waiheke Island from Christchurch about a year into my work (subsequent to the February 2011 earthquake).
Manager Analytical Research & Development, Aimia, London, UK
Jun 2008 - Jan 2010
Aimia owns the UK’s largest loyalty programme, Nectar. Nectar was launched in 2002 and has over 19 million collectors. In this role I developed methodological workshops and individual coaching for the analytical team. We used SAS to access the Nectar data from an Oracle DB to provide analyses regarding customer campaign strategy, propensity modelling and customer segmentation. In this role I found a lot of satisfaction mentoring analysts, working with them to create new methods of finding solutions to client queries. I was heavily involved in the organisational focus on best practice for information presentation and visualisation and additionally managed the organisational breakage (difference between points issued and points redeemed) model.
Statistical Analyst, Statistics New Zealand Christchurch, NZ
Feb 2007 - Apr 2008
Statistics NZ is very concerned with keeping the identity of census and survey respondents confidential. I spent a large proportion of my time working in this capacity. I analysed the disclosure risk for the geographical structure of the 2006 census and provided aids for the structure design in (the subsequently delayed) 2011 census. I also implemented a synthetic data generator using R and SAS and performed UAT of census cube outputs. In this role I completed an analysis of the NZ Migration Survey design and gave SAS and confidentiality presentations for colleagues and at the NZSA conference.
PG Dip. Sc. (Statistics), University of Canterbury Christchurch, NZ
Jan 2005 - Jun 2007
I undertook my Postgraduate Diploma in Statistics while on maternity leave with my infant son. This study involved a research component where I modelled biomedical data from a longitudinal study of premature children.
Data Warehouse Architect, Philips Consumer Electronics Eindhoven, The Netherlands
Jan 2003 - Dec 2003
This was a unique role in my work history. I was a member of the Data Warehouse project team tasked with the design and implementation of a trans-European multidimensional sales/marketing reporting system. I developed a web-based drill through from aggregated data to item level data in an operational data store. I also developed a Visual Basic application to produce and distribute reports for the sales team.
SAS Contractor, Bradford & Bingley (now part of Santander) London, UK
May 2002 - Dec 2002
I took this contract, as I knew I was probably moving to the Netherlands. This was a really fun role with a great team. The bank was moving to a new financial system and I was employed to help. I designed and developed SAS programs to resolve business requirements arising from the mapping and migration of the legacy system to the new system, and to answer adhoc financial queries. I was asked to extend this contract but had already accepted my role in The Netherlands.
Senior Consultant, CACI London, UK
Aug 2001 - Mar 2002
CACI’s “database of the UK population is the most comprehensive in the industry with hundreds of pieces of information on each individual”. This database is used to provide integrated marketing and location planning for clients. In this role I designed and developed SAS programs to provide consumer behavioural knowledge through analysis of client customer data, perform campaign mailing analyses using statistical methods such as regression and cluster analysis, perform customer segmentations using a combination of probabilities within customer transactional data and agency behavioural profiling methods. I also liaised with clients regarding project requirements and evolving client needs and performed client customer analyses using agency geographical information systems and profiling methods.
Senior Consultant, Ernst & Young Sydney, Australia
Mar 2000 - Jun 2001
I have very fond memories of this role as this is where I was introduced to SAS and the team I was a part of was fantastic. Although we had repeat clients, there were also adhoc jobs that kept the work varied, challenging and interesting. In this role I designed and developed SAS programs to assist in client information system and financial audits, to detect fraud where suspected or for client reassurance and to successfully mirror client legacy data migrations for independent party assurance. Our time was “chargeable”, and I consistently met tight deadlines on time and budget driven projects and liaised with clients regarding project requirements and further investigative work where appropriate. I was also required to find ways to extract and investigate data from legacy systems.
Manager Operations, Countrywide Bank (now part of ANZ) Auckland, NZ
1994 - 1998
Countrywide Bank was a great place to work. I started with them as a temp and worked my way through Operations Assistant and Assistant Manager Operations roles in Credit Division culminating in my final role there managing the administration team of four, and in charge of reporting in Business Banking. I developed an extract based reporting solution to replace mainframe generated paper reports.
EDUCATION
PhD (CAMS), University of Canterbury Christchurch, NZ My thesis, ‘The Quantification and Visualisation of Human Flourishing” was in Computational and Applied Mathematical Sciences (CAMS). I was awarded a departmental scholarship for three years of my study.
PG Dip. Sc. (Statistics), University of Canterbury Christchurch, NZ Awarded scholarship for summer research project Dec-Feb 2007
Certificate in 4GL & DB Programming, Hunter Institute of Technology NSW, Australia This was such a great course and I’m sure it was why Ernst & Young hired me. I was awarded the NSW State Medal (highest mark state-wide).
Certificate in Adult Teaching, Christchurch College of Education Christchurch, NZ
Bachelor of Science (Statistics), University of Canterbury Christchurch, NZ